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Fairfield doubles wins SEC
Ross, Yammanur sweep through tournament; Steele 2nd in singles
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BURLINGTON — The trophy case continued to pile up for Fairfield girls tennis on Wednesday, as the Trojans competed in the Southeast Conference singles and doubles tournament alongside Mt. Pleasant in Burlington.
Fairfield’s top doubles team of Ria Ross and Sriya Yammanur held their ground all day long, sweeping through the competition to win the 2025 Southeast Conference title without ever losing a set.
Ross and Yammanur drew Mt. Pleasant’s Shaye Barbee and Lianah Phangchanthong in the first round, and knocked the Panthers off 6-0, 6-2. The duo faced off with the No. 2 Burlington doubles team next, cruising 6-2, 6-2.
That set Ross and Yammanur up to play against the top Burlington team of Ava Fawcett and Ava Moffett. The two teams had an absolute battle for first place, but the Trojans took games 6-4 and 6-4 to sweep the championship.
Fairfield’s Mareyn Duncan and Faeven Gebremariam lost to Fawcett and Moffett in the semifinals but bounced back to take third place.
In other doubles competition, the Mt. Pleasant team of Lila Cook and Bella Dodds finished fifth place. The Panthers had to play Phangchanthong and Barbee in the fifth place match and defeated them 8-4 in a Panther vs. Panther battle.
In singles, Natalie Steele entered as the top seed and finished second place, falling to champion Navaeh Logan of Keokuk, 6-4 and 6-4 in the championship match.
Steele didn’t lose a set until the title match. She swept Sophia Pettit of Burlington 6-2 and 6-2, and then knocked off Baylee Picton of Keokuk 6-3, 6-2 to earn her spot in the finals.
The next best area singles player was Katana Phangchanthong of Mt. Pleasant, who made it to the fifth-place match before falling 8-3 to Pettit. Phangchanthong beat Fort Madison’s Emmett in a nail-biter to get there, winning 9-8 in the consolation bracket.
Mt. Pleasant’s Mia Gray wound up eighth in the singles tournament. Fairfield’s Soumya Mallick finished 11th.
Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant players will both be at Fairfield Middle School this Wednesday for the singles and doubles state qualifiers, with the team tournament starting a few days later.
