Fairfield wins the day at SEC meet

FAIRFIELD — The unbeaten and third-ranked Fairfield girls tennis team had already wrapped up the Southeast Conference’s regular season title, but the Trojans wanted more during Monday’s conference tournament.

Fairfield had three top two finishes at the meet, which was held at Fairfield Middle School. The Trojans were dominant in singles play, where both players who entered the bracket wound up in the final match.

Tess Paton and Nellie Higdon flew through the bracket to face each other in the singles championship. Paton defeated Higdon in two sets to claim the SEC tournament title.

“It was fun being here, and I know that the people around me support me either way,” Paton said. “I just try to take it day by day and do the best that I can.”

Paton was the No. 1 seed in the singles tournament. She didn’t lose a set in the first two rounds, defeating Fort Madison’s Rachel Hellman 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and taking down Burlington’s Emily Woodsmall 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.

On the other side of the bracket, sixth-seeded Nellie Higdon won a couple of two-set victories, albeit much closer matches. Higdon outlasted Mt. Pleasant’s Savana Walls 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and then took down Fort Madison’s Molly Knipe 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) to advance to the finals.

“I love playing with Nellie,” Paton said. I play with her all the time during the meets.“

While the Fairfield duo was making their way to the final, a pair of Mt. Pleasant singles entrants were battling in the consolation bracket. Walls had the Panthers’ best result of the day, taking fifth place, and Maggie Fitzpatrick took eighth.

After falling to Higdon in the first round, Walls finished the day with two wins. She knocked out Keokuk’s Julia De Gala 6-2, 6-1, and then swept Fort Madison’s Hellman 6-0, 6-0 in the fifth-place match.

Fitzpatrick fell 6-0, 6-3 against Hellman in the semifinals. She had to sit out in the seventh-place match, which she forfeited to De Gala.

Fairfield’s No. 2 doubles team of Olivia Jones and Sydney Wells battled through three different teams to get to the championship match.

The Trojans won a play in game 6-1, 6-0 against Fort Madison’s No. 2 team. They won a quarterfinal 6-3, 6-4 against Burlington’s No. 1 team, and defeated Keokuk’s No. 2 team 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals.

The duo couldn’t quite pull out the first-place match. Jones and Wells finished the day with a loss to Keokuk’s No. 1 team, made up of Emma Evans and Keleigh Hall.

The top Trojan squad was made up of Abby Schaefer and Lauren Kraemer. They had a tough draw, facing the eventual-champion Keokuk team in the quarterfinals, where they lost 6-2, 6-2.

Schaefer and Kraemer swept their next two matches. They defeated Fort Madison’s top team 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals and beat Burlington’s No. 2 team 6-3, 6-2 in the fifth place match.

Mt. Pleasant had one team enter doubles. The squad of Malena Yocum and Morelia Elias finished eighth.

The Panther duo team fell to Keokuk’s No. 2 team 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. They lost to Burlington’s top team 6-0, 6-4 and then fell 6-0, 6-1 to Fort Madison’s top team in the seventh-place match.

Fairfield will host Mt. Pleasant on Saturday in the first round of the regional team tournament.