For third straight year, Missouri prep tennis title eludes Lee’s Summit West

For the third year in a row, the Lee’s Summit West girls tennis team advanced to the Missouri State High School Activities Association final four.

And for the third year in succession, powerhouse Rock Bridge kept the Titans from earning their first state championship..

Lee’s Summit West lost in the championship match in 2016, the semifinals last year and the championship match Thursday 5-1 at the Cooper Tennis Complex. Rock Bridge claimed its fifth straight team title and also set a state record with seven consecutive team titles between the boys and the girls.

“(Rock Bridge coach) Ben (Loeb) has built something special in Columbia,” Titans coach Todd Wilson said. “We fought really hard. The score is 5-1 in the record books, but if we had played it out, it would have been 6-3 or even 5-4. We were up at No. 5 and 6 singles and had split sets at No. 1 singles.”

Lee’s Summit West had a huge 5-2 win over St. Joseph’s Academy in the semifinals to get the shot at Rock Bridge.

“We played two of the top teams in the state today and played really well,” Wilson said. “St. Joseph’s is a powerhouse every year. We were able to set the tone in doubles. And our middle of the lineup has been solid all season and they didn’t let us down today.”

The Titans won two of the three doubles matches against the Angels to take the early advantage.

Tristen Caskey and Leisana Rector lost to the Ellie Choate and Lexi Woodman 8-1 at No. 1 doubles. Choate and Woodman are favorites to win the Class 2 individual doubles title.

Senior Megan Demo and freshman Raegan McGee won a crucial match, 8-6, over Shannon Sims and Nancy Serafin at No. 2 doubles while Chloe Sabin and Sarah Duong won a convincing 8-1 match over Megan Nguyen and Lily Montano at No. 3 doubles.

Woodman prevailed for the Angels at No. 2 singles, but the Titans got straight-set wins from Rector at No. 3, Sabin at No.. 4 and Duong at No. 6 to advance to the championship match.

Lee’s Summit West got wins from Sabin and Duong at No. 3 doubles as Rock Bridge took a 2-1 lead in the championship match.

The Bruins would get wins from Eleanor Fay at No. 2, Mary Hose at No. 3 and Maggie Lin at No. 4 to clinch their fifth straight team title.

“I felt the season was a huge success,” said Wilson, whose team finished 15-4, with two of the losses coming against Rock Bridge (the others were against St. Teresa’s Academy and Pembroke Hill). “We have two seniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. We had some growing pains early, but I saw a lot of growth, both physically and mentally, as the season went on. The future is bright at Lee’s Summit West.”

Pembroke Hill finished third in the Class 1 state team tournament Thursday.

The Raiders fell to John Burroughs, 5-0, in the semifinals Thursday morning in a repeat of last year’s championship match, which was won in dramatic fashion 5-4 by Pembroke Hill.

But John Burroughs is arguably one of the best teams in state history. They have four former state champions (Sami Remis and Gaby Thornton in singles and Lily Walther and Ainsley Heidbreder in doubles), and a freshman (Emily Kantrovitz) played ahead of all of them in the lineup.

“They are a great team,” Pembroke Hill coach Michael Duckworth said. “The only team that I could see playing with them is Blue Valley North. They came out and hit us hard early. They took us out of our game early.”

John Burroughs swept the doubles, losing just five total games in the three matches. And it won at No. 5 and 6 singles, losing just five games in those matches.

The Bombers finished the season 19-0 and lost just six courts all season. Pembroke Hill gave them their closest match, losing 7-2 in the season opening Great Eight Tournament. John Burroughs won its last eight matches, including a 5-0 win over Visitation in the Class 1 final Thursday, without losing a court.

Pembroke Hill came back to win the third place match 5-1 over Springfield Catholic. The Raiders took a 2-1 lead after doubles with wins at No. 1 from Randi Hendricks and Adella Castaner and at No. 3 from Alyssa Turtledove and Lucia Wolfe. Hendricks, Castaner and Wolfe won in straight sets in singles.

“We had a young team and we did well,” said Duckworth, whose squad finished with a 16-3 record. “Any time you get down here, it’s a good season.”

The individual portion of the state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday in Springfield.