Paton ends tennis career at state tournament

IOWA CITY — Fairfield senior Tess Paton was one point away from a spot in the Class 1A state semifinals this weekend at the Class 1A singles meet, but instead ended her weekend prematurely with a 1-2 record.

Paton took care of business in the opening round on Friday. She defeated regional champion Samantha Tidgren of Kuemper Catholic, advancing her on to the quarterfinals.

Paton faced off with No. 4 seed Catherine Straus of Spirit Lake-Okoboji for a spot in Saturday’s semifinals. After a loss in the first set, Paton battled back to force a third, but lost in a nail-biter, falling via a seven-point tiebreaker, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1).

Paton needed one win to win once more on Friday to get to Day 2 out of the consolation bracket. Unfortunately, Paton couldn’t take a set against Glenwood’s Coryl Matheny.

Matheny defeated Paton 6-2, 6-4 to knock the Trojan senior out of the tournament.

Paton was in the state singles tournament for the second time in her career, having finished third last season. She also made the state doubles tournament as a freshman, and has been to the state team tournament as well, finishing as high as third last season.