MP girls compete at FM tournament

FT. MADISON - The Mt. Pleasant girls' tennis team competed in the Ft. Madison Invitational on Saturday, finishing fifth of six teams. Fairfield won the tournament with 14 points. Ft. Madison was second, with 13. Keokuk and Maharishi scored six points apiece to tie for third. Mt. Pleasant finished fifth, with five points, and West Burlington-Notre Dame finished sixth, with four.

Shaleen Thiengmany won three matches in the No. 1 singles tournament. She defeated Vaishavi of Maharishi 9-0 in the first round, but was knocked off 8-1 against WB-ND's McKenzie Fry in the second. Thiengmany took down Delaynee Billings of Keokuk 8-2 in the third round and beat Ft. Madison's Lily Cadwallader 8-1 in the consolation final.

In the No. 2 singles tournament, Breanna Runyon went 2-1. She started things off by falling 8-3 to Fairfield's Nellie Higdon, but bounced back with an 8-5 defeat of Courtney Erickson from WB-ND. Runyon ended her day with an 8-0 shutout of Maharishi's Shrishti Sharma.

Erin Zihlman and Hallie Sandeen teamed up for the No. 1 doubles tournament. They were shutout 8-0 by Ft. Madison's Larissa Ferrill and Lanie Kuntz. They defeated Joleen Kelly and Binita Gautum of WB-ND in the second round, but fell 8-6 against Maharishi's Olivia Goodale and Yenet Deribe in the consolation final.

In the No. 2 doubles tournament, Sierra Barton and Olivia Larson went 1-2. They fell 8-6 in their first two matches, first to Lily Fenton and Deepika Vempathi of Maharishi, and then to Abby Schaefer and Lauren Kraemer of Fairfield. In the fifth place game, Barton and Larson beat the Keokuk team of Kierra Huddleston and Julia De Gala.

The Panther girls will be back in action on Thursday, Aprill 11. They will be at Fairfield for a Southeast Conference showdown.