The Joplin High School girls tennis program hosted the Birds & Bears Invitational on Wednesday at the JHS athletic complex.
The Grain Valley Eagles went 3-0 and took first place in the round-robin dual tourney. The host Joplin Eagles went 2-1 and took second place.
Webb City and Monett were third and fourth, respectively.
Each dual featured two singles matches and three doubles matches.
Joplin defeated Webb City 3-2.
Joplin’s Emma Watts defeated Kinzlea Smith 8-4 at No. 1 singles, while Brynn Driver beat Webb City’s Ayla McDonald 8-2 at No. 2 singles.
At No. 1 doubles, Webb City’s Brynlee Hollingsworth and Ally Ansley defeated Mya Ndedi Ntepe and Jensen Vowels when the Eagles forfeited due to an injury.
Webb City’s Avery Brown and Taylor Smith edged Alex Carson and Gwenna Sweet 8-6 at No. 2 doubles, but Joplin’s Bonnie Smith and Zayda Derganc topped Averey Terry and Adeline Ragsdale 8-6 at No. 3 doubles.
Joplin beat Monett 5-0.
In singles, Watts defeated Lizzie Smith 8-5 and Driver beat Deleny Rueda 8-2.
In doubles, Joplin’s Jadyn Elder and Vowels edged Vayla Smith and Serenity Laning 8-6, while Carson and Sweet handled Jocelyn Hernandez and Emma Parrigon 8-1 and Smith and Derganc defeated Valery Moncivaiz and Jasmin Rueda 8-5.
In a clash between Eagles, and in a de facto championship dual, Grain Valley defeated Joplin 5-0.
In singles play, Finley LaForge defeated Watts 8-3 and Kylee Bragaw beat Driver due to injury forfeit.
In doubles, Brooklyn Spencer-Catherine Barnes defeated Elder-Vowels 8-0, while Ava Lin-Katherine Unrein topped Carson-Sweet 8-2 and Delaney Thurn-Ella Guyear beat Smith-Derganc 8-5.
Webb City went 1-2 at the event.
After the loss to Joplin, Webb City suffered a 5-0 setback to Grain Valley.
In singles, LaForge defeated Smith 8-0 and Bragaw beat McDonald 8-0.
Grain Valley won the doubles matches 8-1, 8-5 and 8-1.
The Cardinals beat Monett 4-1.
In singles, Monett’s Lizzie Smith defeated Kinzlea Smith 8-2, while McDonald defeated Deleny Rueda 9-7.
The Cardinals won all three doubles matches. Hollingsworth-Ansley defeated Smith-Laning 8-3, while Brown-Smith beat Hernandez-Parrigon 8-2 and Terry-Ragsdale topped Moncivaiz-Jasmin Rueda 8-1.
In the other dual, Grain Valley defeated Monett 5-0.
