McPherson – Abilene seniors Aleah Ortiz and Allison Rose have qualified for the Class 4A State Tennis Tournament this week in Topeka.
The Abilene pair placed sixth in doubles at the McPherson Regional Tournament on Saturday.
Ortiz and Rose, the sixth seed at Regionals, opened with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Maddison Arnberger and Anjali Balbuena of Colby. In the second round, they fell to Ella Kramer and Annalea Hendrickson of Clay Center 6-3, 6-0 before heading to the consolation bracket. In that round, they defeated Scott City’s Marisa Alvardo and Ella Frank 6-2, 6-3 to advance. In the fifth-place match, they battled Isley Lee and Elizabeth Larson of Clay Center to a 6-2, 6-7 (5) 6-3 loss.
By placing sixth, Ortiz and Rose will head to Topeka this weekend to compete in the doubles bracket of the Class 4A State Tournament at Kossover Tennis Center.
Abilene’s Tessa Herrman and Emery Lady competed in the singles bracket while Summer Bice and Johanna Schautes were the second doubles team for the Cowgirls.
Herrman, a freshman, entered the regional as the seventh seed in singles and opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Madaelyn Murray of Goodland. She then fell to Pfizenmaier of Clay Center 6-3, 6-2 before going to the consolation bracket, where she finished seventh falling to A Zimmerman of Colby 6-3, 6-2.
Lady, the thirteenth seed, lost her opening match to Clarissa Sianuqui of Ulysses 6-0, 6-0. Bice and Schautes were the ninth seed in the doubles bracket and upset the eighth seed from Goodland 7-6(5), 6-2 before falling 6-4, 6-0 to the eventual champions from McPherson. Bice and Schautes nearly qualified for State before placing seventh in doubles falling to Clay Center’s Lee and Larson 7-5, 6-4 in the consolation bracket.
