By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Logan Rogersville Lady Wildcats defeated the Forsyth Lady Panthers 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon in Logan-Rogersville to capture this year’s 2020 Class 1 District 9 Tennis Championship.
For the Wildcats, it was a day of redemption.
“We had won seven straight district championships until Forsyth took it away from us last year,” said Wildcat head coach Sarah Worsham. “We wanted it back and today our girls went out and got it.”
“I’m so proud of them all. They were focused, motivated and played within themselves,” said Worsham. “I guess you could say they just played good solid tennis, nothing fancy, just good solid tennis.”
“This was a big win for us today,” senior Morgan Wilhoit said. “We were all disappointed last year after losing the title to Forsyth. So it’s really exciting for us, especially the seniors, to be district champions again.”
The Lady Wildcats, who entered this year’s tournament as the top seed, defeated Reed’s Spring 5-0 in Monday’s semifinal round action to earn their spot in Tuesday’s district final while second seeded Forsyth edged Willow Springs 5-3.
The Wildcats proved to be a bit too much for the Panthers this year winning 5-2.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
Out in front for the Wildcats was their No. 1 player Lauren Roberts.
Roberts teamed up with Wilhoit to defeat Forsyth’s Morgan Blom and Meadow Mardis 8-3 in doubles competition and then downed the Lady Panthers’ Sarah Hutchinson 6-2, 6-0 in singles play.
“Morgan and I went into our doubles match trying to be assertive with our shots,” said Roberts. “During the match we knew that Blom and Mardis liked to mix up their balls a lot so we had to keep our feet moving and be ready for everything to get the win. Playing with Morgan is always fun. She’s the best doubles partner that I could have ever asked for.”
“As far as singles go I’ve played Sarah before and I love to compete with her,” said the Wildcat senior. “I’m familiar with her game so I had a pretty good idea what I needed to do to get the win. But she was tough and didn’t give up. I had to play really hard and fight for every point to beat her.”
Although they didn’t repeat as district champions in 2020 Forsyth head coach Paul Voliva was pleased with his Lady Panthers.
“I thought our girls played exceptionally hard today and I’m super proud of them for that,” said Voliva. “But Logan-Rogersville proved to be the better team today.”
On Monday Logan-Rogersville will tangle with Bolivar in team sectional competition.
