Park Hill junior Eladie Marshall in her quarterfinal doubles match on Oct. 10 at Liberty North High School.
For the first time since 2011, the Park Hill girls tennis team has crowned a doubles team as district champions.
The upperclassmen pairing of Eladie Marshall and Addison Worden won the Class 3 District 8 Doubles Tournament on Oct. 10 at Liberty North High School, earning a qualification spot for the State Tournament later this month in Springfield.
Marshall and Worden became Park Hill’s first doubles district champions since 2011, when Brooke Barnard and Kaylin Lake won in Class 2 District 16.
The top-seeded pairing of Marshall and Worden had their patience tested to earn their championship. Wet courts forced a delay of more than an hour before play could begin.
Park Hill senior Addie Worden returns a serve in her district quarterfinal matchup.
Once play eventually began, Marshall and Worden were the last to take the court due to a first-round bye. They took care of business in their quarterfinal matchup 6-3, 6-1 against the No. 8 seed pairing from Liberty.
In their semifinal match, Marshall and Worden defeated No. 4-seeded Molly Walters and Chloe McClendon from Staley to secure a spot at the state tournament. The Trojan duo took the first set 6-1 but dropped the second set 6-1 before taking the tiebreaker 10-8.
In the championship match, Marshall and Worden came from behind to defeat No. 2-seeded Taylor Londquist and Emma Ford of Liberty. Londquist and Ford took the first set 6-4, but Marshall and Worden ran away with the second set 6-2 before winning the district title in a tiebreaker 10-8.
The doubles championship was Park Hill’s first individual district title since 2021, when Audrey Lynn won the singles district title before making it to the quarterfinals at state. Now, Marshall and Worden are the Trojans’ first doubles tandem to make an appearance at the state tournament since Amanda Reifschneider and Madison Whalen represented Park Hill in 2020 as the district runners-up.
Park Hill South junior Cate Supinski in her opening round doubles match.
On the other side of the district bracket, the Park Hill South duo of Cate Supinski and Ainsley Arnold cruised through their opening match 6-0, 6-0 against Oak Park before losing their quarterfinal 6-1, 6-2 against the eventual district runners-up. Renae Masson and Katja Jacimovic of Park Hill South and Park Hill’s duo of Anna Chambers and Andi Osborne both fell in their opening round doubles matchups in two sets.
Park Hill South senior Presley Davis at the district tournament on Oct. 10 in Liberty.
In singles, Park Hill South’s Sophia Doane and Park Hill’s Y’Quira Lacy both won their opening round matches, Doane taking her match 6-2, 6-0 and Lacy taking her match 6-2, 7-6(6), before falling in the quarterfinals. Park Hill South’s Preley Davis fell in her opening round singles match 6-0, 6-3 while Park Hill’s Josie Marshall fell in a tiebreaker in her opening singles match 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.
Marshall and Worden will hope for a deep run in the state tournament, which will take place Oct. 23-24 at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.