By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The weather was almost perfect but the competition was tough at Monday's Western Athletic Conference Championships at the Shannon Schartz Courts. All six Garden City players in action played in the Class 6A state tournament last fall. That showed in the results as the Lady Buffs scored 14 points to claim the team championship. In a hotly contested No. 1 doubles bracket, three teams, including Great Bend's pair of Mac Lindberg and Darcy Feist, tied for the title. Great Bend and Hays each scored nine points to tie for second in the team standings.
Three of the five teams playing in the No. 1 doubles bracket posted three wins on the day for the tie. Hays' Kaelin Maier and Alyse Zimmerman defeated Garden City's Chloe Ptacek and Jocelyn Kennedy 8-7 (5) in the first and best match of the day. That put Lindberg and Feist in the driver's seat as they opened with 8-2 wins over Liberal and Hays, then defeated Dodge City 8-4. The Lady Buffs, who won two matches in the 6A state tournament last season, defeated Lindberg and Feist 8-4 in the final match of the day to force the 3-way tie.
Paige Stacey also strung together a 3-0 day at No. 1 singles before a meeting with Garden City senior Danica Galia in the finals. Stacey defeated Liberal and Hays 8-2, then downed Dodge City 8-3 before falling to Galia 8-2 to drop to second place.
The No. 2 singles bracket was almost as competitive as the No. 1 doubles bracket with three players winning two matches for a 3-way tie in second. Garden City took the title with a 4-0 record. Great Bend's Clarise Snapp came up a tie-break shy of second in the second-best match of the day. She downed Liberal 8-5 and defeated Dodge City 8-6 but lost an 8-7 (4) match to Hays in round two. Snapp fell to Garden City 8-0 in the final match of the day.
The No. 2 doubles bracket featured a 3-day tie for third place. Great Bend's Mackenzie LaViolette and Beth Hammeke defeated Liberal 8-2 but lost matches to Hays (8-2), Dodge City (8-5), and Garden City (8-0). Garden City's team finished at 4-0 and Hays won three matches to finish second.
Great Bend heads to Salina on Saturday for Class 5A regional action.