photo by: Photo courtesy Aaron Clark

The Free State tennis team poses after competing in the Sunflower League tournament on Friday, Oct. 2 in Olathe.

Free State finished fourth and Lawrence took 13th in the Sunflower League girls tennis tournament on Friday, with Free State’s Eli Ward winning the singles bracket.

Ward won her second Sunflower League singles championship in as many years, entering as the No. 1 seed and finishing with a dominant four-match run.

After a first-round bye, Ward defeated Gardner Edgerton’s Carol Lemos 8-0, then topped Mill Valley’s Clara Budimlija 8-1 in the quarterfinal match. In the semifinal, Ward beat Ada Smith from Olathe Northwest 8-1 and finished with an 8-2 win over Olathe Northwest’s Seraphine Besong in the championship match.

Free State’s Faith Hansen took 11th in the league tournament, going 3-2 overall. Hansen defeated Shawnee Mission West’s Asavari Jammu 8-2 but lost 8-1 to Smith in the next round. Hansen bounced back with an 8-2 win over Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Audrey Salzer but lost 8-5 to Shawnee Mission North’s Grace Morgan, putting Hansen in the 11th-place match.

To end the day, Hansen defeated Gardner Edgerton’s Adi Schroeder 8-3 to place 11th in the tournament.

Lawrence’s Kingston Jacobs lost 8-2 in her first-round match against Budimlija but picked up two consolation wins. In what was the longest singles match of the tournament, Jacobs gritted out an 8-7 (7) win over Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Karli Cunningham for her first win. In the next round, Jacobs won 8-0 over Shawnee Mission West’s Lily Orozco. It took six tiebreakers for Jacobs to lose again, but she ultimately fell to Olathe West’s Monica Fowler-Bumgardner in the consolation semifinal.

Fellow Lions Ella Lem lost 8-0 to Shawnee Mission East’s Victoria Easton in her first match and fell to Fowler-Bumgardner in the first consolation round 8-5.

On the doubles side, Free State’s team of Hina Tamura and Maya Friedman finished 15th overall, while the Firebird team of Hope Hansen and Caroline Davis placed 16th.

Tamura and Friedman started with an 8-3 win before falling 8-3 in the second round. They lost 8-1 and 8-2 in the next two matches, setting the duo up against Hansen and Davis in the 15th-place match. There, Tamura and Friedman won 8-7 (3).

Hansen and Davis started with an 8-0 win in the first round over Shawnee Mission West’s doubles team but lost 8-2 in the second round. Back-to-back losses put the doubles team up against their fellow Firebirds for the 15th-place match.

Lawrence’s doubles team of Lily Baldridge and Lucy Miller-Coleman started with an 8-0 loss in the first round but won 8-5 over Shawnee Mission West’s doubles team in the consolation round. The Lion duo lost 8-0 in the consolation quarterfinal match.

The other Lawrence doubles team of Emma Over and Makayla Denton lost 8-6 in the first round and 8-2 in the consolation round.

Both teams will compete at the Blue Valley North regional tournament on Friday at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

Lawrence, Free State golf teams compete in Sunflower League Round 1

Free State and Lawrence golfed in the first Sunflower League round on Sept. 28 at Country Creek Golf Club, where Free State finished fourth out of 11 teams that qualified with a team score.

The Firebirds were led by Claire Cummins, who finished fourth by shooting a 79. Cummins had eight bogeys but had a birdie on the seventh hole and an eagle on the ninth, needing only three strokes to finish the five-par, 389-yard hole.

Free State’s Tola Jankowski shot 13 above par, which put her tied for eighth. Laurel Stancil tied for 22nd with a 94, and Mallory White shot a 99 that tied for 32nd. Avery Lonnberg was the fifth golfer for the Firebirds, and she shot a 103 that put her tied for 41st.

The Lions had two golfers at Country Creek Golf Club, with Keira Wells leading the tandem by finishing 49th and shooting a 112, while Clara Marshall shot a 132.

Area teams golf in Lawrence Invitational

Twenty-eight teams including Eudora, Free State and Lawrence golfed in the Lawrence Invitational at Eagle Bend Golf Course on Wednesday, with Free State leading the local teams by placing ninth.

The Firebirds shot a 352 as a team, while the Cardinals finished four strokes behind the Firebirds and took 10th. Lawrence placed 24th as a team with a 461 score.

Cummins led the Firebirds and all local golfers by shooting a 75, which was tied for fifth. She finished with three birdies and was one stroke under par for the front nine. Jankowski shot an 87 and had a birdie on the 18th hole, putting her tied for 29th individually.

Stancil shot a 91, which put her tied for 44th, and White finished tied for 73 after shooting a 99. Lonnberg shot a 104 and tied for 87th individually.

Brooklynn Akers led Eudora and shot an 85 with a birdie on the second hole. Akers tied for 25th and was one stroke ahead of fellow Cardinal Josie Vogt, who tied for 27th. Vogt got a birdie herself on the sixth hole.

Lily Wright tied for 33rd by shooting an 88. Leslie Cundiff shot a 97 and tied for 67th, and Brynn Deterding tied for 89th with a 105. Henley Kueffer shot a 106 and was tied for 93rd individually.

Cami Nauholz led Lawrence by shooting a 94 that included a birdie on the fifth hole, which put her tied for 53rd. Mila Morrison tied for 98th by shooting a 107, and Wells shot a 113 which was tied for 112th. Marshall shot a 147 in the invitational.

Free State and Lawrence will golf at the Paradise Point Golf Complex on Tuesday for the Olathe East Sunflower Tournament, while the Cardinals won’t have postseason competition until the 4A Columbus Sub-State Tournament at Brush Creek Golf and Grill on Oct. 12.