Oct. 21—The Thomas Jefferson girls’ tennis team jumped out to a 2-1 advantage on Monday afternoon when it hosted St. Pius X Catholic High School for a Class 2 state quarterfinal matchup at Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin.
That early lead from winning two of the three doubles matches helped the Cavaliers (12-0) earn a 5-2 victory over the Warriors (10-4).
“The last double that came off, the No. 2 doubles, we knew that possibly could be the match. It could come down to that,” TJ head coach Tom Brumfield said.
It was a 1-1 split in the first two double matches to finish early in the warm October afternoon. The No. 2 doubles match was a close grind for each point between TJ’s Warda Morsy and Jeanna Jeyaraj, and St. Pius’ Frances Hess and Manmeet Kaur.
“I think it was a really important match, but I think we handled the pressure well,” Jeyaraj said. “I think we realized how integral it was to winning and that put a lot of nice pressure on us, which I always like because it gets my adrenaline going.”
Because it was difficult for both teams to consistently win points and take a game, the match took longest to finish. Jeyaraj and Morsy held a 4-3 advantage midway through but earned four of the next five games to claim an 8-4 victory.
“We also started off really strong and kept up the pace. If we’d lose a point, we’d just keep going,” Morsy added.
That victory from the two seniors gave the team a 2-1 lead going into singles play.
“That definitely gave us a little more confidence and a boost going into singles,” Brumfield said.
St. Pius earned an 8-5 victory in No. 1 doubles as junior Kiera Dunn and freshman Evie Ward earned the last two games to pull away from a narrow 6-5 lead over TJ’s Kyla and Esther Yang.
TJ won No. 3 doubles as Mayson Solum and Madelyn Ro claimed an 8-3 win against the Warriors’ Annelise Sharp and Avery Smith.
Dunn matched up with Jeyaraj in the top singles match and was able to outlast the Cavaliers’ top gun with a 6-4, 6-2 score. That allowed the Kansas City school to hang around a bit longer.
But the Warriors were officially defeated when TJ freshman Ro earned a 6-0, 6-4 win over Sharp to give the team its fifth match victory. Ro and Sharp competed in No. 6 singles.
“There was definitely a little pressure. But I knew if I didn’t win my other teammates would,” Ro said. “Making her run around and go side to side, I think that really worked.”
Ro was talking about using the entire court to her advantage in order to have success against Sharp.
No. 3 and 4 singles did not need to finish because the match had been decided before the last two matches were finalized.
In other singles play, No. 2 Kyla Yang took down Ward 6-3, 6-1 and No. 5 singles went to Morsy over Smith 6-1, 6-0.
Yang was able to defeat one of the Warriors’ top players to help keep that lead for the Cavaliers.
“At first, I was a little worried because she was slamming balls back and forth,” Yang said. “But I just tried to be as consistent as I could be and aim at her backhand. But, I guess it was more of a mental game than physical game because once I was down love (0)-40 or 15-40. … I always believe that comebacks are a thing.
“It’s difficult sometimes if you’re playing a really good player, and she was a really good freshman. But you can’t do anything about the last point so you just have to forget about it.”
The depth of the team was a factor in this quarterfinal game, as TJ earned the wins after the top matches in singles and doubles.
“The depth has been important all year long. Of course, you have to have depth to extend your season out,” Brumfield said.
Up next
TJ meets Ladue Horton Watkins High School (13-3) in the semifinals, which defeated Helias Catholic High School 5-1 on Tuesday. That semifinal match is set for Thursday, Oct. 31, at noon at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
“I’m so excited. Two years in a row is honestly crazy. I couldn’t have done it without the rest of my team,” Kyla Yang said. “I’m so excited, especially because I get to go with my sister one more year.”
Kyla and Esther are sisters; Kyla is a senior and Esther a sophomore.
Brumfield mentioned goals and being able to accomplish five straight district championships last week and now back-to-back trips to the semifinals.
“We always had a goal to win a district and then the next goal was to take that next step and get to the semifinal match,” Brumfield said. “Once you get up there, all the teams are tough. Once you get there, just relax, have some fun and see where it goes. Lay it out there and see what can happen. We’re excited to get back there.”
