As fall comes in full swing, the girls’ tennis season comes to an end. The ladies have worked extremely hard this season and went through many ups and downs to get through it, with many of the girls suffering from injuries and sicknesses.
The team celebrated senior night at the last home match against Fairfield. There were only two seniors on the team this year Karli Mann and Jersey Summers. The overall score from that match was 6-3, and the Tigers won! Coach Snell delivered heartfelt speeches for each girl and gave them each a single flower. The other girls on the team gave them candy and gifts.
The top six girls on the team went on to go to sectionals. Sectionals were in Carbondale this year on Friday the 13th. The following girls went: Karli Mann (12) and Jersey Summers (12) played doubles, along with Keirsten Killman (11) and Branson Hill (11) playing doubles as well. Reese Elliot (11) and Ryleigh Pitman (11) both played in singles matches. Mann and Summers won their first match 6-2, 6-3. Killman and Hill played a tough match to Mt. Vernon in the first round losing 6-0, 6-0. Elliot played against a girl from Benton and lost 6-3, 6-4. Pitman played against a girl from Carmi and lost 6-1, 6-1.
The Tigers got 5th overall at sectionals, and the ladies have all worked incredibly hard. Since sectionals are single elimination, all of the girls, except for the seniors Mann and Summers, were done for the season.
With only the seniors winning their first match, they went on to play against Carmi for their second and final match of the day. The rest of the team was watching and cheering them on throughout the whole endeavor. Starting strong, they won 6-2, 6-1. Everyone was ecstatic, as winning that match meant that they were going to state for the second year in a row as a doubles team.
Coach Matt Snell, Coach Madi Pribble, Mann, and Summers all headed to Chicago for state early on Wednesday morning. Mann and Summers’ first match was against Aurora Rosary, but they lost that match 6-3, 6-2. Then, the girls went on to play a second match against Civic Memorial and lost that match 6-2, 6-4.
Summers and Mann agreed that their favorite memory from tennis “was making it to state two years in a row, and that tennis has made them learn to forget about the bad points and move on to the next.” They also stated that making it to state “is a huge accomplishment, especially playing volleyball as well as tennis in the same season.”
It was an amazing season for Tiger Tennis! The girls’ tennis team has sadly come to an end for the season, but they will continue to work hard while off so they can come back stronger than ever next season!
