CHAFFEE - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs tennis team won its first match of the year with a 7-2 road victory against Chaffee on Tuesday.
Sikeston had some troubles with Chaffee's top four singles, but No. 5 Chelsea Gilliland and No. 6 Jamie Davidson each rolled through Casey Guzman and Shelby Rice respectively 8-0.
"We played really well today," said Sikeston head coach Lynne DeWitt. "We have to work on our mental game. We needed a match to see what we need to work on. All of our matches were good and all of the girls worked very hard."
Other singles winners were No. 1 Elizabeth Killion (8-3 over Kate Pfefferkorn), No. 2 Lindsay Leible (8-5 over Brittney Bennett) and No. 4 Jeri Nichols (8-4 over Shannon Hampton). No. 3 Charlie Richey lost to Nicole Poe of Chaffee 6-8.
In doubles, Killion/Leible beat Pfefferkorn/Bennett 8-0 and Gilliland/Davidson beat Guzman/Rice 8-2.
The doubles team of Richey and Nichols lost to Chaffee's Poe and Hampton 5-8.
Sikeston will host Dexter today at 4 p.m.
DEXTER - The Charleston Lady Bluejays tennis team dropped to 1-1 on the season with a 5-4 loss to a strong Dexter team.
It went down to the final match between Ashley Barnhill and Dexter's Amanda Ward.
Ward went on to win 8-6.
"That match was tied 6-6 but they had to move it because of darkness," said Charleston head coach Mitch Baker. "I really think that stopped Ashley's momentum and it hurt her. But I was really proud of her and the rest of the team. Everybody stepped up and we played well enough to win but we didn't get any breaks."
Charleston's singles winners were No. 3 Claire Showmaker (8-4 over Elsie Young), No. 5 Libby Renaud (8-6 over Lacey) and No. 6 Laura Burton (8-6 over Carter).
Charleston's other two singles losers were No. 1 Mindi Leuhmann (3-8 against Amy Rose) and No. 2 Megan Leuhmann (4-8 against Rhiannon Wunderlich).
In doubles, Charleston's Mindi Leuhmann and Barnhill beat Ward and Young 9-7.
Megan Leuhmann/Showmaker lost to Rose/Howard 4-8 and Renaud/Julie Smith lost to Lacey/Carter 6-8.
"It was a really tight match," said Baker. "They had their top four players back and for us to go over there and do this well -- I was proud of them. We're just lacking experience and I know that once they get some more work in then they'll improve."
Charleston's junior varsity winners were Julie Smith, Kara True, Leslie Hall, Kara Hillhouse, Rebecca Rolwing and the doubles team of Burton/Kamyia Sager.
Charleston will host Carbondale on Thursday at 4 p.m.