DEXTER -- The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs did something Wednesday afternoon that they hadn't done during the entire 2006 prep tennis season.
By a 5-4 decision, Sikeston (1-3 overall) won a dual meet at Dexter, breaking a 20-match losing streak since the start of 2006.
"We won!" Lady Bulldogs coach Lynne DeWitt exclaimed. "All of the varsity matches were good matches for both teams.
"We remained focused and pulled out some matches that we normally hadn't won in the past. All of the girls played excellent," she added.
"You hate to see three 7-9 scores in our loss column," Dexter coach Kurt Lovelady said after the match. "That just goes to show that we could have easily pulled out a match win several times, but we were not able to capitalize."
Dexter (0-2 overall) had its opportunities early on to win the match, but the outcome came down to the last match of the day.
Hannah Moore and Kristyn Lemons were tied 7-7, when Sikeston's No. 5 singles player scored the final two points to seal the match and the dual-
meet victory.
"She played so hard to win that match," DeWitt said.
"We were all gathered around Kristyn Lemons' court trying to will her on when she was down 7-8," Lovelady said.
The showdown between the district's two singles finalist last season again went to Sikeston's Jenni DeWitt, 8-1, as she defeated Amanda Dooley. Last season the two played a three-set thriller in the finals of the Class 3, District 1 single match.
"Jenni (DeWitt) remained focused during the whole match, which was played with great intensity,"?coach DeWitt said.
"Jenni was on her game today," Lovelady pointed out. "It would have taken a lot to beat her with the shots she was making. She was placing her shots well and was not making too many mistakes."
In other scores from singles competition, No. 2 Campbell Moore (Sikeston) defeated Katelyn Heil 9-7, No. 3 Emily Vines (Dexter) topped Danielle Ahlfield 8-6, No. 4 Catherine Kinchen (Dexter) slid past Megan Underhill 8-5 and No. 6 Kendra Rinehart (Dexter) upended Caroline Murray 8-3.
"It was really encouraging today to three girls that lost in singles Tuesday (at Charleston) to come up with wins today," Lovelady said. "Once our team strings together some of these wins on the same day, we should be looking at a better outcome.
"(Emily) Vines, (Catherine) Kinchen and (Kendra) Rinehart all played leaps and bounds better than they played against Charleston on Tuesday," Lovelady added. "They got rid of their first game jitters and came on and played the tennis matches that I know they are capable of playing."
Sikeston won two of three doubles matches despite losing at No. 1., where Dooley and Heil were
8-3 victors over DeWitt and Underhill.
At No. 2 Hannah Moore and Ahlfield secured an
8-3 win against Vines and Rinehart, while at No. 3, Campbell Moore and Murray bested Kinchen and Lemons in a pivotal match 9-7.
In junior varsity action, Sikeston won two singles matches -- Jacarra Lampkin def. Juli Bell 7-6 (7-2 tiebreak) and Mallorie Collins shut out Brittany Graves 6-0.
Lampkin and Collins teamed in a junior varsity doubles match to take on Dexter's Bell and Lasater, but lost 4-6.