SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Concluding the 2023 season alongside the state’s best, Thomas Jefferson finished fourth at the MSHSAA Class 2 Girls Tennis Championships on Friday night at the Cooper Tennis Complex.
In the third-place match, Webster Groves defeated Thomas Jefferson 5-4.
Tom Brumfield’s Cavaliers finished the season with a record of 14-2.
In the season finale, the Cavaliers won all three doubles matches in close fashion to start the dual on a positive note.
At No. 1 doubles, Thomas Jefferson’s Allison Ding and Jeanna Jeyaraj edged Addison Simpson-Margaret Nakatani 9-8 (9), while Esther Yang and Kyla Yang beat Elena King-Regan Matteotti 8-6 at No. 2 doubles.
At No. 3 doubles, TJ’s Warda Morsy and Mayson Solum nipped Katherine Dirks-Milly Benkelman 9-7.
But Webster Groves (16-1) won five of the six singles matches to secure third place. Most of the singles matches were extremely close.
At No. 1 singles, Simpson defeated Ding 6-4, 7-5, while King edged Jeyaraj 4-6, 6-1, 12-10 at No. 2 singles.
Webster Groves’ Dirks defeated Esther Yang 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, Nakatani beat Morsy 6-1, 7-5 at No. 4 singles and Benkelman topped Solum 6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-6 at No. 5.
Thomas Jefferson’s Kyla Yang edged Hannah Sweeney 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 at No. 6 singles.
The Cavaliers played for third after suffering a semifinal setback to Grain Valley earlier on Friday.
SEMIFINAL SETBACK
In Friday morning’s semifinals, Grain Valley defeated Thomas Jefferson 5-0.
In doubles, Grain Valley’s Finley LaForge and Kylee Bragaw edged TJ’s Ding-Jeyaraj 9-7, while Emma Thiessen-Brooklyn Spencer beat Yang-Yang 8-2. At No. 3 doubles, Grain Valley’s Catherine Barnes-Delaney Thurn topped Morsy-Solum 8-5.
In completed singles matches, Thiessen defeated Esther Yang 6-4, 6-0, Bragaw beat Jeyaraj 6-1, 6-1 and Spencer topped Morsy 6-0, 6-2.
The match officially concluded when the Eagles reached five wins, but two of the singles matches ended nearly simultaneously, resulting in six recorded wins for Grain Valley.
NOTES: Ding was the lone senior competing for the Cavaliers on Friday. Individually, Ding finished her prep tennis career as a three-time medalist in singles.
The rest of the Cavaliers who competed on Friday will return next fall, as Jeyaraj, Kyla Yang, Morsy and Solum are juniors and Esther Yang is a freshman.
Ladue beat Webster Groves 5-0 in the other semifinal.
In the state title match, Ladue beat Grain Valley 5-1.
