By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls tennis team tuned up for Thursday's city tournament with a strong showing in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center, led by sophomore singles champion Emma Sweeney.
Seaman sophomore Emma Sweeney captured the singles championship in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational tennis tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sweeney claimed the singles title with an 8-2 win over Maize senior Rylee Frye in the championship match while the Vikings also got a third-place singles finish from junior Molly Gorman as well as a second-place doubles finish from senior Sidney Chinn and sophomore Peyton Henry and a fifth-place doubles finish from Cameron Lux and Katlyn Hiebsch.
Viking junior Molly Gorman earned a win by injury default over Emporia junior Kali Keough in the third-place singles match while Chinn and Henry dropped an 8-2 decision to Washburn Rural seniors Izzy Haggard and Emerie Catlin in the doubles final while Lux and Hiebsch took an 8-4 win over Maize in the fifth-place doubles match.
"I was more than pleased,'' Seaman coach Jamie Robinson said. "I thought we competed well and we won the matches we needed to win to get some good seeds at city.''
Senior doubles champions Izzy Haggard and Emerie Catlin of Washburn Rural celebrate a point in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Haggard and Catlin's doubles championship paced host Washburn Rural in Tuesday's meet.
"I thought they played with a lot of confidence today and it really showed,'' Washburn Rural coach Brad Johnston said. "They were being aggressive and finishing points early, some of the stuff we've worked on after our first few matches.''
The Junior Blues also got fifth and sixth-place finishes Tuesday from senior Carolina Chedzoy and sophomore Julia Katzer, with Chedzoy taking an 8-5 win in the fifth-place match.
Washburn Rural enters Thursday's city tournament as the defending champion, topping Seaman by a 31-28 margin in 2023 while Hayden finished third with 23 points.
"We definitely need to step up in some places on Thursday,'' Johnston said. "Seaman's got a very good couple of singles players and we always have Hayden, so it's going to be a tough one.''
Robinson agreed that the city tournament could be a three-team race.
"It seems to always come down to that,'' Robinson said. "Hayden's got Ainzley (Zulueta, a two-time state singles champ) and Washburn has so much depth and we've got some depth, too.''
Thursday's meet is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start at Kossover.
WASHBURN RURAL INVITATIONAL
At Kossover Tennis Center
Individual results
Singles
Championship -- Sweeney, Seaman, def. Frye, Maize, 8-2.
Third -- Gorman, Seaman, winner by inj. default over Keough, Emporia.
Fifth -- Chedzoy, Washburn Rural, def. Katzer, Washburn Rural, 8-5.
Doubles
Championship -- Haggard/Catlin, Washburn Rural, def. Chinn/Henry, Seaman, 8-2.
Third -- Heins/Chaney, Emporia, def. Fluis/Miller, Maize, 8-2.
Fifth -- Lux/Hiebsch, Seaman, def. Bennett/Thurston, Manhattan, 8-4.
