By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden’s girls’ tennis team was 12-for-12 in its Tuesday (Oct. 12) regular-season finale against Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at the UI Atkins Center.
All 12 Spartans who took the court were seniors, the total number of seniors on the roster of the second-year program.
SJ-O swept the three doubles matches, but fell just short on the scoreboard, dropping a 5-4 decision to GCMS.
At No. 1 doubles, Kelsey Martlage and Hope Rajlich topped Lexi Darbutt and London Hixson, 6-1, 6-3, to improve their season record to 6-2.
The No. 2 duo of Allison Kearney and Jacey Lewis swept past GCMS’ Emily Hood and Syda Schlickman, 6-2, 6-1.
The No. 3 unit of Angie Chahine and Abby Behrens had a memorable match, defeating McKenna Crowley and Kadence Crowley without losing a game, 6-0, 6-0.
Thus far, the Spartans have employed 15 different doubles’ combinations.
In singles, the lone SJ-O winner was Grace Schmitz at the No. 2 position. She topped Hixson, 6-4, 6-1.
Two other Spartans dropped hard-fought three-set matches.
At No. 4, GCMS’ Schlickman edged Ella Armstrong, 6-0, 2-6, 10-7.
At No. 6, the Falcons’ Crowley beat Hailey Gaines, 4-6, 7-6, 10-4.
Overall, 16 Spartans had singles matches throughout the course of the season.
SJ-O finishes with a dual-meet record of 7-5. The team will return to action on Friday in the 11-school Danville Class 1A Sectional.
