Hillsboro High School junior Allison Weber placed second in the Central Kansas League girls’ tennis tournament Saturday in Pratt.
She was the third seed in the tournament and began the day with a bye round. She then defeated Katelyn Hageman of Hesston, 9-1. In the semifinals, she defeated Madison Thrasher of Sterling, 6-3 and 6-3. In the finals, Weber lost to No. 1 seed Rola (Besa) Bwalya of Hoisington, 6-2 and 6-0.
Weber’s victory over Thrasher avenged an earlier loss to the freshman.
“Allison was totally inside her opponent’s head by taking Thrasher’s best shots and running them down,” coach Bob Woelk said after the tournament.
Hillsboro’s No. 1 doubles team of Allison Gray and Hannah Funk finished in 10th place out of 11 teams. They lost to Hoisington’s Jessica Schauf and Melissa Stout, 9-1, and Lyons’ Jadyn Snyder and Brenda Mercado, 9-2. They then defeated Nickerson’s Jade Bornholdt and Alexandria Christian, but lost to Kingman’s Anna Dixon and Samantha Rohlman, 9-6.
It was Gray and Funk’s first tournament as a doubles team, Woelk said.
In No. 2 singles, Claire Heyen lost to McKenzie Thrasher of Sterling, 9-2, and Kayla Reid of Lyons, 9-2, but defeated Victoria Smalling of Nickerson, 9-2, to place seventh out of 10 entries.
Anna Glanzer and Destiny Sharp defeated Katelyn Harbert and Bridget Molitor of Kingman, 9-6, to start No. 2 doubles. They then lost to Jessica Thorpe and Shelbi Fenwick of Sterling, 9-0, before defeating Cetera Hoffman and Amanda Lessard of Larned in an injury default. They lost the fifth-place game to Esme Vasquez and Cassidy Troyer of Lyons, 9-2.
Overall Hillsboro finished in seventh place out of 11 teams in the league.
Ellsworth tournament
Hillsboro only sent three players to Ellsworth’s tournament Oct. 1. Weber defeated Abbie Miller of Lyons, 8-0, and Jessi Johnson of Larned, 8-1, then lost to Bwalya of Hoisington, 8-2, and Rachel Herzog of Ellsworth, 8-5, amid a swarm of gnats. She finished in third place out of five players.
Heyen and Gray lost all four of their matches: 8-5 against Lyons, 8-2 against Larned, 8-6 against Hoisington, and 8-5 against Ellsworth.
The team’s final regular-season meet was Tuesday at Abilene. They will play in the regional meet Friday and Saturday in Leavenworth. They will have to make the 169-mile trip to the Missouri border after being displaced from the Hutchinson regional when Hesston and Wichita Collegiate were reclassified as 3A schools this fall. Classes 3-2-1A compete together for regional and state tennis.
“I have little or no information on most of the teams we will face there,” Woelk said. “But, I do know that last year’s state champion, Goodwin of K.C. Christian, will be there.
“I believe we have a better chance of qualifying players in our regional than if we would have been placed at Hutch,” Woelk added.