The Boone girls’ tennis team captured titles in both singles and doubles competition and sent two entries to the State Individual Tennis Tournament as it hosted the Class 1A Regional Tennis Tournament Wednesday, September 23, at McHose Park in Boone.
Maiya Phanchantraurai advanced in singles, and Kaylee Kuehl and Livi Schneider qualified in doubles play.
“It was a great day of tennis,” said head coach Shawin Latimer.
“We finally saw the sun and had some amazing results.”
Audubon, Ballard, Boone, Carroll, Creston, Nevada, North Polk, Webster City and Winterset all competed at the tournament.
In singles, top-seeded Phanchantraurai put together a dominant performance on her way to the regional championship.
Phanchantraurai did not lose a game during the entire tournament, winning all four of her matches by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.
She opened with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Cook of Winterset before defeating Madeline Schonhorst of Ballard by the same score in the quarterfinals.
Phanchantraurai continued her run with a 6-0, 6-0 semifinal win over Sophia Cromley of North Polk.
In the championship match, she defeated Bella Lu of Carroll 6-0, 6-0 to earn the regional singles title.
“Maiya continued her dominance in cruising to the state tournament without dropping a game the entire day,” Latimer said. “This is a feat that is very rare.”
Boone added another championship in doubles as the top-seeded team of Kaylee Kuehl and Livi Schneider rolled through the tournament.
Kuehl and Schneider opened with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Shaylee Coen and Brooke Huck of Creston.
They followed with a 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Addy Agena and Anja Tjernagel of Ballard and then defeated Hoffman and Jackson of Audubon 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals.
In the championship, Kuehl and Schneider faced Harley Askelson and Norah Mudd of Ballard and came away with a 6-2, 6-2 victory to claim the regional doubles championship.
“Kaylee and Livi played solid tennis all day and will make a return trip to state and look to improve on their 5th place showing from last year,” Latimer said.
Boone’s Claire Hardinger, the No. 3 seed, also competed in singles.
Hardinger opened the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Pryor of Audubon.
Her tournament ended in the quarterfinals against Zoe Wilson of Ballard in a three-set match, 6-2, 0-6, 0-1 (3).
“Claire was rolling through the day and after winning the first set easily, but in her quarterfinal match she ran into some cramping issues but kept battling till the end,” Latimer said.
Boone’s other doubles team of Olivia Conlin and Harper Kuehl drew the No. 2 seeded team of Harley Askelson and Norah Mudd of Ballard in the opening round.
Conlin and Kuehl lost 6-2, 6-4.
“Olivia and Harper played the best set of tennis of their year and were a couple points from taking the number 2 seed and eventual runner up to a 3rd set,” Latimer said.
The Class 1A State Individual Tournament will be held Wednesday and Thursday, October 7 and 8, at Waukee Northwest High School in Waukee.
Additionally, Boone will compete in the first round of the Class 1A Region 2 team tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday, September 26, against either Harlan or Carroll Kuemper Catholic at McHose Park in Boone.
Jill Lutz reporting
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