Mt. Pleasant tennis shut out at home

MT. PLEASANT - It was tough sledding for the Mt. Pleasant girls tennis team on Monday when they hosted Keokuk in its Southeast Conference opener. The Panthers were swept by the Chiefs, 9-0.

The Panthers had a few close singles matches, but were unable to pull any of them off.

The closest match of the day was the No. 3 match between Mt. Pleasant’s Gisele Fajardo and Keokuk’s Julia De Gala. The match was tied at 8-8 before De Gala won 9-8 on a 7-4 tiebreaker.

The Panthers competed in the top two singles matches. Savana Walls fell 8-4 to Emma Evans in the No. 1 singles match, and Maggie Fitzpatrick was defeated 8-5 by Jasmine Sanders.

Morelia Elias lost the No. 4 singles match 8-2 against Keokuk’s Kierra Huddleston. Melanie Olivas dropped the No. 5 match against Abby Thompson, 8-1, and Melana Yocum also fell 8-1, losing out to Olivia Rule in the No. 6 singles match.

The Panthers couldn’t shake the Chiefs in doubles. Walls and Fitzpatrick lost the No. 1 doubles match 8-2 against Evans and Huddleston. Fajardo and Elias fell 8-1 in the No. 2 match against Saunders and De Gala, and Olivia and Yocum fell 8-1 to Thompson and Rule in the No. 3 match.

Mt. Pleasant did go 1-0 in the junior varsity match. Jenny Dykstra defeated Keokuk’s Violet Gilbert 10-0.