Trojans take overall, individual titles at Fort Madison

Both the Fairfield and Maharishi School girls' tennis teams traveled to Fort Madison for a tournament on Saturday that included Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant, West Burlington-Notre Dame and the host Bloodhounds. Each roster of six filled out the four brackets that were broken down by No. 1 and No. 2 singles and doubles.

The Trojans claimed overall victory after collecting 14 points to 13 for Fort Madison with Fairfield getting six points from both Anatta Charoenkul and Nellie Higdon who took first in their No. 1 and No. 2 singles brackets, respectively, and two points from the doubles pair of Abby Schaefer and Lauren Kraemer who placed third in the No. 2 doubles contest.

No. 1 singles

Charoenkul received a first-round by before beating Lily Cadwallader of Fort Madison 8-0 in the semifinals and then McKenzie Fry of West Burlington-Notre Dame 8-1 for the championship.

The Maharishi School had Vaisnavi Mudra lose in the quarterfinals 8-0.

No. 2 singles

The Trojans Nellie Higdon faced a three-opponent battle to the title, earning an 8-3 victory in the quarterfinals over Breeana Runyon of Mt. Pleasant, a dominant 8-0 decision against Willow Carrington of Keokuk in the semifinals and another fairly easy 8-3 win in the final against Alyse Schmidt of Fort Madison who had also played her way to the championship round from the quarterfinal slot.

Shrishti Sharma played for the Pioneers, losing 8-0 in the quarterfinals to Schmidt of Fort Madison.

No. 1 doubles

Destiny Gridley and Tess Paton defeated their first round opponent of Joleen Kelly and Binita Gautum of WB-ND 8-2 before falling 8-4 in the semifinals to Kaleigh Hall and Emma Evans of Keokuk who took the title in the next round against Fort Madison, a victory that helped secure overall first place for Fairfield.

Maharishi School was represented by Olivia Goodale and Yenet Deribe who fell in the quarterfinals 8-3 to Fort Madison, but were able to win the consolation bracket for third place overall after recovering for victories over Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant to earn the Pioneers two more points.

No. 2 doubles

Abby Schaefer and Lauren Kraemer received a first round bye before falling 8-2 to Zoe Ramatowski and Kirklynn Nafziger of Fort Madison in the semifinals.

Maharishi School's combo of Lily Fenton and Deepika Vempathi defeated Mt. Pleasant in the quarterfinals 8-6, before knocking off Keokuk's favored pair in the semifinals 8-2. Fenton and Vempathi fell 8-2 in the finals but earned Maharishi School three points for their runners-up finish that helped the Pioneers to a tie for third place overall.