Great Bend Post Sports
Already the prep tennis season is on the downhill. Teams head to regional competitions on Oct. 12. But first, the Lady Panthers were in action Thursday at Salina South. Great Bend scored 23 points to finish seventh out of eight teams. Newton won the meet with 48 points, followed by Junction City with 45 points, and Maize with 43 points.
Paige Stacey made it all the way to the championship match in the singles bracket. She was convincing in her first three sets, beating Buhler 8-2, downing Junction City 8-1, and taking down the No. 2 seed from South, reigning state qualifier Sofia Burns, 8-4 in the semifinals. Junction City's Hannah Micheel, a reigning 6A state qualifier, won her first three matches by a combined 24-1 score. She defeated Stacey 8-3 in the finals.
Clarise Snapp also competed in the open singles draw, losing her first two matches 8-3 to Salina Central and 8-1 to South. She rebounded with an 8-3 win over Abilene before falling 8-7(3) to Buhler in the 13th-place match.
The Lady Panthers had some new faces and roles in the doubles bracket without Darcy Feist and Mac Lindberg in action. Maddie Siefkes and Olivia Boone opened with an 8-0 loss to Salina Central's Renfro girls, who finished fifth at state a year ago and did not drop a single game Thursday. After losing an 8-7 (3) thriller against the 10th-place finishers from Abilene, Siefkes and Boone beat Buhler and Salina Central by 8-4 tallies to secure 13th place.
Mackenzie LaViolette and Kylie McCormick also opened at 0-2 with an 8-1 loss to Abilene and an 8-5 loss to Buhler. The girls just missed a shot at Siefkes and Boone with an 8-7 (3) loss to Central. They lost another 8-7 (3) tiebreak to Buhler in the 15th-place match.
The Lady Panthers head to Garden City on Saturday.