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Lady Hornets Tennis
Team Districts
Oct 13 2025
<Schedule>
Story by Coach
Chambers
Lady Hornet Tennis Wins First Round of Districts
Monday evening, the Lady Hornets of Chillicothe High
School hosted the Lady Cardinals of Benton for the MSHSAA Class 1,
District 8 first-round dual, technically called the Quarterfinals of
the team district competition. Chillicothe entered as the #3 seed
with Benton as the #6 seed. Unfortunately, due to last-minute
illness, Benton was unable to bring their #1 or #2 player and didn't
have time for replacements either. While Chillicothe could have
automatically taken the three forfeits as wins toward the team
count, Coach Chambers wanted her athletes to all get a match to help
prep for the semi-finals the next night. Therefore, the Lady Hornets
agreed to play their two doubles teams and four singles teams
without counting the automatic forfeit wins. Chambers said, "We want
to win the right way, by playing great tennis, not by a
technicality."
Seniors Summer Gatson & Rian Mathews led the
charge on doubles #1 court, winning in under an hour, while newer
pair Anya Moore and Isabel Nagel won beside them in #2 doubles even
faster. Both pairs played confident, clean tennis. In singles, Lexy
Smith took charge at #1 with her typical partner, Lydia Bonderer, at
#2. Gatson was the only player to handle a second match for the
night as the highest-ranked senior, playing #3 singles, while fellow
senior Helena England played #4 singles for the night. Smith won two
full sets in record fashion with Bonderer finishing just 10 minutes
after her. Finally, Gatson also finished her sets rather dominantly
to clinch the fifth win that the team needed to call the night at
5-0. England was unable to finish her match but was mounting a
strong comeback in her second set to take her match to a potential
tiebreak.
Results were as follows:
#1 Doubles -- Gatson & Mathews won 8-3 over Karmen Phillips & Sophia
Nold
#2 Doubles -- Moore & Nagel won 8-2 over Josephina Nold & Gabriella
Nold
#1 Singles -- Smith won 6-0, 6-0 over Phillips
#2 Singles -- Bonderer won 6-1, 6-0 over J. Nold
#3 Singles -- Gatson won 6-1, 6-2 over G. Nold
#4 Singles -- England match vs S. Nold did not finish
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