It was a successful weekend at the KSHSAA 4A Girls State Tennis Tournament in Topeka at the Kossover Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday for area athletes. The McPherson Bullpups brought home the second place trophy with 28 points behind Topeka-Hayden, which won the state championship with 40 points.
Individually, in the singles bracket, freshman Sofia Spies of Buhler went 3-1 on the weekend, taking second place. She beat Leah Burnett of Chanute 6-1, 6-0 in her opening match, then took down Fort Scott’s Abbie Gorman 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Spies won 6-1, 6-3 over fellow AVCTL opponent Sophia Heger of Winfield. Spies lost the championship match to Ainzley Zulueta of Topeka-Hayden 6-0, 6-0. Zulueta never lost a game the entire tournament and finished her senior season 24-0. Spies went 32-4 as a freshman.
Also in singles, McPherson junior Maryn Sandbo finished in third place. She won her opening match 6-3, 6-3 over Elise Richardson of Augusta, then went on to beat Ava Morris of Independence 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarters. Sando lost to Zulueta in the semis but came back to win 6-0, 6-2 over Heger to take the bronze, finishing 3-1 for the weekend and 27-9 on the season
Also from the Ad Astra Radio area to the southeast, junior Ella Guernsey of Chanute brought home the 12th place medal.
In doubles, Chanute’s Rylee Smith and Jacqueline Smoot finished in fifth place, beating Avery Unruh and Quinn Liebl of McPherson in the fifth place match 8-4. Also bringing home medals were Kennedy Tully and McKenna Paul of McPherson, as they finished in eighth place. For the full results from 4A State Tennis, click the link below.
