TOPEKA, Kan. – The McPherson girls tennis team capped another outstanding season over the weekend with a 4A State Runner-up trophy at Kossover Tennis Center.
The Bullpups captured 2nd at 4A State for the fourth straight season as they finished with 35 points behind the 4A State champion Collegiate with 53 points. The Spartans won their second straight 4A title and have won a championship in either 4A or 3-2-1A in each of the past 18 seasons.
Avery Unruh and Quinn Liebl highlighted the weekend with a second place finish in Doubles, going 3-1 on the weekend. After a first-round bye, they opened Friday with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Sienna Godrum and Kenzie Schnelle of Wellington. In the quarterfinals, they lost the first set 6-2, but recovered with 6-1, 6-2 wins in the second and third over Sadie York and Allie Denney of Independence. They then beat Juliet Farha and Hadley Porter of Collegiate in three sets 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the championship. Facing Collegiate’s top doubles team of Giana Shuart and Tania Ramesh, they fell 6-1, 6-3 in the title match
Also in the Doubles bracket, Dragon Rodriguez and Lleyton Kuhn brought home the sixth place medals. They also had a first-round bye and won their opening match in the second over Ashtyn Cummings and Sarah Uhner of Chanute 6-3, 6-4. In the quarters, they fell to Farha and Porter of Collegiate in a tight battle 7-6 (4), 7-5. Moving to the consolation quarterfinals, they won 8-1 over Zora Carver and Macy Nyquist of Smoky Valley and then beat York and Denney of Independence 8-5 to advance to the 5th Place match. They lost there 8-6 to Sophia Wichman and Hailey Caryl of Topeka-Hayden to finish sixth. Of note, Rodriguez registered her 100th career victory in the first match on Saturday in Topeka.
The Bullpups also brought home a medal in Singles as Mayson Wiens finished in fifth place. A first-round bye gave way to a second round matchup with Leah Burnett of Chanute, which she won 6-4, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, Wiens fell to Zlata Mitina of Winfield 6-1, 6-1. The consolation quarterfinal match was a dominant 8-2 win over Lyla Boyd of Ottawa and then she battled to a 9-7 victory over Lana Hull of Hayden in the consolation semis. The 5th Place match was a convincing 8-1 win over Victoria Younger of Collegiate.
McKenna Paul also qualified in Singles for McPherson. She beat Tatum Vanderbilt of Wamego 6-1, 6-3 in the first round before a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Sofia Spies of Buhler in the second. On the back side, she beat Lexi Jones of Parsons, but lost to Josie Baer of Chapman 8-1 in the consolation quarters to finish the weekend 2-2.
