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Lady Hornets Tennis
Individual Districts
Oct 9 2025
<Schedule>
Story by Coach
Chambers
On a rainy, cloudy, chilly Friday morning, the Lady Hornets'
varsity tennis team headed for the fifth time this season to Noyes
Tennis Complex in St. Joseph, this time for the Individual MSHSAA
District Tournament. In this tourney, teams must enter two singles
competitors and two doubles pairs. Chillicothe fielded Anya Moore
and Helena England in singles with Lexy Smith & Lydia Bonderer in
doubles as well as Summer Gatson & Rian Mathews in doubles. After
the seeding meeting, Smith and Bonderer were unanimously approved as
the #1 doubles seed while the other hornets were placed on the
bracket by hat draw. The hat draws proved tough for CHS, pairing
everyone versus a very tough opponent in either the first or second
round each, which proved how critical it was for Smith & Bonderer to
have won conference the week before, making their bracket more clean
cut.
At the large tennis complex consisting of 12 courts all
on the same site, Chillicothe started with four of their six
athletes immediately at 9 AM. Senior Helena England subbed for
injured Trixie Leppin and played beautiful, consistent tennis for a
full hour against a higher-ranked Savannah opponent but eventually
fell short of winning in round one. Post-season play is all
single-elimination, so England's day ended there. Anya Moore drew
Benton's #2 play in her first round, and even though she plays #5/6
for Chillicothe typically, she dominated that match and moved on to
the quarterfinals. However, then she had to face the top ranked
singles' player in the district. Moore hit long rallies and got to
tons of tough balls, but she could not best such a seasoned
opponent.
Seniors Gatson & Mathews drew the middle-ranked Maryville pair, who
they had unfortunately already played three times this season and
will see again next week in team districts. It proves very tough to
play a team four times in just six weeks, but the lady hornets
motivated themselves well and went on court with their highest
energy levels of the season. They flew through the first set in
controlling fashion and even went up in the second set 4-1. While
just two games away from a round one win, Maryville's pair suddenly
turned on a new intensity and picked up five of the next seven games
to send it to a set tie-break. Gatson & Mathews couldn't seem to get
the momentum back after that, dropping the set tie-break and then
the third-set championship tie-break as well. Coach Chambers was so
proud of how hard and passionately all four of these hornets played,
no matter the tough draws they got.
The bright spot of the day went to the pair of
sophomore Smith and junior Bonderer as their tough two months
finally paid off! They entered 18-10 on the doubles season after
suffering through three very tough weeks at the start of the season
where they were carrying the weight of a losing season. However, the
two remained mentally tough, trusting the coaches when they told
them that they play huge, hard schools all of September, so that
October post-season starts to feel easier. After winning their last
11 matches straight going into Friday, not losing since Sept 20th,
Smith & Bonderer were peaking at the right time. First round, they
faced Trenton's middle pair and won quickly 6-0, 6-0. Then, they
played Benton's top pair, winning 6-1, 6-1. After an hour wait, they
finally got to play their semi-final against Savannah's lower pair
who upset some higher seeds, but Smith & Bonderer once again
dominated that match by a score of 6-3, 6-2. Finally, after a
two-hour wait for the other side of the bracket to works itself out,
Chilli played the Savannah top pair for a conference championship
rematch for the district title. Smith & Bonderer won more easily
this week against Alexander & Hare 6-3, 6-4. The key to the day (and
last three weeks for that matter) was the hornet net play. Smith &
Bonderer are solid servers and deep rally hitters, but that is not
what wins matches for them. They devour the net together with their
long reach and crazy verticals, making it impossible for opponents
to keep the ball away from the hornets slamming powerful volley
winners.
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