Eva Kresovic came up just short in her quest to repeat as the Class 2 singles champion.
The Park Hill South junior reached the championship match for the second straight year but lost to Columbia Rock Bridge’s Corrine Farid on Saturday, Oct. 20 in Springfield, Mo.
Eva Kresovic, pictured in a Citizen file photo.
Kresovic brought home a second straight all-state medal, while the Panthers’ double team of Chloe Norris and Annie Saunders came up short.
On Friday, Kresovic opened with two wins. She bested Kinnidy Shirey of Francis Howell, 6-3 and 6-2 in the first match. In the quarterfinals, Kresovic posted a 6-0 and 6-2 win against Mirra Manolov of Columbia Hickman.
In the semifinals, Kresovic beat Kathryn Ferguson of Lafayette Wildwood in two sets, but need-ed to win a tiebreaker in the first set. In the second set, Kresovic rolled to a 6-0 win.
In the title match, Kresovic lost 6-2 and 6-0 to Farid, making her the third different state cham-pion in three years in Class 2. Kresovic was vying to repeat and following in the footsteps of Lafayette Wildwood’s Caroline Pozo, who won three straight from 2014 to 2016.
The Park Hill South doubles team went 1-2 on the first day and lost to a local foe to end the state run.
Norris, a junior, and Saunders, a senior, lost in three sets to Evelyn VanDenBerg and Madeline Fulk of Springfield Central. The Panthers won the first set 7-5 and led in the second set before falling, 6-3. In the tiebreaking third-set, the Bulldogs’ tandem won 10-6.
The Panthers bounced back in the consolation bracket, beating Isabella Hong and Callie Balin of Oakville, 6-1 and 6-4.
In the next round, Park Hill South lost 6-4 and 6-3 to Liberty’s Samantha Seggerman and Rebecca Floray. The Blue Jays team was in the same sectional match as Norris/Saunders, but didn’t face them.
“I was really pleased with the girls’ performances,” Park Hill South coach Ian Cunliff said. “Our doubles team player their best tennis. They had some great opportunities but came up just short of medaling. In singles, Eva had a good tournament and overcame a very tough semifinals to make the finals. Cor-rine just played too strong in the finals. She really stepped up her game and took control of the match. While the loss was tough, I know Eva had the strength of character to use it as motivation. She’ll come back better next year.”