By Matt Mikheel
Junction City Lady Jay tennis competed in their 6A Regional Tennis Tournament this weekend. The Lady Jays had a lot of success in their opening matches, which eventually led to the doubles team of Grace Harris and Stephanie Stanislow finishing in 6th place and qualifying them for the 6A State Tennis Tournament.
Both doubles teams started out with victories in their opening matches. Ohemaa Sarpong and Rebecca Monroe opened their day with a 9-3 victory over Wichita North. In their next round they faced off against the eventual regional champions and lost 6-1, 6-1. Harris and Stanislow opened their day off with a victory over Wichita Southeast 6-0, 6-1. They then lost their second round before beating a team from Derby 6-3, 6-2, which was the match that qualified them for state. They lost their final match for 5th place in a thrilling three set match, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.
In singles, Rachel Cho started her day off with an upset victory defeating an opponent from Wichita Southeast. She then lost to the eventual champion in the next round before losing to Topeka High’s top player for the chance to go to the state tournament. Julia Cho was the other singles player who competed for the Lady Jays. Washburn Rural won the regional team title. The doubles team of Harris and Stanislow will now compete in the 6A Girls State Tennis Tournament on October 14-15. The tournament will be held in Wichita at the Riverside Tennis Center.