Kickapoo tennis wins fifth straight Ozark Conference title

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By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

The Kickapoo Lady Chiefs dominated Ozark Conference tournament play, on Tuesday at the Cooper Tennis Complex, en route to claiming this year’s 2017 conference tourney crown.

The Chiefs waltzed through the tournament without losing a set defeating Waynesville, Lebanon & Joplin by matching 5-0 margins in the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship.

The victory made it five conference titles in a row for the Lady Chiefs, a feat for which head coach Eric Wilbur was extremely proud.

“What these kids have been able to accomplish is just remarkable. But the past five years our chemistry has been very good,” said the Lady Chief’s coach. “We’ve also been fortunate to have some great leadership. Every year we’ve had some of our older players step up to help our younger kids perform at a very high level. I’m really proud of them all.”

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One of those leaders in 2017 has been the Chief’s Coral Tracy. Tracy, a senior, is Kickapoo’s No. 1 player.

“Coral is the real deal,” said Wilbur. “The way she sets up to win a point is just a mastery. It’s really beautiful to watch. She’s phenomenal.”

With their conference tournament now behind them the Lady Chiefs are looking forward to competing in next week’s district tournament.

“So far we’ve had a big year and it’s really been exciting,” said Tracy. “But the season is winding down and next week’s district tournament is very important. Today we got to see how we measured up with everybody here. Now we need to spend the next few days working on the things we need to improve on for next week.”

Central High will be at next week’s district tournament. A team the Lady Chiefs remember well.

“We lost to Central badly last year,” said the Chief’s Raegan Brown. “But we’re looking forward to going back this year for another shot at Central and a district title. We’re ready to play and we hope to get it done this year.”

While deciding who was going to win this year’s conference tournament and who was going to be runner-up didn’t take long, that wasn’t the case in the tourney’s third and fourth place bracket.

Down 0-4 the Lebanon Yellow Jackets fought back to tie their match up with Rolla at 4-4. Lebanon went on to win after Addi Myler picked up a victory in the fifth and deciding match.

“I didn’t realize I was the deciding match until the middle of the last point,” said Myler. “I started shaking, it was pretty exciting and I was really happy when I picked up the win for our team. ”

Lebanon coach Ron Crowell was happy to.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a match where we were down 0-4 and the kids came back to win five straight to grab a victory,” Crowell said. “They just kept fighting. This win just shows just how much heart they have. I’m so proud of them all.”

Ozark Conference Tournament Results

Kickapoo- First
1. Coral Tracy, 2. Raegan Brown, 3. Asantae Haanstad ,4. Jadyn Wersinger, 5. Paige McCurry, 6. Kylee Halverson,7. Hayley Chandler, 8. Sarah Choe

Joplin- Second
1. Ashley Butler, 2. Phoebe Watson, 3. Madeleine Siemer, 4. Krusha Bhakta, 5 Gabrielle Ramos, 6. Quinn Smith

Lebanon- Third
1. Hannah Lowery, 2. Zephanie White, 3. Addi Myler, 4. Megan Adams, 5. Skyler Maynor, 6. Ashton Arthur

Top Ten
No. Team
1 Kickapoo
2 Joplin
3 Lebanon
4 Rolla
5 Glendale
6 Camdenton
7 West Plains
8 Waynesville
9 Hillcrest

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