Tennis Team Places Second In St. Joseph

Last year, the only thing that kept the Trenton High School girls tennis team from capturing a district championship was the Maryville Spoofhounds. Trenton reeled off a remarkable 14-2 season, only to see the year close with a loss to a then unbeaten Maryville squad in the district championship dual.
Friday at the Benton Tournament in St. Joseph, Trenton established itself as the district frontrunner this year with a 3-2 victory over Maryville in the semifinals. Though the day ended with a loss to St. Pius X in the championship dual, Trenton had plenty to be optimistic about after the strong showing.
For starters, Friday’s championship against St. Pius X saw Trenton capture the majority of matches contested between varsity players. The tournament featured a setup that required each team to play with a pair of junior varsity players on the varsity roster. Trenton set its lineup so that the varsity players were all in doubles action. Claire Utley and Lauren Dolan fell 8-5 in the championship, but Trenton took the remaining doubles matches as Samantha Mihalovich and Maddie Searcy won 9-7 and Emma Gilham and Elle Neal won 9-7 as well.
The singles matches saw Latorrie Johnson, who had been a varsity player for all but one match this year, and Kendall Crowley each fall 8-0, giving St. Pius the tournament championship.
The semifinal with Maryville again saw Trenton have a lot of doubles success. Utley and Dolan lost 8-4, but Mihalovich and Searcy won 8-2 and Gilham and Neal earned an 8-5 victory. Johnson was defeated 8-1 in singles play, but Crowley earned an 8-3 victory to swing the dual Trenton’s way and earn the Bulldogs a bit of revenge for last year’s district loss.
Trenton reached the semifinals after dispatching of LeBlond, 4-1, in the quarterfinals. Johnson fell 8-1 in singles play, but Trenton took all of the remaining contests. Crowley won 8-4 in singles play and the Bulldogs swept doubles action, getting 8-0 wins from Utley and Dolan, Mihalovich and Searcy and Gilham and Neal.
“The Benton Tournament is a day packed full of exciting tennis,” Trenton coach Bobbie Hainey said. “The girls started off strong with a 4-1 win over LeBlond and a 3-2 win over the always challenging Maryville team. ​We fell to St. Pius X in the championship, but I am so proud of these ladies and their determination to make it to the finals.”
With the 2-1 showing on the day, Trenton pushed its overall record on the season to 7-1.
Trenton is back in tournament action today, traveling to the Cameron Tournament, which began at 8 o’clock this morning.