Story by Tennis Coach Chambers
On Saturday, the Chillicothe girls’ tennis team began the bracket play portion of the two-day Joplin Interstate Tournament. First up, the team faced Nevada High School, where the lady hornets won 6-2 to move on to winner’s bracket for the remainder of the day. Scores were as follows:

Doubles #1 of Rylee Washburn & Isabella Garr won against Hennessy Brown & Mia Fulton 6-3
Doubles #2 of Bryton BeVelle & Micah Crowe lost to Allie McCaffree & Preslee Bower 2-6
Doubles #3 of Bianca Clark & Keeley Shira won against Braelyn Harth & Lailee Chadd 6-2
Singles #1 Washburn lost to Brown 1-6
Singles #2 Garr won against Fulton 6-2
Singles #3 BeVelle won against McCaffree 6-2
Singles #4 Crowe won against Bower 6-3
Singles #5 was not played due to time limit
Singles #6 Keonnia Morgan won against Chadd 6-1

In the semifinals, Chillicothe faced Edwardsville, Illinois’ second team as they brought two teams to compete in the large tournament. The team played solid tennis, but lost to the strong Edwardsville team 2-6. Results were as follows:

Washburn & Garr lost to Peel & Hayes 4-6
BeVelle & Garr lost to Washington & Carruthers 3-6
Clark & Shira lost to Marty & Selimi 0-6
Washburn lost to Peel 1-6
Garr beat Hayes 6-4
Shira lost to Washington 2-6
Clark lost to Marty 1-6
Morgan beat Selimi 6-4

In the final match of the day, Chillicothe played College Heights Christian High School. After such a long second day in the heat, both teams played were tired but played great tennis. Unfortunately, the hornets lost a few crucial deuce & tie break points that made the final score deceivingly one-sided even though the matches were pretty evenly matched. Scores were:

Washburn & Garr lost to Brueggemaan & Bishop in a nail biter 5-7
BeVelle & Crowe lost to Smathers & Cummins 1-6
Clark & Shira lost to Shachleford & Haltzel 2-6
Washburn lost to Brueggemaan 3-6
BeVelle lost to Smathers 2-6