Knights Lose District Semifinal

The Barstow girls tennis team lost a closely fought match against the District 7 #1 seed on Tuesday at the Plaza, 5-2.  District play ends when either team gets the 5th win.  At #1 doubles Sonya Shkuta and Duha Azaz started strong and dominated the hour with a more aggressive net game, sweeping across the net time and again finishing off short points.  Duha and Sonya both served a high % of first serves and their net partner took advantage.  This put the first team point on the board for the Knights.  At #2 doubles Anya Stanojevic and Emilia Prier teamed up with a good effort, but ran into a more experienced duo for a 2-8 loss.  The girls played well but STA was just a bit stronger throughout.  At #3 doubles Mira Gupta and Mara Hughes also played well despite losing 1-8.  The Knights pair faced STA #2 player with a strong game and nasty lefty serve.  The girls struggled at times with serve returns, but overall Mira had one of her better serving days and Mara had her second impressive showing on the net, putting away several strong volleys with aggressive play.

Down 1-2, Sonya Shkuta evened the score at 2 all with an impressive display of tactics and power with a dominating 6-1, 6-3 against STA's best singles player.  With strong serves and a stronger baseline game, Sonya remained in charge the entire match.  

Emilia Prier at #3  played an STA state doubles qualifier at #3 and did her best to match strokes.  She displayed one of best days from the baseline forcing her opponent to dig out multiple shots in order to win.....a solid effort but just a solid outing against a stronger opponent.

At # 4 Duha continued her strong play for the day, playing the first set tough, but again. losing to a more experienced opponent in two sets.

Mara and Mira both lost their singles matches but played well throughout both sets.  Both players displayed more confidence especially with their backhands, but again experience won the day.

Finally at #2 singles, Anya lost the first set 1-6, but sucked it up and rolled to an early lead in the next.  With some of her best footwork and court coverage of the season, Any was dominating the second set and about to tie the match 1 all when the team match was called after the 5th point was claimed by STA.

Congrats to the girls on a solid season against one of Missouri's more difficult schedules consisting mostly of all of the stronger area large class schools.

Anya and Sonya will move on to the Class 3 State Doubles tournament in Springfield, MO on October 23-24.