Spartan tennis season comes to an end

By Fred Kroner

Three of the four St. Joseph-Ogden entries in the Class 1A Danville Sectional had the misfortune of drawing matches with players from Mahomet-Seymour’s best team in school history and suffered season-ending losses on Friday (Oct. 13).

In doubles, MaKennah Hamilton and Ellie Ward scored back-to-back victories before dropping a quarterfinal decision to M-S’ then-unbeaten Adella Bird and Holland Martin, 6-0, 6-1.

To reach the quarterfinals, Hamilton and Ward ousted Schlarman’s Devyn Gose and Reagan Troglia, 6-0, 6-1, as well as Danville’s Lexi Foley and Aliya Morgan, 7-6, 7-6.

Hamilton and Ward fell one sectional win short of advancing to state. All players who reach the semifinals automatically qualify for state.

The other SJ-O doubles unit of Lily Rice and Caroline Aden fell to the Bulldogs’ Savannah Amatyleon and Emily Young, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round. Amatyleon and Young are two-time state-qualifiers in doubles.

For the season, Hamilton and Ward had the team’s best record in doubles, finishing 4-5.

In all, SJ-O used 19 different doubles units. With multiple partners, Hamilton was involved with five wins in doubles as was Sara Kearney. Both players are juniors.

In singles, SJ-O’s Addison Seggebruch opened the tournament with a straight-set, 6-1, 6-1 triumph over St. Thomas More’s Lydi Case. She was then eliminated in the second round by Schlarman’s Jenny Maya, 6-0, 6-0. Maya was a state-qualifier.

The Spartans’ other singles’ competitor, Addison Ross, suffered a tough three-set loss to M-S’ Emmie Flores, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6.

In all this season, 13 different Spartans took the court in singles and 11 won at least one match.

The team leaders were seniors Olivia Getty and Lauren Lannert, each compiling records of 5-3, and sophomore Lily Rice, who was 4-2 in singles.

SJ-O was 4-9 in dual meets.