The Emporia High girls tennis team will send five players to the state tournament next week after a second-place showing at Regionals Thursday afternoon.
The Spartans as a team compiled nine points, finishing behind only Topeka West, which finished with 14 points.
Senior Hallie Kretsinger continued her strong play as of late, as she came in second place with a 2-1 record, falling in the championship match of singles play against Topeka West’s Teri Hopkins. Kretsinger picked up straight-set victories over Lansing’s Lauren Elkins, 2-0 (7-5, 7-5), and Topeka West’s Shannon Johnston, 2-0 (7-5, 6-2).
In the championship match against Hopkins, Kretsinger battled game after game, but came up just short in both sets, falling 2-0 (7-5, 7-5).
Both of Emporia High’s doubles teams advanced to state as well, as the duo of Rachael Bachman and Emilia Chiroy took third place while McKenzie Cinelli and Sarah Watkins finished one place back in fourth.
Bachman and Chiroy opened the tournament with a 2-0 (6-0, 6-2) victory over the team from Topeka West before running into trouble in their second match.
The duo from Shawnee Heights beat Bachman and Chiroy, 2-0 (6-4, 6-3), to knock the Spartan pair out of the championship race, setting up a showdown with their teammates, Cinelli and Watkins, in a battle for the third- and fourth-place spots.
Cinelli and Watkins also got a first-round victory when they disposed of the team from Seaman, 2-0 (6-3, 6-2), but like Bachman and Chiroy, Cinelli and Watkins dropped their second match when the team from Topeka West beat them, 2-0 (6-3, 6-4).
Bachman and Chiroy beat Cinelli and Watkins in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, but each team earned the right to state by virtue of their top-4 finishes.
Emporia High’s other singles player, Whitney Page, fell in the first round against Seaman’s Jenni Mead in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.
Emporia High’s delegation of Kretsinger, Bachman, Chiroy, Cinelli and Watkins is the most amount of players the Spartans have sent to state in at least four years.
The state tournament will be held next Friday and Saturday in McPherson.
Out-manned Spartans battle Seaman, fall 1-0
Despite playing with just 10 players instead of 11 for 54 minutes Thursday night against Seaman, the Emporia High boys soccer team managed to take Seaman into double overtime before allowing a goal with less than three minutes left to lose, 1-0.
With 2 minutes, 36 seconds left and the score 0-0, Seaman’s Josh Wurtz received a pass with his back to the goal, turned and fired a shot through a crowd of people and into the upper-right corner of the net to give Seaman the deciding score.
“It was a good shot,” EHS coach Steve Pearson said. “He got off a good one, and I don’t know how he got it through, but it was a nice shot.”
The Spartans played with one less player because defender Juan Rangel received a red card for a “retaliatory strike” on a Seaman player after a yellow card.
It was Rangel’s second red card in as many games — he had to sit out Tuesday’s game against Washburn Rural — and the latest offense means he is no longer on the team.
Despite being out-manned, Pearson said his squad played admirably throughout the entire contest, and even was out-shooting Seaman 5-2 at halftime.
“I don’t think anybody on either side could have realized how awesome we looked for those 54 minutes,” Pearson said. “We played a whale of a game. Of course, our offense suffered once we got down a player, but we fought right to the end.”
In JV action, the Spartans defeated Seaman, 3-0. Santos Ibarra scored one goal and Derek Nielson added the other two scores.