WILLARD, Mo. — With a strong finish in singles play, Joplin defeated Willard 5-4 in a Central Ozark Conference girls tennis dual on Thursday.
And to the JHS coaching staff, the victory was a big one.
“Tonight was our prove it night,” JHS assistant coach Richard Perry said. “Willard is a good team and is a good baseline for knowing how good we really are. This gives us a good shot to host a Kansas City school for districts, which would be a great home court advantage. I’m very proud of the girl’s grit today, with some of them having to turn around to win their singles matches after tough doubles losses. And last year when we played Willard we lost a close 5-4 match, this year we were able to get the better of them.”
The Eagles earned one win in doubles, as Astrid Cardenas and Emma Watts defeated Alice Go and Gracie Chunn 8-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Willard’s Kristen Flynn and Kaytlen Ibarra defeated Abry Stayton and Mya Ndedi-Ntepe 8-4. Willard also won the No. 3 doubles match, as Alyssa Flynn and Evie Sly beat Cloey Blank and Brynn Driver 8-1.
“Brynn and Cloey had a bad start in their doubles match and it really wasn’t looking good going into singles with a 1-2 disadvantage,” Perry noted.
Joplin won four singles matches to secure the dual win.
At No. 1 singles, Cardenas earned a hard-fought 9-8 (7-3 tie-breaker) win over Go. Watts defeated Kristen Flynn 8-2 at No. 2 singles and Stayton beat Chunn 8-2 at No. 3 singles.
Willard’s Alyssa Flynn defeated Ndedi-Ntepe 8-1 and Ibarra edged Blank 9-8 (7-3). At No. 6 singles, Joplin’s Driver beat Sly 8-0.
“We have had trouble in these tough singles matches, but today the girls proved they could get the win by doing whatever they had to,” Perry said. “Brynn and Cloey really showed they could play much better than than they had in doubles, with Brynn getting a very solid win by just dominating every point. Cloey had an intense match and came up just short, which was a similar replay from when she played her last season. Emma and Abry were stellar in their singles matches, getting two quick wins for us. Mya had a tough matchup with a girl that could really hit the ball well.”
The deciding win for the Eagles came when Cardenas came from behind to win the No. 1 singles match.
“Astrid had the match of the night,” Perry said. “After Emma, Abry and Brynn brought us to a 4-3 lead we just had Astrid and Cloey playing their singles matches. Astrid was down 7-3 in her match but was able to turn up her game. During the change-over I just told her that she could bring home the win and a shot of hosting a district match. With the added motivation and the cheers of her teammates, Astrid was able to turn up her game and went up 8-7 in the match, winning five games in a row. She came up short in that last game so it went into a tie-breaker. When they started that tie-breaker I could just tell Astrid was going to win. Her body language was more positive than her opponent and she had the momentum. She won a quick 7-3 tie-breaker to clench the team the match.”
Joplin is hosting an invitational on Friday.
