Great Bend Post Sports
Getting out of Central Kansas competition, the Lady Panther tennis team headed to another large invitational Saturday against Western Kansas teams in Garden City. Fifteen teams from 10 schools made up the field. Garden City cruised to the title with 120 points, followed by Great Bend with 91 points, and Cimarron with 87 points.
The brackets again put all the players together with no No. 1 or No. 2 designation. Sam Mayers and Taylor Lashley made it to the semifinals in the doubles bracket. The girls downed Scott City 8-3 in round one, then snuck by Dodge City 8-6 to reach the quarters. They bumped off Cimarron 8-4 before falling to Garden City's runner-up team 8-6. Mayers and Lashley lost to Scott City 8-3 in the consolation finals. Mac Lindberg and Darcy Feist had a tough draw in the bracket. After an 8-4 win over Ulysses, the girls fell 8-4 to the eventual champions from Garden City. The girls went on to beat Cimarron 8-3 and Dodge City 8-1 to advance to the ninth-place match where they were defeated by Dodge City 8-3.
Kaylin Wahlmeier and Paige Stacey both made the quarterfinals in the singles bracket. After a bye, Wahlmeier downed Scott City 8-1 before falling to Garden City's third-place finisher 8-3. After an 8-4 loss to Scott City's fifth-place finisher, Wahlmeier defeated Stacey 8-4 for seventh place. Stacey defeated her first opponent from Ulysses 8-1 before losing to Garden City's fourth-place finisher 8-3. An 8-6 loss to Dodge City pitted Stacey against Wahlmeier in the seventh-place match. Cimarron's Emily Goetz, the reining fourth-place finisher in Class 3-2-1A won the bracket with wins of 8-0, 8-1, 8-1, and 8-1.
The Lady Panthers take some time off before heading to Garden City for Western Athletic Conference action on Monday, Oct. 2.