GREAT 8 TENNIS TOURNAMENT

The girls opened against a powerhouse Visitation Academy and competed well in a losing effort.  Senior Hope Leathers and Mary Colombo played at #1 doubles while Junior Mia Sabapathy and Freshman Aishi Sethi played at #2 doubles.   Divya Dendi and Alzieh Shaikh founded out the lineup at #3 doubles.  

Moving to the back side, the girls faced perennial Arkansas Large Class state champions, the Fayetteville Bulldogs.  

In doubles the LThe Lady Knights took two of the three doubles matches to get the ball rolling.  Mary Colombo and Hope Learthers dominated at 8-1 and Mia Sabapathy and Aishi Sethi came back from a 5-6 deficit to win three in a row for a 8-6 win.  The girls  jumped out to early leads in every match and prevailed with an impressive 5-1 victory.  At #1 singles Mary Colombo dominated with a 6-0 win while Hope Leathers rolled to a 6-2 win.  AT #3 Mia Sabapathy dominated with a 6-1 win to grab the 5th and decisive point for the team win.  

In the final match the girls squared up with last years Missouri Large Class state champ, Rock Bridge Hitgh School.  All of the girls played well in that match, too, with freshman Aishi Sethi using more aggressive groundstrokes for an impressive 6-3 victory at #4 singles.  All of the girls played solid tennis in singles and doubles in the consolation final and the days work against these talented teams showed solid improvement and was a terrific experience to open up the season that will include one of the area’s most challenging schedules.