The McPherson Tennis Invitational would be tough any time during the season, but might be especially tough as the second tournament of the year. Reigning Class 4A champion McPherson cruised to the title Thursday with 56 points, followed by Goddard Eisenhower with 48 points. The Lady Panthers scored 20 points for seventh.
Eisenhower's Rachel Davis placed ninth in 5A last year. She dominated the field Thursday, outscoring four components by a combined 32-5 tally for the win.
Great Bend's Kaylin Wahlmeier opened her day with an 8-3 win against McPherson before falling to McPherson's eventual fourth-place finisher 8-1. Wahlmeier lost an 8-6 battle to Valley Center before falling to Newton 8-4 in the seventh-place match.
Lakyn Smith dropped her opener to Sacred Heart's Katie Weiss 8-1. Weiss placed fifth in doubles in Class 3-2-1A last fall. She picked up an 8-4 win over McPherson to advance to the 13th-place match where she lost an 8-7 (5) thriller to another McPherson player.
In doubles action, Samantha Mayers and Taylor Lashley opened with an 8-4 loss to Newton. The girls defeated Sacred Heart 8-1 in the next round, but lost a pair of 8-4 matches to McPherson and Derby to finish the day at 1-3 for 12th place.
Danica Strickland and Kylie McCormick were blanked 8-0 by McPherson in round one. The pair followed with losses 8-5 and 8-2 losses to Derby's squads to finish 14th.