Tennis Doubles Duo Heads to State

Singles play began with freshman Mara Hughes, playing one of her best games of the year with her court coverage, chasing down shot after shot but battling to a tough first round loss. Mira Gupta, junior, had her first experience in district play and fought through one of the day's longest matches. After a 6-1 win in the first set, Mira fought hard through long points but lost the second set 6-7, and played a good match tiebreaker but lost 6-7 (8-10).

In doubles, juniors Duha Azaz and Emilia Prier rolled over a Truman duo, 6-1, 6-0 in the opener. In the quarterfinals the Knights played Blue Springs South and won the opener in a tiebreaker  7-6 (7-5), but lost the second set 5-7. The long match tiebreaker ended with a close 8-10 loss.

In keeping the long tradition of Barstow district doubles champions, senior Sonya Shkuta and sophomore Any Stanojevic, the #1 seed, received a bye in the first round, then rolled Truman 6-0, 6-0. Next up: a tough St. Teresa's team. In the first set the Knights started slowly down 1-2, but reeled off five of the next six games for a 6-3, 6-2 win.

In the district championship, Sonya and Anya  turned up their net play to earn the District 7 doubles title and a trip to Springfield for the Missouri State Doubles Championships Oct. 23-24.