10/04/2009

There could be a sister act on the tennis courts with a spot at the state tournament on the line for the winner.

Area high school teams will begin play next week in district tournaments. The top two singles players and top two doubles teams from each of the eight districts in Class 1 and Class 2 in Missouri will advance directly to the state tournament at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield Oct. 23 and 24.

If the seeds hold true, one of the pivotal doubles semifinal matches in the Class 1 District 3 Tournament at MICDS will involve sisters on both sides of the net. And in each instance it will be a senior matched with her freshman little sis.

MICDS' Courtney Cassity, the senior, will play with freshman Carly Cassity. The Cassity's are seeded second behind Lauren DeRousse and Christine Schlafly of Westminster Christian.

The third seed is Clayton's Katherine Greenberg, a senior, and Caroline Greenberg, a freshman.

MICDS has the top two singles seeds in the district with top-seeded Hannah Wille and Katherine Desloge.

Burroughs sophomore Sydney Lehman, who finished second in state to her older sister Alex last year with their version of the sister act, is seeded first in singles in the Class 1, District 2 Tournament which is hosted by Burroughs.

Class 2 District Tournaments will be held at Dwight Davis Tennis Center, St. Joseph's Academy, Pattonville and Fort Zumwalt South.

The Class 2 District 2 Tournament at St. Joe's is easily the best in the state. It features two-time defending champion Misia Kedzierski of St. Joe's and Kirkwood's Rachel Stuhlmann, who finished second in 2007, as the top seeds.

Lauren Davis of Parkway Central is the top singles seed at the Class 2 District 3 Tournament at Pattonville, while Savannah Drew of Timberland is the No. 1 seed at the Class 2 District 4 Tournament at Fort Zumwalt South.

Most of the district tournaments will begin Monday and finish up Wednesday.

The exceptions are the Class 2 tournaments at Zumwalt South and Dwight Davis. The tournament at Zumwalt South began Saturday and is scheduled to end Tuesday. The one at Dwight Davis features out-state teams Cape Central, Jackson and Poplar Bluff and will be held Friday and Saturday.