Sep. 2—The Joplin High School girls tennis team got its season underway over the weekend, hosting the two-day Joplin Interstate Championships.
The event, which took place at four sites — Joplin High School, Carthage High School, the Joplin Athletic Complex and Millennium Tennis — featured 24 teams from Arkansas and Missouri.
The Eagles reached the semifinals of the eight-team Futures bracket with a 3-2 win over Chillicothe, but fell 2-3 to Platte County in their semifinal match.
Platte County
Joplin’s Izzy Zamanzadeh and Kendall Ramsey won their No. 1 doubles match 8-6, and Lylah Fry and Elaina Ramos won their No. 2 doubles contest 8-5.
Kylea Thullesen fell 5-8 in her No. 3 singles match and Cory Mueller dropped the No. 2 singles 1-8.
In her No. 1 singles match, Julia Reyes fell 3-8.
Lebanon
The Eagles stayed competitive in another close match, but fell 2-3 to Lebanon in the contest for third place.
Zamanzadeh posted an 8-0 win over Lebanon’s Emma Johnson in her No. 2 singes match, but Reyes fell 2-8 to Olivia McGruder, which tied the match at 1-1.
Lebanon increased its lead to 2-1 when Adalyn Coryell and Hope Cox defeated Joplin’s No. 2 doubles team of Mueller and Fry 4-8.
Joplin’s Ramsey fell 4-8 to Lebanon’s Aleyah Jemes in the No. 3 singles match to give Lebanon third place.
The Eagles No. 2 doubles team of Ramos and Thullesen were victorious in their match against Lebanon’s Lilly Bradbury and Rayleigh Guccione by a score of 8-6.
‘I was nervous’
Zamanzadeh, one of three seniors on the team, shared her thoughts after the first competition of the season.
“I was nervous about it in the beginning, but it really came together this weekend,” she said.
All three of Joplin’s contests in the Futures bracket were decided by one match.
“This tournament is a good way to see where we are, compared to a bunch of other schools,” JHS head coach Ben Coltharp said. “Three-two matches mean we are competitive and that’s what I like to see. I like to see that we are competitive and not giving up and that we can play under pressure in tight, close matches.”
Coltharp shared his assessment of his team after its first regular season competition.
“Our top eight have really put the work in and I am seeing a lot of good things from them,” he said.
Coltharp also talked about how the Interstate Championships, with a full slate of matches over two days, get his girls ready for the season.
“It gets them started at 100% almost,” Coltharp said. “We don’t ease into it, we start firing on all cylinders. It also helps get us in shape conditioning-wise because we are playing so many matches.”
Joplin will face Lebanon again on Thursday in Springfield, before traveling to Edwardsville, Illinois, for a three-day tourney Friday through Sunday.
In the Challengers bracket, Lee’s Summit was first, St. Michael the Archangel was runner-up, Grain Valley was third and Carthage was fourth.
In the Championship bracket, Bentonville, Arkansas, was first; Rogers, Arkansas, was second; Carl Junction was third and Branson was fourth.
Carthage resumes action Thursday at Lamar, while Carl Junction will compete at the Mount Vernon tournament beginning Friday.
