ALTON - Roxana High School’s girls' varsity tennis team showed great potential in a 7-2 dual win over rival Marquette Catholic at Gordon Moore Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Roxana head girls coach Zach Plocher said he thought his girls came prepared to play, especially with having to adjust to doing an 8-game pro-set due to the heat.
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“Marquette is always a super tough team, very athletic and consistent,” Coach Plocher said. “I thought our girls have been using a lot of the strategy we have been working on in practice and transitioning that really well on the court. The girls did a great job of hitting with a lot of depth in the court and mixing in a lot of spins.”
Singles winners for Roxana were Makenna John, Savannah Millsap, Bailey Isom, and Anna Palen. Roxana’s doubles combinations of Stephanie Kamp-Lindsey Ratliff, John-Millsap, and Bailey Isom and Cayla Fansher at No. 1, No. 2. And No. 3 doubles all also prevailed over their Marquette opponents. Kamp-Ratliff won their match 8-1 at No. 1 doubles, John-Millsap won 8-4 at No. 2 doubles and Isom-Fanscher prevailed 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.
Monica Wendle of Marquette Catholic slipped by Kamp 9-7 at No. 1 singles, while Aubrey Hunter topped Ratliff 8-4, while the Shells’ John defeated N. Walters of Marquette 8-2 at No. 3, the Shells’ Mlilsap beat A. Williams 8-5 at No. 4, Roxana’s Isom defeated Olivia Tinsley at No. 5 8-0 and the Shells’ Palen defeated Grace Yaycraft 8-2.
Plocher has high hopes for his girls with several matches coming up in the next few weeks.
“I think we will have a strong year with the team we have,” Coach Plocher said. “Our strong part of our line-up is our top four who have been working incredibly hard in previous years and during their summers. Our top girls are senior Stephanie Kamp, who is the leader of the team and is always putting in work, Lindsey Ratliff, who is a junior, Makenna John who is a sophomore, and Savannah Millsap is our strong part of the line-up.”
