The process of figuring out what lineup will give Emporia High the best chance to send tennis players to State continued on Monday at the Spartans’ home invitational. As it shakes out, the Spartans are managing to put some more wins on the board.
Emporia finished third out of five teams at Monday’s invite, going 6-10 overall. Every Spartan entry earned at least one victory, led by Nancy Delgado at No. 1 singles and Danielle Anliker/Noelle Waters at No. 2 doubles, who each finished third.
“I think we’re starting to see some of the products of our hard work,” EHS coach Melinda Flohr said. “And I actually think we’re probably playing the best tennis we’ve played all season now towards the end of the year, which is what we need to have happen.”
Delgado and Anliker/Waters each went 2-2 on the day. Delgado got her wins over Topeka High’s Ngina Nzuilli 8-0 and over Manhattan’s Annie Hodges 8-1. She lost to Wichita Southeast’s Vicky Tran 8-4 and to Washburn Rural’s Maria Stoica 8-3.
Anliker/Waters, a combo without much experience playing together, defeated Wichita Southeast’s Diana Vo/Hayley Dunn 8-2 and Topeka High’s TaQuva Canady/Jaylene Strever 8-3. They fell to Washburn Rural’s Mackenzie Hill/Gwen Shepler 8-1 and Manhattan’s Julia Yang/Carolyn Fox 8-3.
“And actually, they did pretty well for their first meet playing together,” Flohr said. “So we definitely are gonna look at them more this week as a possible doubles team to have for League next week.”
Lydia Roemer competed at No. 2 singles for EHS, going 1-3 with an 8-5 win over Wichita Southeast’s Michelle Tran to finish fourth. Roemer actually was defeated by a teammate on Monday; Topeka High needed a No. 2 singles player, so the Spartans loaned the Trojans Alice Tunks-Jones, who went 2-2 on the day, including an 8-1 win over Roemer. Roemer also competed against Washburn Rural’s Christy Peterson, losing 8-3, and Manhattan’s Francis Jin, losing 8-1.
Kaitlin Gile paired with Chloe Blake to fill Emporia’s No. 1 doubles spot, and the duo won one match to finish fourth. Gile/Blake beat Hillary Steindler/Hannah Jones of Wichita Southeast 8-2. They lost to Topeka High’s team of Kelly Murphy/Hannah Jones 8-1, to Allison Bruner/Taylor Smith of Washburn Rural 8-2 and to Manhattan’s Andrea Kruse/Kayla Fraley 8-2.
Washburn Rural won all 16 of its matches Monday to finish in first place. Manhattan went 9-7 to finish second. Topeka High, including Tunks-Jones’ contributions, went 4-12 to equal Wichita Southeast’s record.
Flohr believes it’s been determined who the “varsity six” will be who will compete for the Spartans at next week’s League and Regional meets, but the lineup hasn’t been set in stone. She said Delgado is likely to be the Spartans’ No. 1 singles player, and this season’s history suggests Gile will likely be half of the No. 1 doubles team. But some slotting is still left to be decided.
“It could end up being, if Noelle doesn’t play doubles, she could end up filling that No. 2 singles spot,” Flohr said. “It could end up being Chloe Blake. It just kind of depends on what we see the next few days in practice as far as doubles go, I think, that is gonna determine who is gonna fill that No. 2 singles spot.”
The Spartans’ last meet before League comes on Saturday, when they travel to a quad in Manhattan.
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