Area quartet heads to state tennis

FAIRFIELD — State girls tennis dreams came true for four area players on Wednesday at the regional singles and doubles tournaments hosted by Fairfield.

Fairfield’s Tess Paton and Maharishi’s Lily Fenton will be heading to the state singles bracket. Fairfield’s Yana Gaskell and Nellie Higdon will compete in doubles.

It was business as usual for Paton. She swept Notre Dame’s Megan Pillkington 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round, then took out Assumption’s Addison Walter 6-1, 6-1, before clinching a state berth with a 6-0, 6-1 semifinal win over Fort Madison’s Molly Knipe.

“It was very relieving,” said Paton. “I was very interested in getting that today, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

Paton finished her day with another sweep, defeating Fenton 6-0, 6-2 in the final game of the day.

“I really missed last season, and I was really excited to have this opportunity,” Paton said. “To be back here with a great team and the support around me was incredible.”

Fenton may not have won the regional, but she was more than happy to receive one of the two state bids handed out to singles competitors. Fenton defeated Assumption’s Allison Hannigan 6-4, 6-1 in the first round, ousted Fairfield’s Olivia Jones 6-1, 6-1 in the second round and clinched her spot with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Morgan Klaus of Davis County.

“It was so nice,” Fenton said. “I’ve been doing tennis since I was five, so it has really been what I wanted since I was young.”

In doubles, it was all Gaskell and Higdon. The Trojan duo began the day with a pair of dominant wins, beating an Assumption squad 6-0, 6-1 and rolling a Davis County duo 6-2, 6-0. The Trojans had to battle in the semifinals but pulled off a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win to earn their spot on the big stage.

“When we played Keokuk, they were a bit of a tougher team,” Higdon said. “We were a little nervous first game, but once we got a roll going, we felt a lot better.”

Higdon says she was happy to be able to team up with Gaskell, who made her return to the courts earlier this week after recovering from a knee injury. Prior to this week, Gaskell hadn’t played a high school match since winning the 2019 state singles tournament.

“Before she even came back, we kind of talked about doing doubles together,” Higdon said. “It was just really great finally getting her back.”

Gaskell says the extra games put a little stress on the knee, but the duo pushed forward, winning the doubles championship 6-1, 6-4 over another pair from Assumption.

“Definitely playing eight sets was tough on the knee, but we got through it,” Gaskell said. “We probably won’t have to play eight sets in a day again.”

The state singles and doubles tournaments will be held on June 2 and June 3. Fairfield will be back in the team tournament on Saturday when the Trojans host Assumption.