Oct. 1—WATERTOWN, S.D. — Behind six flight champions, the Mitchell High School girls tennis team earned a conference title Tuesday.
The Kernels secured the Eastern South Dakota Conference championship with 321 points in the two-day meet. Yankton finished in second place (266) and Watertown came in third (246). The event was contested over two days at Watertown’s Belmont Park and Highland Park.
Among the singles champions, top-seeded Carsyn Weich secured the Flight 2 title following wins against Pierre’s Breanna Tedrow and Aberdeen Central’s Avery Tennant to reach the finals, only dropping six total games. She defeated Yankton’s Sabrina Krajewski in the title match 10-6.
As the No. 2-seed, Elly Clement took home the Flight 4 championship over top-seed Chloe Ladner of Aberdeen Central. Clement won all her matches by final scores of 10-8, taking down Brandon Valley’s Reagan Morrell in the quarterfinals and Harrisburg’s Noa Lovro in the semifinals.
In Flight 5, Matteah Graves earned the championship after running the bracket as the No. 1-seed, winning against Brandon Valley’s Harper Beatch and Aberdeen’s Sara Knie to reach the final. Graves picked up a 10-5 victory over Watertown’s Cayda Weiss.
Mia Larson was the other singles champion for the Kernels, taking home the Flight 6 title. Dropping only three games against Yankton’s Meagan Scott and Aberdeen’s Ashley Ortega, Larson narrowly defeated Watertown’s Jade Smith by a final of 10-9 (8).
Elsewhere in singles, Megan Mastel was the Flight 1 consolation champion, picking up a narrow 8-6 win over Brookings’ Sophie Tanner in the consolation semifinals before taking down Mckenzie Vickery of Harrisburg 8-1. Katie Morgan finished in fourth place at No. 3 singles, winning her quarterfinal match over Harrisburg’s Jessi Muth 10-9 (1). Aberdeen’s Reese Comstock won the third-place match 8-2.
In doubles competition, Mitchell secured two of the three flight championships. Clement and Graves secured the Flight 2 title with a 10-7 victory over Aberdeen’s Comstock and Ladner. Larson and Morgan won the No. 3 doubles title in a close match, defeating Harrisburg’s Hope Gabel and Hannah Frye 10-8.
Yankton took home the other flight championships for the tournaments. Nora Krajewski defeated Watertown’s Ellie Zink 10-6 to win at No. 1 singles. Paige Mitzel earned a 10-3 win over Watertown’s Faith Berg at No. 3 singles. Nora Krajewski and Sabrina Krajewski won the No. 1 doubles title over Watertown’s Ellie Zink and Leyla Meester 10-7. Mitchell’s No. 1 doubles team of Mastel and Weich came in fourth.
The Class AA girls state tennis championships will be held on Oct. 10-11 at the Sioux Park and Parkview Tennis Complex in Rapid City.
