SPRINGFIELD — The 2009 Missouri state girls tennis championship trophies will be housed about a mile apart on Warson Road as a couple of Rams, neighbors Ladue and MICDS, captured the team titles Thursday at the Cooper Tennis Complex.
Ladue followed up its quarterfinal upset of five-time defending champion St. Joseph's Academy with a dominating performance in winning the Class 2 team title.
The Rams never had to play a doubles match as they defeated St. Teresa's Academy 5-1 in the semifinals and Rock Bridge 5-0 in the finals.
Ladue got wins from Lindsey Whitehead, ir, Annie Kopp, Kelsey Bearman, Katherine Glaser and Natalie Jarmon in the finals, all in straight sets. Abby Sophir was two points away from a straight-set win herself when her match was stopped when the Rams won their clinching fifth match.
"We felt that the hardest thing we did was beat St. Joe's," said Glaser, who like Sophir is a four-year varsity player. "We felt if we could beat St. Joe's, we could beat anyone."
The entire team enjoyed a celebration dinner in Rolla as none of the Rams qualified for the individual portion of the tournament.
The championship was the seventh for Ladue, but its first since 1992. "The girls just stepped up to the plate and elevated their game today," Ladue coach Jason Theodosiou said. "This is the time of the year where you want to peak and all six of my girls did that and played great tennis."
MICDS defeated rival Visitation 5-2 in the Class 1 championship after beating defending champ Notre Dame de Sion 5-1 in the semifinals.
The Class 1 finals began with the three doubles matches and the Rams took an edge, winning two of those as Katherine Desloge and Maddie Johnston won at No. 2 while Hannah Wille and Sally Clary won at No. 3. Visitation's Sammi Hornbarger and Jocelyn Koester won at No. 1.
Wille would win the clincher in singles at No. 1 as she defeated Hornbarger 10-8 in a third-set super tiebreaker (which was used rather than playing out the third set). MICDS also had singles wins by Desloge at No. 2 and Johnston at No. 5. Freshman Briana Menolascino won at No. 3 for the Vivettes.
It was an especially gratifying title for Rams senior Courtney Cassity, who also played on the last MICDS championship team in 2006. Cassity and her sister, Carly, will compete in doubles in the individual portion of the tournament today and Saturday.
Marquette lost 5-3 to Rock Bridge and then 5-1 to St. Teresa's in the Class 2 third-place match. Helen Li won both of her matches for the Mustangs.
