Highland High School girls tennis team finishes regular season, competes in MVC tourney

On Oct. 5, the Highland girls tennis team trekked north to Jerseyville to take on the Mississippi Valley Conference rival Panthers in dual match action.

All the way until the final match, the Lady Bulldogs were poised for the win, but, after battling through several third-set tiebreakers, Jerseyville edged out HHS for a 5-4 victory.

“We had a lot of third-set tiebreakers,” Highland coach Matt Pellock said. “Unfortunately, we lost overall 4-5.”

In singles play, Hannah Geest knocked off Jerseyville’s Lily Ingram 7-6, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. Sidney Basler defeated Michelle Maag of Jerseyville 6-3, 6-4 to claim the No. 2 singles match. At No. 3 singles, Brianna Helm lost a grueling three-set tiebreaker to the Panthers’ Sibuina Imgram 2-6, 6-4, and 11-9. Jenna Fenton also lost a tough match at No. 4 singles to Kate Jones of Jerseyville 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.

Krista Rittenhouse gutted out a three-set win at No. 5 singles, defeating Jeryseville’s Rachelle Hall 2-6, 6-3, and 10-7. Katie Augustin round out the singles play for the Lady Bulldogs as she fell to the Panthers Libby Macormu in a triple tiebreaker 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.

The teams split the first two matches in doubles play as Jerseyville won the No. 1 doubles flight 6-3, 6-1. Highland won the No. 2 doubles match in a three-set thriller 6-2, 2-6, 10-2.

Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs could not quite close the deal in the No. 3 doubles flight, as that match went to the host panthers 6-2, 6-2.

Lady Bulldogs regroup against Granite City

Highland hit the road again Oct. 6 and had a much better day as they finished the 2020 regular season on a strong note win a 9-0 shutout win at Granite City High School.

“This a nice way to end the regular season with everyone getting victory,” Pellock said. “It was a good way to bounce back after a close loss the previous night.”

Highland started the match strong with six straight wins in the singles division. Geest defeated Darcy Popmarkoff 8-1 to win the No. 1 singles flight. Basler handled Granite City’s Anna Krueger 8-1 to take the No. 2 singles match. At No. 3 singles, Helm beat Shelly Hawk of Granite City 8-1.

Fenton stopped the Warriors’ Mara Winters 8-1 to take the No. 4 singles match. At No. 5 singles, Augustin won over Granite City’s Carmen Williams 8-1 and Tiffany Hediger defeated Gwyneth Comer of Granite City 8-1 to claim the No. 6 singles flight.

HHS swept all three doubles flights with an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles, an 8-6 victory at No. 2 doubles, and an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles.

Highland competes at MVC Tournament

Day one of the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament proved to be a productive one for the Highland girls tennis team at Mascoutah High School on Oct. 9.

Two of the Lady Bulldog top three doubles pairs managed to advance to the semifinal round or further.

That performance allowed HHS to land a third-place finish in the tournament. Civic Memorial edged out Highland for first place followed by third place Jerseyville, Mascoutah in fourth place, Triad placing fifth, and Waterloo taking sixth place.

In No. 2 doubles play, Helm and Augustin took down Civic Memorial’s Mattie Lively and Brooke Barker in a three-set semifinal match, 6-4, 3-6, and 6-3 to advance to the championship match.

The No. 2 doubles final did not go Highland way, however, as Helm and Augustin fell short in the championship flight to Triad’s Gracie Markland and Adrian Liley in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

In the No. 3 doubles flight, Basler and Fenton advanced into the semifinal round before their luck ran dry.

The Highland duo battled Jerseyville and lost a tough three-set tiebreaker in the semifinal round, 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Lady Bulldogs battle in singles MVC event

HHS finished the tournament weekend with a trip to rival Triad on Oct. 10 for the singles portion of the conference tournament.

A strong day of play in the singles flights at Triad allowed the Lady Bulldogs to finish in second place with 30 points, just behind tournament champ Triad which scored 48 points.

Geest finished third in No. 1 singles and Basler finished second at No 2 singles. Helm placed third at No. 3 singles. Fenton placed second at No. 4 singles, Rittenhouse won at No. 5 singles and Lauren Herman placed third at No. 6 singles.

Jerseyville placed third with 24 points, followed by Waterloo (18 points), Civic Memorial (14 points), and Mascoutah (10 points).

The Lady Bulldogs will begin play in the IHSA Class 1A sectionals at Centralia High School on Friday, Oct. 16.

This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 11:17 PM.