Sydnie Whiteside - 2nd Place
Beat Kathryn Shetley - Kennett 6-0, 6-1
Beat Taylor Crawford - Marshall 7-5, 6-2
Beat Angeline Veronikis - MICDS 6-4, 6-1
Lost to Brittany Green - Villa Duchesne 2-6, 1-6
 

Ali Stephens - 4th Place
Beat Emily McFarland - Lutheran North 6-2, 6-0
Beat McCayla Wells - Warrensburg 6-1, 6-2
Lost to Brittany Green - Villa Duchesne 0-6, 1-6
Lost to Angeline Veronikis - MICDS 2-6, 3-6

Kelly Westphall/Chelsea Long
Lost to Carl Hopkins/Regan Kapp - Cape Girardeau Notre dame 3-6, 1-6
Lost to Emily Brown/Alissa Holthe - Lutheran South 6-7 (3), 5-7

 Coach Ed Douglas Says:
Sydie Whiteside and Ali Stephens capped off an outstanding season with terrific performances at the State Tennis Tournament Friday and Saturday in Springfield. Whiteside and Stephens had performed well on this stage before finishing 5th and 6th respectively at the State Tournament last year as sophomores. This year they exceeded that performance. Whiteside entered the tournament with a 29-2 record with her only losses to the defending State Champion in Singles Alena Frye (who won the doubles this year) and a loss to teammate Stephens at the Chillicothe Invitational. Stephens entered the tournament 25-3 with her losses to Alena Frye's doubles partner who won the State doubles this year ) and two losses to teammate Whiteside at Conference and District. Both Whiteside and Stephens dominated in their round of 16 match with relatively easy wins over a girls from Kennett and Lutheran North respectively. "Our two girls are so good I take their easy wins for granted because they are able to dominate most opposition." In the Quarterfinal match Stephens defeated McKayla Wells from Warrensburg 6-1 6-2. "Wells was a good player but Ali played her best match of the year when it mattered most. This moved her into Saturdays Singles semifinals." Whiteside played Taylor Crawford from Marshall who Sidney had defeated earlier in the year in a dual match in a very close 10-8 match. ". "Crawford is a wall and can hit everything back. Sydnie hit everything very hard and moved the ball around really well but many points literally had forty and fifty shot rallies-really." Sydnie mental toughness showed up with a grueling 7-5 6-2 win that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes. "I have never seen a two set match last nearly that long but that is how long the points were and Sydnie was drilling the ball very hard so it was a really tough battle." If this had been a 5 set match like the men pros play at the major it would have literally been a 6 hour match. "
That put both girls into Saturday's semifinals. "I told the girls that their 5th and 6th place medalist finish was great last year but this was a lot better because last year on Saturday all their matches were from the consolation side. With both of them winning their first two matches they were both playing on the winner's side on Saturday which is a far greater accomplishment."
The next day Ali lost to the eventual state champion Brittany Green from Vila Duchense. "Green has all the shots and has great touch and direction. She is very, very good." In the other semifinal, Sydnie again elevated her game with the her best match of they year defeating Agenline Veronikis from MICDS in St Louis 6-4 6-1. "Sydnie, just like Ali played her best match of the year in her quarterfinal win but she turned arond and played even better in her semifinal match." Her opponent is an excellent player but Sydnie was able to overpower her eventually with her patented repeated really hard and deep two handed top spin groundstrokes." "I have never seen Sydnie that focused and determined and that is saying a lot because she is as focused and determined as they come all the time."
In the third place match Ali lost to Vernokis 6-2 6-3. "This was a good match but Vernokis played very well and Ali who also played well wasn't quite able to overcome that."
In the State finals Syndie lost to Green 6-1 6-2. "Green only lost a total of three games in six sets coming into this match and so she is exceptional. Although she won the first set in similar fashion to the other matches, in the second set Sydnie elevated her game one more time actually went toe to toe with her. Although the score doesn't indicate it, Syndie was with a couple of points of the match being 4-4 . It was a really good set and Sydnie knew she left it all out on the court or done everything she could possibly do."
"Finishing second and fourth in the State in quite an accomplishment. Not many people realize how tough the competition is at this level. There are many very good private school players who have played nearly their entire lives and had year round private lessons and played numerous national tournaments." But this was no fluke. Our two girls are really that good too. Not only had they already proven last year they could compete and win at this level with their 5th and 6th place finish but they proved it repeatedly this year. Sydnie ended the year with a win over the 3rd place finisher, two wins over the 4th place finisher(Ali) two wins over the 5th place finisher (Taylor from Marshall ) and a win over the 6th place finisher at the Excelsoir Tournament. Ali in 4th place had a win over the 2nd place finisher (Sydnie). This was no fluke, the girls are really that good."
Chillicothe other entry, Kelly Westphal and Chelsea Long lost their first match to the eventual 8th place finisher from Cape Girardeau. They lost a very close consolation match 6-7 an 5-7 to Lutheran South team. " Kelly and Chelsea played a very good second match and almost pulled it off. It could have gone the other way. But Bob Long (assistant coach) and I were very proud of how they played and represented us."
There were several items of note for the Lady Hornets. "We were the only team at State to have 3 entries in the tournament (2 singles and one doubles) and we were the only team to have two entries in the semifinals in singles and doubles." "Last year was the first time two singles players from Chillicothe had medaled in the same year. Consequently, this year 2nd and 4th was the first Hornet team to have two singles players in the final four."
This really capped off an extremely successful season, 14-3 team record, repeat MEC Champion with a 6-0 record, District Championship, (team lost in Sectionals to eventual State Champ Barstow) Individual 1st and 2nd at Conference in Singles and 1st and 4th in doubles, 1st and 2nd in singles at District Individual tournament and 2nd in doubles and then wins at sectional for both singles players and our doubles team to qualify for state. Then to have our two top players finish 2nd and 4th at this level of competition more than we could have hoped for."
Although so much for next year depends on how District schools are realigned and what draws you get at State, all of which is out of your control, with our top 5 players all returning next year there is no question we will be even a better team next year. No team next year should have top 2 players as good as ours and our 3 -5 returning players, Kelly Westphal, Chelsie Long and Jozie Reeter are all very good players and will be even better next year.
" It is special for Bob and I to coach good group of outstanding student athletes including all our letterman our top two and Kelly, Chelsea, Jozie, Therese Taylor and Candace Callahan. But I really can't say enough about Sydnie and Ali's accomplishment at State last year and especially this year. To be that good takes special athletes. They have to be talented, motivated, committed, unbelievable hard workers and most importantly tenacious competitors. The two of them are as good as competitors as I have probably ever seen in my 18 seasons coaching boys or girls tennis. They also don't probably realize how they make each other better by having each other to compete again. And most importantly they are able to give 110% effort playing each other and then put it behind them and be best friends off the court." It is a real pleasure and joy to be able to coach players like this."