The two-year-old St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ tennis program had wins from all four sectional entries and two of the entries fell just one victory short of advancing to state.

Losing in the quarterfinals on Friday (Oct. 15) for the Spartans were junior Abbey Dow in singles and the senior doubles duo of Kelsey Martlage and Hope Rajlich.

All quarterfinal winners were guaranteed of advancing to state.

Dow opened the tournament in Danville with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Mahomet-Seymour’s Gianna Hill before falling to the eventual sectional runner-up from Danville, Lexi Ellis, 6-0, 6-0.

Martlage and Rajlich captured a triumph over M-S’ Megan Barnhart and Jadyn Hannah, 6-4, 6-4, before being eliminated by the eventual sectional runner-up entry from Danville, CiCi Brown and Reese Rundle, 6-1, 6-1.

The Spartans’ other singles entry also went 1-1 at the sectional.

Senior Claire Huffman started competition with a 6-2, 6-2 conquest of Champaign Central’s Kara Charney. She was ousted by eventual fourth-place finisher (and state-qualifier) Brooklynn Behrens, from Danville, 6-2, 6-2.

In doubles, the SJ-O unit of seniors Jacey Lewis and Allison Kearney topped M-S’ Molly Fried and Sophia Slupski, 6-3, 6-1, before falling to Urbana Uni High’s Lynette Zhang and Yeowoon Jung, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the sectional team race, SJ-O totaled 12 points and finished in fourth place in the 11-school meet, one point behind Champaign Centennial.

Meet champion Danville amassed 32 points and was followed by St. Thomas More (22 points) and Centennial (13 points).

For the season, SJ-O’s cumulative season record in doubles was 27-13. The Spartans had 15 different combinations and 12 won at least one match.

The leaders were Martlage and Rajlich with a 7-3 overall record. Lewis and Kearney were 2-1 together.

Juniors Emma Rydell and Katie McDermott were 4-1.

In singles, Huffman compiled a 7-6 season record. Dow was 6-7. Third on the team in singles wins was senior Grace Schmitz, 4-6.

SJ-O’s overall team record in singles in 2021 was 33-39. Sixteen different squad members had singles matches and 12 earned at least one victory.

A year ago, in their inaugural season, SJ-O scored four points at the sectional and tied for eighth place.

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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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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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In all, 12 different Spartans participated in the match.

Winning in doubles were Hope Rajlich and Kelsey Martlage, 8-6, at No. 1; Allison Kearney and Angie Chahine, 8-4, at No. 2 and Katie McDermott and Jacey Lewis, 8-6, at No. 3.

In singles, SJ-O’s top two players were victorious.

At No. 1, Claire Huffman defeated Hannah Null, 8-3.

At No. 2, Abbey Dow edged Jacie Owens, 8-6.

Also winning for the Spartans was Ashlyn Lannert, at No. 6, over Matika Pounginja, 8-1.

On Wednesday (Aug. 25), SJ-O extended its winning streak by handling St. Teresa, 6-3, in Decatur.

Dow didn’t lose a game at No. 2 singles, topping Katherine Combs, 6-0, 6-0.

SJ-O’s other three singles winners each dropped just one game.

At No. 3, Rajlich handled Alexis Rayhill, 6-0, 6-1.

At No. 4, Martlage, downed Zia Boulier, 6-0, 6-1.

At No. 6, Lannert posted a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Emma Norton.

The Spartans had a hard-luck loser at No. 5 singles. Grace Schmitz dropped a hard-fought 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 decision to Joella Livingston.

SJ-O won two doubles matches.

At No. 2, the duo of Chahine and McDermott, triumphed over Rayhill and Boulier, 8-0.

At No. 3, teammates Emma Rydell and Kearney topped Alyssa Wicks and Norton, 8-0.

In the team’s first three matches, Chahine has had three different doubles partners and has helped each to victory.

SJ-O (2-1) returns to action on Tuesday (Aug. 31), back at Urbana.

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The Spartans had two players eclipse the 100-yard mark in rushing on Friday and continued their unbeaten start to the season with an 18-7 conquest of visiting Bloomington Central Catholic.

One highlight for SJ-O was the play of the defense, which head coach Shawn Skinner said was “outstanding.”

He continued: “I thought our DBs were solid all night. Drew Coursey was a factor at outside linebacker getting pressure on their quarterback and setting an edge to stop their outside runs.”

The SJ-O defense limited the Saints to 48 yards rushing on 22 attempts.

Keaton Nolan ran for a game-high 107 yards and Brayden Weaver gained 104 to lead SJ-O, which registered 339 yards of total offense.

Weaver’s first-quarter touchdown accounted for the only scoring until Nolan reached the end zone in the final 90 seconds of the first half.

Crayon Burnett, who completed 6 of 16 passes for 131 yards, added the final TD in the fourth quarter.

Brady Buss caught two passes from Burnett and turned them into gains of 83 yards. Other teammates with receptions were Ty Pence (two), Payton Cain (one) and Coby Miller (one).

“The offense took some strides in throwing the ball,” Skinner said, “but we left some plays on the field.

“Obviously, when you get two backs who run for over 100 yards, it’s a credit to your offensive line and the ability to get those backs free.”

The Spartans (3-0) return to action on Friday at Unity (2-1).

“We need to keep getting better,” Skinner said. “It’s really that simple.

“If we continue to play with effort and come to practice focused, and continue to play better, that’s all we can ask as coaches.”

SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

Brandon Mattsey placed 56th for SJ-O on Saturday in the 505-runner Class 2A division of the First to Finish race at Detweiler Park in Peoria.

Mattsey’s 3-mile time was 16 minutes, 30.2 seconds.

SJ-O had a team score of 702 and ended in 24th place. There was a total of 59 full teams. Meet champion Kaneland had a score of 71 points.

Other leaders for the Spartans were Eric Poe (120th in 17:05.5), Elijah Mock (146th in 17:22), Luke Stegall (182nd in 17:34.3), Charlie Mabry (220th in 17:54.1), Logan Wolfersberger (293rd in 18:27.5), Lukas Hutcherson (298th in 18:28.6), Braden Clampitt (327th in 18:43.8) and Ethan Blackburn (353rd in 18:59.9).

In a separate open race, SJ-O’s Tad Pettit was 363th in 19:56.5.

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday against Monticello at Kickapoo State Park.

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

SJ-O placed ninth in the 47-school First to Finish Class 2A race on Saturday at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.

The first five Spartans placed among the top 100 in a field of 412 competitors.

Hannah Rajlich was the team-leader, completing the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 48.5 seconds. She was 45th.

Teammates following her were Ava Knap (59th in 20:00.9), Ashlyn Lannert (80th in 20:18.6), Ally Monk (83rd in 20:20.9) and Kailyn Ingram (97th in 20:32.2).

SJ-O compiled a team score of 364 points. Meet champion Vernon Hills had a score of 87.

Other Spartan times were Hope Rajlich (141st in 21:21.4), Hanna Eastin (149th in 21:29.6), Addie Allen (160th in 21:37.6), Kendra Riddle (170th in 21:43.6) and Malorie Sarnecki (220th in 22:17.5).

There was a separate girls’ 3-mile open race for runners who did not participate in any other race.

A total of 817 runners finished the open race.

SJ-O’s leaders were Sidney Davis (404th in 24:47.8), Kaytlyn Baker (477th in 25:45.2), Taryn Sexton (490th in 25:53.4), Mary Hinrichs (634th in 28:07.4), Izzy Sexton (691st in 28:35.0), Teagan Miller (707th in 29:09.2) and Lili Wentzloff (804th in 35:45.3).

Of the 52 full teams that competed in the open race, SJ-O was 41st with 1,232 points.

The Spartans will return to action Tuesday against Monticello at Kickapoo State Park.

SJ-O Soccer

In a match which was officially scoreless, the SJ-O soccer squad earned a victory on Friday over Oakwood/Salt Fork in the Hoopeston Area Cornjerker Classic.

The teams were tied 0-0 after regulation before the Spartans prevailed on penalty kicks 3-2.

When the schools played to open the season, that match also ended in a 0-0 deadlock.

SJ-O (2-7-1) lost its other two matches in the tournament, falling to eventual third-place finisher Iroquois West 6-1 and to eventual champion Monticello 5-0.

The Spartans return to action at home on Tuesday against Monticello, which is 8-0-1 for the season.

SJ-O Volleyball

All-tournament pick Kennedi Burnett paced SJ-O to four two-set sweeps before the Spartans lost in Saturday’s championship match of the Bulldog Invitational to the host Mahomet-Seymour squad.

The Spartans (10-3) opened with pool play victories over the St. Teresa JV team 25-10, 25-5, Springfield Southeast 25-10, 25-6 and Peotone 25-11, 25-12.

In the semifinals, SJ-O upended Manteno 25-15, 25-18.

In the finals, against an M-S team the Spartans had beaten earlier in the season, the Bulldogs prevailed 25-9, 25-22.

For the five tournament matches, Burnett swatted 31 kills and contributed 35 digs. Emily Bigger had 99 assists as well as 28 digs and seven service aces.

Other Spartan leaders were Katelyn Berry with 30 kills and 33 digs, Rylee Stahl with 28 digs and Payton Vallee with 18 kills.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at home against Hoopeston Area.

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SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

With Brandon Mattsey and Eric Poe finishing second and third, respectively, the SJ-O Spartans opened the boys’ cross-country season on Saturday by winning the Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational, at Paris.

SJ-O had a team score of 25. Runner-up Marshall had a score of 49.

Mattsey ran the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 1.4 seconds. Poe finished in 17:07.6.

The Spartans had five runners among the top 10 in a field of 81 competitors.

Elijah Mock was seventh (17:44.0), followed by Luke Stegall in eighth (17:46.8) and Charlie Mabry in 10th (18:04.1).

Rounding out the team’s top seven were Braden Clampitt in 21st (18:55.1) and Lukas Hutcherson in 22nd (19:00.3).

SJ-0 returns to action on Saturday in Chrisman’s Cowchip Classic.

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

The Spartans placed second to Marshall in Saturday’s 11-school Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational, in Paris.

Marshall had a composite score of 28. SJ-O totaled 34 points.

All of the Spartans’ top seven runners finished among the top 18 in a field of 56.

Jillian Plotner ran the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 35.2 seconds and finished third individually.

She was two spots ahead of teammate Hannah Rajlich, whose time was 20:37.9.

Ava Knap was seventh (20:44.8) and Ashlyn Lannert was 10th (21:06.3).

Other team leaders were Ally Monk (11th in 21:11.7), Hope Rajlich (12th in 21:13.5) and Kailyn Ingram (18th in 21:47.6).

The Spartans’ next meet is Saturday at Chrisman in the Cowchip Classic.

SJ-O Soccer

Zac Seeley scored three goals – one on a penalty kick – and SJ-O won its first match of the season on Monday, 5-1 against visiting Schlarman Academy.

The teams were tied, 1-1, at intermission.

Wes Seeley and Brayden Grimsey each had one goal for the Spartans (1-3-1).

Goalkeeper Hunter Ketchum had two saves.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.

SJ-O Volleyball

The Spartans (4-1) won their fourth consecutive two-set match on Tuesday, dealing visiting Cissna Park a 25-7, 25-9 loss.

Kennedi Burnett had team-high totals in kills (seven), digs (five) and blocks (two).

Emily Bigger put up 21 assists and Lacey Kaiser landed five service aces in addition to four kills.

Katelyn Berry chipped in with four aces, four kills and four digs. Payton Vallee added five kills.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at Teutopolis.

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