Panthers claim fourth place at H10 tennis tourney

RED OAK -— Wednesday, the Panther girls tennis team posted their first top-five conference performance since the 2020-21 state qualifying team.

Clarinda claimed the team title with 28 points, narrowly edging Kuemper Catholic’s 27 points. Placing third was Shenandoah with 23, and the Panthers came in fourth with 16 points.

“Today was a great day for our team,” Creston coach Kevin Cooper said. “We came into this tournament thinking if we performed well, we could end up in that fourth place spot, and that is exactly what happened. It was a very long day of tennis, and four of our girls had never played in this tournament. The girls showed great competitiveness by battling all day long.”

Singles

In No. 1 singles, senior Ava Adamson was 4-1 on the day, placing fifth overall.

“Her only loss on the day was to the eventual champion Riley Nothwehr,” Cooper said. “Ava has been a great leader for us at the top of the lineup this year, and that was no different today in the tournament.”

Adamson opened with an 8-2 win against Denison-Schleswig junior Leila Jaime. The second round was her 8-0 loss to Nothwehr.

She went on to defeat McKenzie Morris of Lewis Central 8-3, Mariel Ramirez of Red Oak 8-2 and Maria Valdivia of St. Albert 8-2.

Adamson scored four team points.

Sophomore Kennedy Strider was 3-2 in No. 2 singles, finishing in sixth place.

“Today was a good day for Kennedy; she has worked hard over the past month and has improved a lot,” Cooper said. “It is a long day of tennis when you play five singles matches on a warm day. She battled all day long and ended up in sixth place.”

Strider beat players from Denison (8-1), Harlan (8-6) and Red Oak (8-0). She was defeated 8-3 by the No. 2 seed, Ellie O’Donovan of St. Albert and 8-0 by Jacobi Harter of Atlantic. She scored three team points.

Doubles

Bringing home the most team points and the highest placement were the No. 1 doubles team of Sasha Wurster and Hollynn Rieck.

“Sasha and Hollynn have really started finding some wins the last few weeks,” Cooper said. “The number one doubles bracket was really tough at the top of the bracket. Sasha and Hollynn won their first round but lost their next two matches to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.”

The duo finished fourth, earning five team points.

In round one, the team beat Atlantic 8-2 before falling to the teams from Kuemper Catholic and Clarinda.

In No. 2 doubles, the freshman duo of Shaylee Coen and Marlee Stalker were 3-1 on the day, losing only to their first opponents. “Today was a great day for Shaylee and Marlee, especially since it was their first time ever at this tournament,” Cooper said. “They lost their first one to the No. 4 seed from Kuemper. Once they lost in the main draw, they won three in a row and ended up in fifth place.”

The girls defeated the teams from Glenwood (8-1), Denison (8-5) and went to extra games against Harlan for a 9-7 victory.

Today the Panthers travel to Red Oak for individual regionals. Friday they play at Atlantic.