photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Senior Alexa Nauholz serves during a Monday, September 23 doubles tennis match against Shawnee Mission Northwest at Rock Chalk Park.

The Free State Firebirds tennis team finished fifth out of 14 Sunflower League teams at the league tournament on Thursday, scoring a total of 44 points. Lawrence High School placed eighth with a score of 25.

Free State’s two singles players, Cami Lee and Annie Pilakowski, led the team by finishing fifth and sixth, respectively in the singles bracket. Lee started with two wins before falling to Heidi Baillos from Olathe West. In the five-through-eight bracket, Lee won both matches, including an 8-5 win over Pilakowski.

For placing fifth, Lee earned All-Sunflower League honors.

Pilakowski started as the 10 seed but climbed to sixth through the tournament. She also started with two wins before losing to Shawnee Mission East’s Ishya Bhavasar. Pilakowski won 8-3 in her first match of the five-through-eight bracket to reach her match against Lee.

For the Lions, Harper Jay finished 12th and earned her team 10 points. She began her day with an 8-0 win before falling 8-1 in her second match. In the ninth-through-sixteenth bracket, she started with an 8-3 win over Olathe West’s Sophie Templeton but fell to eventual ninth-place champion Mia Huettenmueller from Olathe East. Jay placed 12th following an 8-1 loss in the ninth-place match to Mia Sutton from Shawnee Mission South.

Both Lawrence and Free State had one doubles team place in the top 18 and score points. The Lions team of Alexa Nauholz and Channing Saint Onge started with the 11th seed and finished 10th in the tournament. They started with an 8-2 win before falling 8-0 to Shawnee Mission Northwest’s doubles team.

Nauholz and Saint Onge won their next two matches in the ninth-through-sixteenth bracket with an 8-5 win over Olathe West’s doubles team and an 8-2 win over Free State’s team. The Lions pair placed 10th after losing 8-5 in the ninth-place match to Shawnee Mission Northwest’s No. 2 doubles team.

Free State’s doubles team of Taryn Jones and Zoe Cachiguango-Latta entered as the 10 seed and finished in 12th. They beat Shawnee Mission South’s No. 2 doubles team before falling to Olathe East’s No. 1 doubles team in the next match. The Firebird duo defeated the Olathe East No. 2 doubles team but lost to the Lawrence team 8-2 in the next match. They finished with an 8-1 loss in the 11th-place match to Olathe South’s No. 2 doubles team.

The girls varsity regional tournament will start at 9 a.m. on Thursday, October 10 at Mill Valley High School. It will be the final event before the state tennis tournament on Friday, October 18.

FSHS, LHS golf place ninth and 15th in Lawrence Invitational

The Lawrence and Free State golf teams competed in familiar territory at Eagle Bend Golf Course in the Lawrence Invitational on Wednesday, with the Firebirds taking ninth and the Lions taking 15th in the competition.

The Firebirds scored a 393, which was 47 behind the eighth-place Topeka Hayden and was one stroke better than Olathe South. Merrit Hale led the team with a 94 score, which was 36th overall. Laurel Stancil placed 39th overall with a 97. Haylee Graham scored 100 and Claire Heinritz hit a 102. They all placed in the top 50 individually.

Mallory White (108, placed 63rd) and Tola Jankowski (109, tied for 64th) also competed for the Firebirds, but they finished outside the top five on their team and their scores didn’t factor into the team score.

For the Lions, they compiled a score of 453, which was three behind Shawnee Mission South and one stroke ahead of Spring Hill. Sophie Rowley led the team with a 103 that landed her tied for 50th in the individual leaderboard. Cami Nauholz placed 68th with a 112 score, and Isabelle Richards scored a 117 for 74th.

Maria Guereca tied for 81st individually after scoring a 121, and Keira Wells finished fifth on the team with a 129. Lola Johnson’s 131 score came sixth on the team and was not counted toward the team score.

Both golf teams will compete at Paradise Point Golf Complex on Wednesday, October 9.