By virtue of their district championship victory over Chillicothe, the Trenton Lady Bulldog tennis team hosted two sectional matches, and a state quarterfinal on Saturday, at the THS tennis courts. Unfortunately for the host school, the level of competition, with Marshall, St. Pius X, and Pembroke Hill traveling to Trenton, went up significantly.
In Saturday morning’s Class 1 state sectional, Marshall ended the team portion of the season for THS, winning 5 matches to zero. The closest the Lady Bulldogs came to a victory was a #2 doubles, where Samantha Mihalovich and Maddie Searcy lost to Maggie Sherman and Emma Mizer 8-5. At #1 doubles, Carlie Aldredge and Hannah Pomerenke of Marshall beat Claire Utley and Lauren Dolan of Trenton 8-3, while, at #3 doubles, Katherine Elfrink and Matti Page beat the Lady Bulldog pairing of Emma Gilham and Elle Neal, 8-1.
Trenton struggled in singles action against Marshall, with Claire Utley falling to Aldredge 1-6, love-6, while Dolan lost to Pomerenke love-6, 1-6. Utley and Dolan will play next in the Class 1 doubles tournament in Springfield, starting on Thursday.
As action continued at THS on Saturday, Pembroke Hill blitzed city rival St. Pius X by a score of 5-0, advancing to the quarterfinals, where the Lady Raiders beat Marshall, 5-0, sending Pembroke Hill to the “Final 4” in Springfield, and a 9 o’clock meeting with MICDS on Thursday morning. At the same time, John Burroughs will meet Springfield Catholic. The winners advance to the Class 1 state final, 1 o’clock on Thursday afternoon, with the third place match also to be played at 1 o’clock on Thursday.
