The host Eagles were the runner-up at the Joplin Invitational girls tennis dual tournament on Friday at the JHS court.
Glendale took first place, with Joplin second, Carl Junction third and Logan-Rogersville fourth.
The Eagles earned wins over Carl Junction and Rogersville and suffered a loss to Glendale.
“Overall, we had a great showing in doubles, which will always give us a better chance to win matches when we can get the lead early and confidence up,” JHS assistant coach Richard Perry said. “Everyone was able to get wins for the team at some point during the day, and that is great for them. I’m pretty happy with second place because this was a tough group of schools to deal with. Many of the matches today could have gone either way, which many times isn’t the case.”
Joplin defeated Rogersville 5-1.
In doubles, Joplin’s Astrid Cardenas and Emma Watts defeated Cayenne Martin and Caitlyn Archer 6-3, while teammates Abry Stayton and Mya Ndedi-Ntepe beat Madelynn Jared and Liz Mullins 6-2.
Rogersville’s Nadia Simon and Lydia Coryell beat Cloey Blank and Brynn Driver 6-4 at No. 3 doubles.
In completed singles matches, Joplin’s Stayton beat Jared 6-0, Ndedi-Ntepe defeated Mullins 6-1 and Blank handled Simon 6-0.
“We were able to start off the day hot,” Perry said. “We got a 2-1 lead from doubles. We went straight into Abry, Mya and Cloey in singles and they were all able to cruise to victory, giving us a fast win to start the day. Mya was playing with all the hustle in the world. She didn’t want to concede a single point, even when she was already way ahead, which is what I like to see.”
Next, Joplin earned a 5-1 win over Carl Junction.
In doubles, Cardenas and Watts defeated Jenna Besperat and Nicole Sherwood 6-2. Carl Junction’s Naiyah Wurdeman and Emmy Higgins defeated Stayton and Ndedi-Ntepe 7-5 at No. 2 doubles, while Joplin’s Blank and Driver beat Valeria Alamina-Poor and Alyssa Graves 6-2.
In completed singles matches, Watts topped Besperat 6-2, Blank edged Higgins 6-4 and Driver defeated Graves 7-5.
“I was a bit nervous going into this match because I knew our last meeting earlier this week could have gone either way,” Perry said. “Carl had also just played close to a very good Glendale roster so I thought today was going to be a real fight. We came out much stronger overall in doubles than we did on Tuesday. I felt better going into singles with another 2-1 lead, but the girls obviously felt amazing because we were able to sweep through three singles matches in a row with Brynn and Cloey winning close ones. I was really happy for Cloey because she has had trouble in singles all year and she lost to Emmy earlier this week and it wasn’t very close. Today was Cloey’s day and she battled the whole time and together. Brynn and Cloey were able to get us three out of the five points needed. Emma got the last point for us in convincing fashion. She wanted to prove she could do better against Jenna than what she did on Tuesday.”
In the dual that decided the tourney championship, Glendale defeated Joplin 5-2.
Joplin won the No. 1 doubles match, as Cardenas and Watts beat Chloe Stenger and Ann Beatty 6-4.
At No. 2 doubles, Glendale’s Letizia Carradori and Olivia Edwards topped Stayton and Ndedi-Ntepe 6-0. Joplin’s Blank and Driver topped Liliana Strang and Alyssa Akin 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
However, Glendale won four singles matches to secure the win. Edwards beat Ndedi-Ntepe 6-2, Strang topped Blank 6-1, Akin defeated Driver 6-2 and Stenger won by forfeit when Cardenas withdrew.
“Astrid was going into this match with some back pain but she said she wanted to push through it for the doubles match to give us a good chance to compete,” Perry said. “She did just that. She and Emma got their 19th straight win of the season and have yet to lose a match. Brynn and Cloey also got a nice win in doubles giving us another 2-1 lead going into singles.
“Unfortunately our singles didn’t play out as well. Astrid’s back was hurting too much to finish her match and the other girls playing came up short,” Perry said. “Emma and Abry were winning their matches when we ended up pulling them off.”
In other matches, Glendale defeated Carl Junction 5-4.
The Bulldogs won all three doubles matches.
Besperat and Sherwood won the No. 1 doubles match 6-4, Wurdeman and Higgins earned a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles and Alamina-Poor and Graves won 7-5 at No. 3.
Sherwood defeated Beatty 6-3 at No. 3 singles, but Glendale won the other five singles matches.
Carl Junction beat Rogersville 5-4.
The Bulldogs won two of three doubles matches. Besperat-Sherwood beat Martin-Mullins 6-1 and Alamina-Poor and Graves defeated Simon-Coryell 7-6 (7-3). Wurdeman and Higgins suffered a 6-4 loss.
Wurdeman, Besperat and Alamina-Poor won singles matches against the Wildcats to pull out the win.
In the other dual, Glendale defeated Rogersville 5-0.
