By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Lady Panther tennis team traded rain and cool weather for wind. The Sept. 10 home tennis invite was postponed due to weather. Half of the eight teams made it to Saturday's makeup date at the Shannon Schartz Courts. Central Plains beat the field with 22 points, followed by Hoisington with 19 points. The Lady Panthers finished fourth with nine points.
Kyla Metro breezed to the title at No. 1 singles, beating her Dodge City and Hoisington opponents 8-0 and getting by Great Bend's Kaylin Wahlmeier 8-2. Wahlmeier defeated Hoisington's Hailey Petersilie 8-0, and beat Dodge City 8-2 to claim second.
Hoisington's No. 1 doubles team of Emma Willesden and Reese Merlau tied Dodge City for first. After an 8-0 loss to Great Bend's team of Taylor Lashley and Samantha Mayers, the Lady Cards bounced back to beat Dodge City and Central Plains 8-6. Lashley and Mayers fell to the Lady Oiler team of Ashlynn Armstrong and Ryann Metro 8-3, and lost their final match to Dodge City 8-3.
Central Plains' Lauren Oeser won her three No. 2 singles matches by a combined 24-3 tally. Hoisington's Claire Crutcher won a pair of tie breaks against Dodge City and Great Bend for second. Lady Panther Darcy Feist lost an 8-7 (5) battle against Crutcher to open the day, then lost an 8-2 match to Oeser and an 8-4 match to Dodge City.
Hoisington's Rayna Bray and Lauren Higgins won a pair of 8-6 matches at No. 2 doubles, and also defeated Great Bend's team of Danic Strickland and Clarise Snapp 8-1. The Lady Panthers also dropped an 8-5 match against Central Plains' team of Elizeia Knapp-Blehm and Grace Lamatsch, who finished second in the bracket.