Four players named all-conference in tennis

Four Lady Vandals were named all-conference at Saturday’s South Central Conference tennis tournament.

The doubles team of seniors Bailey Jones and Paige Ehrat defeated another Vandalia doubles team of seniors Emilie Britt and Jordan Boren in the doubles championship, giving all four players all-conference honors, and giving the Lady Vandals four of the six overall all-conference selections.

“Being seeded No. 4 (Jones and Ehrat) and not being seeded at all, I was hoping one would get to the championship match, but then they both played very well,” said coach Kevin Schroeder. “Paige and Bailey were on, and just dominated the first two matches.

“They probably played their best tennis of the year in those matches.”

Originally scheduled to be played at Roxana, the tournament had to be moved down the road to East Alton-Wood River due to wet court conditions in Roxana.

The change didn’t affect Ehrat and Jones, however, as they cruised to victory in the doubles.

In the quarterfinals, the No. 4 seed defeated an unseeded team from Greenville, 6-1, 6-1, and met another unseeded team in the semifinals, after a team from Hillsboro knocked off the No. 1 seed from Roxana.

Ehrat and Jones took the semifinal match, 6-2, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Britt and Boren, who were unseeded, knocked off the No. 2 seed from Greenville, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and an unseeded team from Roxana, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, in the semis to set up an all-Vandalia title match.

“The championship match was back-and-forth, and tied at 5-5,” Schroeder said. “It was actually a pretty tough match until Paige and Bailey started to take off.”

Ehrat and Jones were the victors, taking a 10-5 win, and all four of those players now have at least 10 doubles wins on the season.

Boren has the lead with 13, Britt and Jones have 12, and Ehrat has 10.

“One of the reasons we are above .500 is because of the number of doubles wins they have,” Schroeder said.

In singles, third-seeded freshman Hannah Blythe equaled her seed, taking third.

She opened the tournament with a 6-4, 6-2 win before being upset by unseeded Tori McKinnon from Roxana, 4-6, 1-6, in the semifinals.

“I was hoping she would slide into the championship match, but she probably finished where she should have (given the seeding),” Schroeder said. “She was the aggressor, but the Roxana girl kept putting her shots back.”

Blythe rebounded in the third-place match, however, defeating No. 4 Anna Brannon from Greenville, 10-6.

Junior Karlee Brimberry was defeated in the quarterfinals of singles play by Brannon, 3-6, 5-7.

***

The Lady Vandals closed the regular season with an 8-1 loss at Teutopolis on Tuesday.

Vandalia (6-6) got its lone win at No. 3 doubles from senior Jordan Boren and freshman Hannah Blythe, who won, 11-10 (7-2).

Vandalia (6-6) will travel to Effingham on Friday afternoon for the sectional tournament, which begins at 1 p.m. at several sites around the city.

Tuesday, Oct. 9
Teutopolis 8
Vandalia 1
Singles
•No. 1 Blythe lost, 5-10
•No. 2 Karlee Brimberry lost, 0-10
•No. 3 Emilie Britt lost, 0-10
•No. 4 Bailey Jones lost, 2-10
•No. 5 Megan Dothager lost, 1-10
•No. 6 Morgan Whightsil lost, 0-10
Doubles
•No. 1 Brimberry/Britt lost, 0-10
•No. 2 Paige Ehrat/Jones lost, 4-10
•No. 3 Boren/Blythe won, 11-10 (7-2)
JV Doubles
•Karlie Bright/Makayla Tinker lost, 6-8
Record: 6-6