Girls tennis: Irish, Chargers, Huskies/Trojans reign supreme...
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Well, one of my favorite weekends of the year is in the books. There didn’t look like there would be much drama in the Class 5A and 4A girls tennis team race.
There wasn’t.
Bishop McGuinness rolled in 5A while Heritage Hall earned three of the four championships Saturday at the new look OKC Tennis Center.
Now if you’re talking 6A, yea, that was some fun as Jenks and Edmond North tied for the championship. North earned two titles while Jenks earned one and was the runner-up in the other spots.
6A
That was fun. Admittedly, I wasn’t able to get to see as much of the 6A stuff as I would have liked to. However, did enjoy watching the Huskies and Trojans battling it out on side-by-side courts as North’s Ann Pepper defeated Gabrielle Siegler while Jenks’ Lisa Waldron returned the favor against Rachel Mitcham.
The race went about as expected and big ups to Enid as the Pacers earned third place, highlighted by a dominating weekend by No. 1 doubles Kathryn Dillingham and Mackenzi Zaloudek.
Waldron made tremendous strides this year and really became the heart of that Jenks squad. That second set vs. Mitcham was some intense stuff as neither held more than a two-game lead the entire way. Great battle.
That championship experience paid off for North’s No. 2 doubles of Reagan Reed and Natalie Price. The girls didn’t win regionals but did when it mattered – for the second time in a row.
Look out for Broken Arrow, that team is going to be good next year.
For your 6A notes, here ya go.
5A
No surprise that McGuinness dominated. But it might be the last year…might. I mean how do you replace Mia Lancaster, Emily Conrad and Whitney Ritchie?
At any rate, 12 straight titles is impressive. And when the lights shone brightest, the girls played their best. Ritchie and Trinian O’Neil didn’t lose a game in the final.
Lancaster, playing a really good and healthy Melanie Barnes of Duncan for the first time, dropped one game in each set while Conrad was almost beyond impressive. The No. 2 doubles team Ashleigh Chiaf and Abby Hodges rolled as well.
