Red Oak sends five to State

RED OAK — The Tiger girls’ tennis team took advantage of its home courts as the took first in the singles bracket, along with first and second in the doubles bracket at the Regional Singles and Doubles Tournament Friday.

In the doubles bracket, the Tigers dominated with the Pierson twins, Emily and Rachel, seeded number one and Kaely Piller with Brittany Walker seeded at two.

Combined, the two Red Oak teams lost a total of four games in the first two rounds as the Piersons advanced to the second round with a bye and defeated Tori Sorensen and Lindsay Bohanan of Corning 6-1, 6-0. Piller and Walker defeated Shelby Cronk and Grace Newman of Glenwood 6-0, 6-0, in the first round and advanced through the second by defeating Grace Pavlik and Katie Herrington (St. Albert) 6-2, 6-0.

The Pierson’s continued their roll as they cruised through the semifinals, defeating Kelly Ehrhardt and Alena Porter of Clarke in a 6-0, 6-0 sweep.

Piller and Walker had more trouble with Beth Reiter and Tea Driscoll of Clarinda, fighting for both sets but winning 6-5, 6-5, to set up an all-Tiger final.

The Pierson’s defeated Piller and Walker, 6-0, 6-1, to win the Regional Tournament. Both doubles teams advanced to State with the top two finishes at Regionals.

Senior Liz Cooper led the way for the Tigers in the singles bracket where she started as the second seeded player.

“We were pretty happy with her getting the second seed,” Head Coach Dan Martinez said. “We put it out there that she should be second and nobody contested it. I think that’s a tribute to the respect that she has across the district.”

Cooper made quick work of her first two opponents, defeating Matison Shuey (Corning), 6-1, 6-1) followed by her quarterfinal win over Kelli Kroepel (Shenandoah) winning 6-1, 6-2.

In the semifinal, Cooper ran into more of a challenge facing Kylar McCann of Clarke. Cooper won the first set 6-2, but had to go the extra mile in the second set, winning 6-5.

In the finals, she met Frankie Hughes of Shenandoah, who defeated Red Oak’s freshman Zoe Baker in the semifinals 6-5, 6-0. Baker knocked off the four-seed in the first round, 6-4, 6-4, and Katie Kinley (St. Albert) in the second, 6-3, 6-3.

Hughes won the first set 6-2. In the second set, Cooper fought back in the second set before falling 6-5.

Saturday, Shenandoah officials contacted Martinez to notify him that Hughes was disqualified for breaking an undisclosed team policy, and awarded Cooper the regional title.

“We were pretty excited to have the number-one spot, rather than the number-two going into the state seedings,” Martinez said. “Usually the number-two will have to go up against a regional champion, so this will be more favorable for us.”

With the disqualification, Baker, who lost her consolation match to Kylar McCann of Clarke, moved up to third in the regional tournament.