WICHITA, Kan.—
The Collegiate girls tennis team had a great performance this last weekend at the Class 4A state tournament in Pratt. This is the first year Collegiate competed in the 4A class, and the Spartans took the 4A team championship. The girls had some very strong performances led by sophomore Brooke Withrow taking the singles title.The previous two years, Collegiate's girls’ tennis team has also taken the team title albeit in the 3-2-1A division. The competition was definitely more difficult in Class 4A.
“There were a lot of very talented girls, it was definitely a step up in terms of competition,” senior Grace LeMaster said.
LeMaster and Senior Jillian Johnson took second place in doubles, defeated by two talented McPherson girls. LeMaster and Johnson won the 3-2-1A doubles titles the last two years, and were just shy of winning their third title together.
"Obviously we wanted to win, but we played our best, and I am glad we won as a team, honestly, I would rather win as a team then as an individual,” LeMaster said.
Collegiate had two more entries place with juniors Keli Dunne and Lindsey Funke finishing third in doubles, and senior Esther Cho finishing seventh in singles.
As far as next year, even though Collegiate will be losing some valuable players, LeMaster has a pretty good feeling about Collegiate's tennis program.
"There are still a lot of talented girls on the team and even more will be coming up next year. Collegiate has a lot to look forward to,” LeMaster said.
