SHS tennis takes third in district

SIKESTON - The Sikeston tennis team finished in third place in the Class 1, District 2 Tournament held at the Sikeston High School tennis courts.

Fredericktown won the 11-team tournament with 29.5 points followed closely by Dexter with 28 points.

Sikeston finished in third with 17 points while Charleston took fourth with 16 points.

Sikeston freshman Jenni DeWitt finished in second place in the singles division and will advance to the state tournament.

After a first round bye, she defeated Rachel Paige of Fredericktown, 6-0, 6-1; won by default in her next match; beat Summer Carter of Dexter, 6-0, 6-2; but she lost in the championship match to Morgan Kemp of Fredericktown, 6-4, 6-0.

"She gets to go to state so that will be a good experience," said DeWitt, Jenni's mother.

"Morgan and her play a lot in the offseason so they see each other all the time."

Sikeston's Chelsea Gilliland defeated Anne Poston of North County, 6-0, 6-4 but then she lost to Claire Critchlow of Dexter, falling 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

In doubles, Tess Marshall and Jessica Colwick lost to Bagby and Nelson of Dexter, 6-0, 6-1.

Also in doubles, Emily Bowman and Brittany Bohannon defeated Propst and Koch of Chaffee, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) and then lost to Jarrell/Dooley of Dexter, 6-0, 6-1.

"Emily and Brittany winning one helps," said DeWitt. "Every little thing helps. We were pleased to get third. That was better than what we were expected to finish."

CHAFFEE - The Sikeston volleyball team improved to 9-12 on the season with a 25-9, 25-9 SEMO Conference victory against Chaffee.

Sikeston (3-1 in conference) was never challenged by the Lady Red Devils in the match.

"In our last few matches we haven't had a lot of offensive firepower," said Sikeston coach Steve Beydler.

"So tonight our focus was to play good, three-hit volleyball and end it with some kills. I feel like we did a good job there. Our serving has improved and we've made very few errors tonight. When you play a team like Chaffee that's struggling, you have to find something to focus on or you'll play sloppy."

Sikeston was led in serving by Kiarra Morris who was 24-of-25 with nine aces, including finishing the second game with 12 straight points.

Others were Quinn Kaiser (5-5), Emily Taylor (6-7, 4 aces), Audra Wooley (2-2), Berneatress Hunt (5-5) and Amber Anthony (4-5).

Hunt led the team with nine kills followed by Wooley's five. Khassie Patterson had two kills and Anthony had one kill.

Kaiser had 12 assists while Anthony had two.

The Sikeston junior varsity defeated Chaffee 25-22, 25-11.

Serving leaders were Rachel Beydler (5-6, 2 aces), Kelsey Lawrence (6-7, 2 aces), Megan Underhill (9-10, 1 ace), Destinee Walker (4-4), Gina Williams (16-17, 2 aces) and Alli Harper (2-4).

Martika Davis had 10 kills followed by Beydler with five. Walker had two and Caitlin Underwood had one.

Underwood had two blocks followed by Davis with one.

Lawrence had six assists while Beydler had five assists. Walker had two assists and Williams had one.

Sikeston plays host to Notre Dame on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

SIKESTON - The Sikeston eighth and ninth grade football teams were swept on Thursday by Poplar Bluff.

Sikeston's ninth grade team fell 21-8 while the eighth graders lost 36-12.

"They scored 21 in the first quarter and we shut them out the rest of the way," said Sikeston coach Steve Bays. "We played a pretty solid football team. They had two big plays right off the bat. They threw a halfback option pass right from the get-go and scored. And they picked a fumble up out of the air and scored on a 10-yard return. I'm proud of our kids. They played their rear-ends off the whole game."

Sikeston tacked on their only score in the fourth quarter with 30 seconds left when Cody Anderson took a shovel pass from Chase Ferrell 15 yards for the touchdown.

Clayton Mayfield scored the two-point conversion.

"We had a nice little drive for about 10 or 12 plays there at the end," said Bays.

Sikeston will play next Saturday at 10 a.m. against Cape Central in an eighth and ninth grade doubleheader.