Fairfield girls? tennis second in conference

KEOKUK ? The Fairfield girls? tennis team finished atop four of nine brackets to take second place at the annual Southeast Conference tournament in Keokuk Monday.

Fairfield scored 18 points in the tourney, five behind conference champion Keokuk (23). Mount Pleasant and Fort Madison finished far behind with seven and six points, respectively.

First-place winners for Fairfield included Megan Palmer and Karley Williams in singles play, and Alex Higdon with Palmer as well as Kim O?Carroll with Williams in doubles action.

Palmer rolled to an 8-3 win in the first round of No. 4 singles before winning the championship match 8-2 over Keokuk?s Marissa Hasselbusch.

At No. 6 singles, Williams fought off Mount Pleasant?s Emily Hatfield 8-3 and defeated Keokuk?s Alexis Kemp 8-1 in the championship round.

Fairfield?s No. 2 doubles team of Higdon and Palmer defeated Keokuk?s Bitting and Hasselbusch for the championship, and No. 3 tandem O?Carroll and Williams held off Lakyn Boltz and Kemp of Keokuk in the No. 3 doubles championship, earning a 9-7 victory.

Runner-up finishes in singles play came from Fairfield?s Haylee Gilpin, Higdon and O?Carroll.

At No. 2 singles, Gilpin defeated Fort Madison?s Taylor Powell 8-6 before falling in the championship match to Keokuk?s Autumn Schulte. Higdon won her first-round match 8-2 at No. 3, and O?Carroll posted an 8-4 win in the first round of No. 5 singles.

Fairfield hosts Mount Pleasant in the first round of Class 1A regional tennis Saturday. Play starts at 9 a.m. on the Fairfield Middle School courts.