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.

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St. Joseph-Ogden swept the three doubles matches on Tuesday (Oct. 5) at Danville and handed Schlarman Academy a 7-2 dual-meet loss in girls’ tennis.

The win assures the Spartans (7-4) of no worse than a .500 season with three dual meets remaining.

In doubles, SJ-O’s teams lost a combined five games.

At No. 1 doubles, Hope Rajlich and Kelsey Martlage, topped Maya Jenny and Anna Lehmann, 8-4.

At No. 2 doubles, Spartans Allison Kearney and Angie Chahine teamed up to beat Lilli Perez and Madi Watson, 8-1.

At No. 3 doubles, Abby Behrens and Jacey Lewis swept past Karlee Belton and Evy Kelsey, 8-0.

SJ-O’s singles winners were Claire Huffman (No.2), Ashlyn Lannert (No. 4), Emma Rydell (No. 5) and Katie McDermott (No. 6).

Lannert and Rydell registered 8-0 wins over Lehmann and Belton, respectively. Huffman topped Watson, 8-3, and McDermott defeated Kelsey, 8-5.

SJ-O returns to action on Monday (Oct. 11) for its Senior Night match against Maroa-Forsyth at the UI Atkins Tennis Center. The Spartans have 12 seniors on the roster.

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In its first official home meet, the two-year-old St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ tennis team registered its most dominating win in program history on Wednesday (Sept. 29) at the UI Atkins Tennis Center.

The Spartans handled Decatur St. Teresa 8-1. In three singles matches and one doubles match, SJ-O didn’t lose a game.

The win boosted the Spartans’ overall season record to 6-4.

The SJ-O players who didn’t lose a game in singles were three seniors, Claire Huffman (No. 2 singles), Allison Kearney (No. 5 singles) and Angie Chahine (No. 6 singles).

At No. 1 singles, Colleen Larry handled SJ-O’s Abbey Dow, 6-1, 6-0. For the season, Dow has a 5-5 record.

Huffman and Lannert have 4-4 season marks. Kearney is 3-2 overall.

The doubles team with a 6-0, 6-0 win was the duo of seniors Abby Behrens and Jacey Lewis at the No. 2 position. They dominated Alexis Rayhill and Zia Boulier.

Behrens and Lewis are 3-2 for the season.

In singles, Huffman defeated Katherine Combs, Kearney handled Emma Norton, and Chahine beat Alyssa Wicks.

Other SJ-O singles winners were Grace Schmitz, who overpowered Alexis Rayhill, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 3, and Ashlyn Lannert who swept past Zia Boulier at No. 4, 6-1, 6-1.

The Spartans’ other successful doubles teams were Hope Rajlich and Kelsey Martlage, who topped Larry and Combs, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1, and the No. 3 unit of Katie McDermott and Emma Rydell.

They took down Norton and Wicks, 6-0, 6-2.

Rajlich and Martlage have a 4-2 season record. McDermottand Rydell are 4-1 overall.

The Spartans return to action on Monday (Oct. 4) at Atkins against Mahomet-Seymour.

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St. Joseph-Ogden won two matches in singles and two in doubles on Thursday (Sept. 23) to turn back Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, 4-1, in a girls’ tennis match at Gibson City.

In singles, Abbey Dow posted a narrow 8-7 win at No. 1 over Katie Steidinger.

At No. 2 singles, Claire Huffman was dominant against Audrey Iverson, winning 8-0.

SJ-O captured wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.

The No. 2 duo of Abby Behrens and Hope Rajlich overpowered Syda Schlickman and McKenna Crowley, 8-0.

At No. 3, Spartans Katie McDermott and Emma Rydell teamed up for an 8-3 decision over Emily Hood and Kadence Crowley.

SJ-O’s No. 1 double unit of Jacey Lewis and Kelsey Martlage were edged by London Hixson and Lexi Darbutt, 8-7.

SJ-O (5-4) returns to action on Monday (Oct. 11) against Maroa-Forsyth at the UI Atkins Tennis Center.

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The Spartans won seven of nine matches on Tuesday (Sept. 7) to capture a dual-meet victory over Schlarman Academy in Danville.

In singles, Angie Chahine didn’t lose a game against  Anjoelina Anderson, posting an 8-0 win at No. 6.

Other SJ-O singles winners were: Claire Huffman at No. 2, decisioning Caroline Bogen, 8-3; Grace Schmitz, at No. 3, topping Madi Watson, 8-3; Ashlyn Lannert, at No. 4 beating Lilli Perez, 8-6 and Allison Kearney, at No. 5, overpowering Anna Lehmann, 8-2.

Two of the Spartans’ doubles teams also posted wins.

At No. 2, Jacey Lewis and Abby Behrens handled Perez and Watson, 8-2.

At No. 3, Katie McDermott and Emma Rydell beat Lehmann and Evy Kelsey, 8-2.

At No. 1 doubles, SJ-O’s Hope Rajlich and Kelsey Martlage fell just short in a tough match against Maya Jenny and Bogen, 8-5.

On Wednesday (Sept. 8), the Spartans faced their toughest test to date and dropped a 9-0 decision to Centennial in Champaign.

The SJ-O doubles’ team all have at least .500 season records after losing to the Chargers.

Rajlich and Martlage are 3-2 overall at No. 1 after an 8-4 setback.

At No. 2, Behrens and Lewis are 2-2 after an 8-2 loss. At No. 3, Rydell and McDermott have a 2-1 record after an 8-5 loss.

Dropping narrow decisions in singles were Kearney at No. 5, 8-4, and Ella Armstrong at No. 6, 8-6.

SJ-O (4-3) returns to action on Thursday (Sept. 23) at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

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The St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ tennis team swept the three doubles matches on Wednesday (Sept. 1) and finished off a dual-meet win at Watseka, 7-2.

The No. 1 duo of Kelsey Martlage and Hope Rajlich were victorious, 8-2. At No. 2 doubles, Abby Behrens and Jacey Lewis were triumphant, 8-6.

Completing the doubles sweep was the No. 3 unit of Katie McDermott and Emma Rydell, 8-4.

In singles play, Abbey Dow scored an 8-4 win at the No. 1 position.

SJ-O also captured singles wins at Nos. 4, 5 and 6.

At No. 4, Claire Huffman won, 8-1. At No. 5, Grace Schmitz prevailed, 8-4. At No. 6, Oliva Getty registered an 8-6 win.

On Tuesday (Aug. 31), Urbana grabbed a 6-3 win at home over SJ-O, despite the Spartans claiming victories at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.

Dow posted an 8-2 singles win at No. 1.

In doubles, the duo of Martlage and Rajlich won, 8-3.

The Spartans’ other win was at No. 4 singles where Allison Kearney registered an 8-2 victory.

SJ-O (3-2) returns to action on Tuesday (Sept. 7) at Danville Schlarman Academy.

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Angie Chahine and Abby Behrens teamed up for a win in doubles for the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ tennis team, which opened the season on Thursday (Aug. 19) with an 8-1 loss at Maroa-Forsyth.

Chahine and Behrens were playing at No. 3 doubles.

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday (Aug. 24) at Urbana.

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Unbeaten and top-ranked Paris ended the girls’ basketball season for St. Joseph-Ogden on Monday with a 62-35 win in a Class 2A sectional semifinal game at Paris.

The Tigers scored all 62 of their points in the first three quarters. Paris led 18-13 after one quarter and 39-21 at halftime and had doubled the score (62-31) after three quarters.

Katie Cramer drained three three-point shots and made a team-high 11 points for SJ-O. Payton Jacob contributed 10 points.

Cramer netted a team-high 46 three-pointers for the season.

SJ-O ended the season with a 21-11 overall record.

Ten different squad members led the Spartans in scoring in at least one game this season.

Cramer was the leader in 11 games. She was followed by Ashlyn Lannert (six games), Payton Jacob (five games), Ella Armstrong (four games), Taylor Barnes (three games), Payton Vallee (three games), Atleigh Hamilton (two games), Taylor Wells (two games), Abby Behrens (one game) and Alyssa Hamilton (one game).

The team’s top individual scoring performances were by Jacob (19 points), Barnes (18 points) and Armstrong (17 points).

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One set of statistics helps to paint the most accurate picture of the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball team this season.

Ten squad members have led the team in scoring at least once. All 10 have also had games where they didn’t score a point.

“All season we’ve had girls step up,” SJ-O coach Kevin Taylor said. “It’s a credit to the girls for hanging tough.”

Thursday night was no exception.

The school captured its third successive girls’ basketball regional title on Thursday on its home court, topping Villa Grove/Heritage 50-34.

“Our defense was good all night and we had a stretch late in the third quarter where we had a good run,” Taylor said.

The Spartans led at halftime 24-18, but fell behind 27-26 before recovering.

The comeback began, Taylor said, “when we played hard and controlled the boards.”

SJ-O reaped the benefits from lessons learned during a late-season four-game losing streak.

“We were in most of those games, but lost focus and it cost us,” Taylor said. “In the postseason, we’ve done a great job of staying mentally tough.”

The Spartans’ score sheet looked different in the regional finals than it did in the semifinals.

On Thursday, Katie Cramer scored a team-high 12 points and Abby Behrens added nine points, including four fourth-quarter free throws. Payton Vallee also hit nine points.

In the semifinals, none of those three players scored. The top two SJ-O scorers in the semis, Ella Armstrong and Hannah Dukeman, were scoreless on Thursday.

The SJ-O defense held VG/H scoring leader Aliya Holloman to nine points, just the fourth game this season she didn’t hit double figures.

Payton Jacob was the primary defender on Holloman, with help from Dukeman.

“We wanted to keep her off the three-point line,” Taylor said, “and when she came off screens, we jumped out and helped.

“I’m happy for the girls. There were stretches they had to grind it out, but they have hung in there all year.”

SJ-O (21-10) returns to action on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the sectional semifinals at Paris against either the host school (which is undefeated and top-ranked in Class 2A) or Sullivan. Their regional championship game will be played tonight in Sullivan.

“It will definitely be tough, but we will prepare the best we can and go give it our best shot,” Taylor said.

VG/Heritage ends with a 25-6 season record.

Taylor enjoyed the enthusiastic crowd which helped fill the stands on Thursday for the Spartans’ final home game of the year.

“There were a lot of fans and we appreciated the support,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to be at home where you are more familiar with everything.”

SJ-O’s regional crown was its fifth in girls’ basketball in the last eight years.

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The St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball team put up 58 points in successive home games to start the week while snapping a two-game losing streak.

On Monday, SJ-O overpowered Paxton-Buckley-Loda 58-47. On Tuesday, the Spartans topped Urbana 58-40.

Four players scored in double figures against PBL. Abby Behrens and Atleigh Hamilton each ended with 12 points. Teammates Ella Armstrong and Ashlyn Lannert both added 11 points.

SJ-O held a narrow 23-19 halftime lead, but Hamilton hit six of her points in the third quarter and the team’s lead was 43-33 entering the final eight minutes.

Against Urbana, both Payton Jacob (19 points) and Armstrong (14 points) registered season-high point totals. They each drilled three three-point shots.

The Spartans carried a 23-18 lead into halftime, but Jacob tallied eight of her points in the third quarter as the team extended its lead to double digits, 41-31.

SJ-O (10-3) is idle until the State Farm Classic, which is played at various Bloomington-Normal locations. That event begins on Dec. 26.

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