The Lady Pirates’ tennis team poses with the first-place plaque of the Platte County Girls’ Tennis Invitational on Sept. 1.
PLATTE CITY – Eight teams competed in the Platte County Girls’ Tennis Invitational, including Park Hill South (0-3), with the host school coming away as tournament champion on Sept. 1.
Platte County (4-3) was the first-place team with 19 points. Park Hill South finished in fifth place with 14 points.
The Lady Pirates started the season with a different tournament, heading to Joplin for the Joplin Invitational on Aug. 25 and 26. After losing the first match 5-0, Platte County won back-to-back shutout matches against College Heights Christian with McAuley Catholic (3-4) and Webb City (1-7).
The Lady Pirates’ last win in the tournament was against Monett (4-4) before losing 5-1 to Carl Junction (5-2). Ahead of the home tournament, Platte County beat St. Joseph’s Central (0-2) 5-4 on Aug. 28 and lost 6-2 to Staley (9-3) on Aug. 29.
Park Hill (2-0) has already surpassed its road match win total from a year ago, winning its first two against St. Joseph’s Central (0-2) on Aug. 29 and Liberty North (2-1) on Aug. 30.
Park Hill beat St. Joseph 5-4, starting the match off by losing two of the three doubles matches. Eladie Marshall, Skylar Scamman, Audrey Bolyard and Jessica Yu all won their singles matches. Avery Whalen fell in a tough match 7-9 (6) and Ellie Gaddis lost 4-8.
Park Hill beat Liberty North 6-3, going 0-3 in doubles matches and 6-0 in singles matches. The Lady Trojans are still testing out chemistry between players on the doubles teams.
Park Hill South has had a tough start to the season, losing its first three matches ahead of the invitational. The Lady Panthers lost 6-3 to Lee’s Summit West (1-2) on Aug. 29, before falling 7-2 to Staley on Aug. 30 and getting swept by St. Teresa’s Academy (3-0) on Aug. 31.