Nothing could deny the dominant doubles tandem of Ellie Kaser and Macie Keith as they repeated their title at the MSHSAA Class 2 District 8 Individual Girls Tennis Championships, held Oct. 9 at the St. Pius X Athletic Complex.
Platte County’s No. 1 doubles team is the first tandem to repeat a district title in program history. This year’s title required extra patience and perseverance for events out of their control.
After first-round matches began and some concluded, an already long day grew even longer when a lengthy seeding deliberation among the coaches forced the bracket to start over.
Despite the inconvenience, Platte County had both singles players and both doubles teams earn district medals after advancing to the semifinals.
“We did so well with it that once we got to the semifinals, I let all of that frustration go and we were just playing tennis,” Platte County head coach Scott Blakely said. “I honestly believe the girls did as well. I think they just went out and played tennis after that. I’m proud of them for that.”
Blakely and his coaching staff of assistants Kim Schank and Ron Keith had their hands full with all four district entrants playing critical semifinal matches simultaneously with state qualification on the line. Ultimately, Kaser/Keith prevailed while the three others fell short.
Platte County senior Ellie Kaser in her semifinal victory over St. Pius X on Oct. 9. The victory punched Kaser’s third consecutive ticket to the state tournament in doubles.
Kaser and Keith waited upwards of five hours until their first match of the day. As the top-seeded doubles team, Kaser/Keith received a first-round bye before cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 win over No. 9-seeded Lincoln Prep.
Then came Kaser/Keith’s first major test on the court: they lost the opening game of their semifinal match to No. 4 Sami Prenger and Brooklyn Meese of St. Pius X. The response from Kaser/Keith was perfect as they won the next six games to take the first set 6-1, and officially booked their ticket to state with a 6-0 sweep in the second set to take the final 12 games of the match.
“They’re going to get a ton of balls in,” Blakely said of Kaser/Keith. “They’re going to make you make a lot of mistakes. Right now, they are starting to really put it together; starting to get to the net, being aggressive and finishing points, which is the next element we really wanted to work on.”
The Pirates hoped for a doubles sweep, but Platte County’s No. 3-seeded team of Clare Hayter and Macy Doll fell just short. Hayter/Doll opened the tournament with a first-round win over No. 14 East (6-0, 6-0) and a quarterfinal win over No. 6 Lincoln Prep (6-0, 6-1), setting up a lengthy semifinal matchup against No. 2 Avery Smith and Sydney Mitchell from St. Pius X for a spot at state.
Hayter/Doll jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, then closed it with a 6-4 win. They broke ahead 3-1 in the second set, but Pius battled back to force a tiebreak, which the Warriors won 7-4. In the match-deciding super tiebreak, Pius used a 5-0 run to take an 8-3 lead and eventually won 10-5.
The doubles championship match between the top two seeds was one-way traffic for Kaser/Keith over Smith and Mitchell of Pius. The Pirates’ tandem won both sets 6-1, 6-1 to take the district title for a second straight year.
In the singles bracket, junior Jayne Muir and Katelyn Newberry battled well for Platte County and advanced to the semifinals.
Muir, playing as the No. 13 seed, began the day against No. 4-seeded Sadie Stuart of Kearney. After losing the first set 6-3, Muir won the second set 6-4 and advanced by winning the super tiebreak 10-4.
Muir’s quarterfinal victory was less dramatic, defeating No. 5 Lydia Heathman of Winnetonka 6-1, 6-1. Suddenly, Platte County’s No. 13 seed was just one win away from booking a ticket to state.
Evie Ward of Platte City won the district’s singles tournament, representing St. Pius X. The junior returns to the state tournament for a second year in a row.
Only top-seeded Evie Ward of St. Pius X stood in her way. Ward, a Platte City resident, finished runner-up at districts last year and was determined to finish the job this year.
After defeating No. 9 Lincoln Prep (6-0, 6-0), Ward dropped her first two games of the day in the semifinal against Muir, but still eased to a 6-2, 6-0 semifinal victory. Ward won the district singles title with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over No. 2 Annika Wirz of Lincoln Prep in the championship.
Newberry, like Muir, came one win shy of booking an appearance at state. The No. 3 seed opened with a 6-1, 6-1 first-round win over No. 14 Charlotte Wegner of St. Pius X, then a 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal triumph over No. 11 Kiera Immesberger of Kearney.
Newberry’s state aspirations ended in a semifinal nail-biter against Lincoln Prep’s Wirz. After dropping a close first set 6-4, Newberry shut out Wirz 6-0 to force a decisive super tiebreak, which allowed a reenergized Wirz to jump ahead 6-0 and later win 10-5.
Muir took home a third-place medal in the singles bracket, with Newberry taking fourth. The doubles team of Hayter/Doll also took third.
Platte County junior Macie Keith hits a shot in her quarterfinal victory against Lincoln Prep on Oct. 9. She is now a two-time district doubles champion, partnering with Ellie Kaser for back-to-back titles.
Kaser/Keith will represent Platte County at the Class 2 State Doubles Championship in Springfield on Oct. 22-23. Kaser, a senior, returns for the third consecutive year, while Keith, a junior, returns for a second straight year as Kaser’s partner.
They enter the tournament with aspirations of bringing home a state medal for the first time in program history. Two wins will secure a medal, but two wins in a state tournament are never easy, as they’ve previously learned.
Platte County also hopes to win districts as a team, something they’ve done only once before, in 2023. They enter as the No. 1 seed for team districts, with a likely rematch against current titleholders and No. 2 St. Pius X — whom the Pirates defeated 6-3 last month — for this year’s title on Oct. 14.
“The expectation has always been get as many girls to state as possible,” Blakely said. “The other expectation, and the beautiful thing about playing today, is that we still can make it as a team. The other girls are going to be even more hungry than they were coming into today.”