In the second meet of the season, the Pratt High girls tennis team finished in fourth place at the Hillsboro Invitational Tuesday.
The meet started with pool play before being placed in the bracket to compete for a place. Both Lauren McClain and Adele Loomis, competing at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively, placed third in the meet, going 1-1 in pool play and winning the third place game. Coach Larry Kahmeyer said Loomis had a very tough matchup against Brenda Sanchez from Hesston.
“She’s a very hard-hitting player from Hesston and Adele played her extremely well and lost 8-6,” he said. “She got down in the beginning but then came back a little bit and was basically one or two games down back and forth. But she really battled hard and I was very proud of her. That was kind of the highlight of the day, even though she lost, I was really pleased with her effort.”
At No. 1 singles, McClain also played well, winning the third place match in comeback fashion.
“She got down a little bit in her final match, even down 5-3 at one point and then tied it up at 6-6 and won at 7-6 and closed it out at 8-6,” he said. “I’m really pleased with the development of the freshmen and their ability to stay in there and keep fighting and not give up. That’s unusual for freshmen. Often, they get discouraged and lose a mental battle, but these girls are really strong mentally.”
On the doubles side of things, Pratt managed a fifth place finish in both No. 1 and 2 doubles, while a pair of unattached players, Krystal Adelhardt and Grace Fellhoelter won fourth place at No. 1 doubles.
“Our doubles teams struggled a little bit but had some bright moments too,” he said. “Hesston had two very good doubles teams and Hillsboro kind of stacked all their talent on their doubles teams, so it was a tough field for the girls.
“Cara Riney and Katie Hart lost their first two, but won their last one. So everybody got a win on the day and nobody got last place. I’m seeing a lot of improvement in all those girls from last year.”
At No. 2 doubles, Samanatha Kettering and Hannah Taylor had a pair of respectable losses, losing 8-4 to Hillsboro and 8-3 to Hesston before beating a pair of Nickerson girls in the fifth place game, 8-1.
“The No. 2 doubles lost twice and won their last one, but had respectable scores across the board,” Kahmeyer said. “None of them gave up and they stayed positive. It was hot, in the mid-90s and windy. We were on the edge of town and it was dusty, so some of them were pushed a little bit physically, but none of them gave up on me.”
Overall, Kahmeyer was happy with his team’s performance and hopes to build on this for the future.
“It’s a tough meet, so I was thrilled with the outcome,” he said. “All of our girls won at least one match, and all of them placed.”
