Sorting things out
By Michael Ashford
Originally published 12:49 p.m., September 25, 2007
Updated 12:49 p.m., September 25, 2007
With postseason play bearing down, EHS girls tennis coach Melinda Flohr is beginning to see her team work out its kinks.
The Lady Spartans have been searching all season to find the pairings and matchups that provide the best results out on the court, and after seeing her No. 1 squad take third Monday at the Emporia High Invitational, Flohr said her team was close to being sorted out.
“We’ve searched all season to figure out combinations, and I won’t absolutely say that we’re set, but we’re an awful lot closer than we were even four or five days ago to having our lineup for League and Regionals,” Flohr said. “We’re getting there.”
Perhaps the biggest reason for Flohr’s optimism has been the emergence of Jessica Leon at the No. 2 singles spot. Two days after taking third in Saturday’s home invitational as a member of Emporia’s No. 2 squad, Leon followed that up with a first-place finish as a member of the No. 1 squad with a 3-0 record in Monday’s meet.
Leon began her day with an 8-0 blanking of Wichita Southeast’s Betty Ha, and then Leon defeated Manhattan’s Taylor Manges, 8-5, to advance to the title match. Leon captured first place with an 8-4 victory over Wichita East’s Bridget Koening, a match in which Leon displayed a methodical approach where she seemed content to sit back and let her opponent, Koening, make mistakes.
“Her last two meets have been great,” Flohr said. “She finds a way to hang in there and win. She has natural quickness and doesn’t really hit the ball overly hard, but she’s patient and she keeps the ball in play and she makes her opponents make the error.”
Emporia’s No. 1 squad barely missed out on another first-place finish, as the No. 2 doubles team of Whitney Page and Rose Nasrazadani fell in the championship match to Washburn Rural’s Rachel Butler and Jaime Hertling in a tiebreaker 8-7(12-10).
After getting wins over duos from Wichita Southeast and Manhattan, Page and Nasrazadani, playing together competitively for the first time this season, had Butler and Hertling on the ropes by taking a 6-4 lead in the title match. But Butler and Hertling fought back to tie the match at 7 to force a tiebreaker, and despite holding a 9-8 lead at one point, Page and Nasrazadani eventually fell after a lengthy battle.
“I think we actually got a bit overconfident — at least, I did,” Nasrazadani said. “It was tough. We worked really hard. I’m still really proud of what we did. We could have done better in some areas, but just didn’t.
“I still think we played well.”
Elsewhere for the No. 1 EHS squad, Amanda Roberts at No. 1 singles and Sarah Watkins and Lauren Kitchens at No. 1 doubles each came away with fourth-place finishes with 1-2 records.
Emporia’s No. 1 squad finished with 18 points, just one point behind runner-up Washburn Rural (19). Wichita East won the team title with 21 points.
The day was a bit rougher for Emporia’s No. 2 squad, as it finished sixth with six team points behind Manhattan and Wichita Southeast, which each finished with 12 points.
It didn’t help that No. 1 singles player Jordan Sosa fell ill and had to default her final match of the day.
In doubles action, both the duos of Erica Bennett and Sarah Dorsey at No. 1 doubles and Noelle Waters and Ashley Gitchel at No. 2 doubles finished their days with 1-2 records, as each won their final match to record fifth-place outings.
Tiffany Ma at the No. 2 singles spot lost all three matches to finish sixth.
Emporia High will have one more opportunity to tweak its lineups before the postseason, as the team will travel to Manhattan on Saturday. The Centennial League meet then will take place at Manhattan next Monday.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a good week of practice in,” Flohr said. “Obviously, we want a good showing at League. ... League will be interesting because there are a lot of teams that are pretty evenly matched this year. It could be a really good meet.”
Monday at Emporia
Team Scores
1. Wichita East 21, 2. Washburn Rural 19, 3. Emporia-I 18, 4T. Manhattan 12, 4T. Wichita Southeast 12, 6. Emporia-II 6.
Emporia-I
No. 1 singles
Suzan Lisenby, WSE, def. Amanda Roberts, Emp, 8-0; Roberts def. Alicia Moran, Man, 8-6; Kelsey Bruslavik, WR, def. Roberts, 8-7(7-2).
No. 2 singles
Jessica Leon, Emp, def. Betty Ha, WSE, 8-0; Leon def. Taylor Manges, Man, 8-5; Leon def. Bridget Koening, WE, 8-4.
No. 1 doubles
Sarah Watkins/Lauren Kitchens, Emp, def. Vicky Tran/Hayley Dunn, WSE, 8-1; Andrea Kruse/Katie James, Man, def. Watkins/Kitchens, 8-0; Erika Munker/Elizabeth Werner, WR, def. Watkins/Kitchens, 8-6.
No. 2 doubles
Whitney Page/Rose Nasrazadani, Emp, def. Edna Liu/Jessica McClellan, WSE, 8-1; Page/Nasrazadani def. Julia Yang/LaToya Nelson, Man, 8-6; Rachel Butler, Jaime Hertling, WR, def. Page/Nasrazadani, 8-7(12-10).
Emporia-II
No. 1 singles
Kelsey Bruslavik, WR, def. Jordan Sosa, Emp, 8-2; Drea Shaver, WE, def. Sosa, 8-0; Alicia Moran, Man, def. Sosa, default.
No. 2 singles
Melissa Morgan, WR, def. Tiffany Ma, Emp, 8-2; Bridget Koening, WE, def. Ma, 8-1; Taylor Manges, Man, def. Ma, 8-7(7-4).
No. 1 doubles
Ericka Munker/Elizabeth Werner, WR, def. Erica Bennett/Sarah Dorsey, Emp, 8-4; Sesily Jackson/Natalie Shellito, WE, def. Bennett/Dorsey, 8-0; Bennett/Dorsey def. Vicky Tran/Hayley Dunn, WSE, 8-1.
No. 2 doubles
Rachel Butler/Jaime Hertling, WR, def. Noelle Waters/Ashley Gitchel, Emp, 8-3; Hema Navaneethan/Larissa Briley, WE, def. Waters/Gitchel, 8-4; Waters/Gitchel def. Edna Liu/Jessica McClellan, WSE, 8-2.