Poplar Bluff girls tennis was one of several teams to wake up, get on the bus and head to Farmington at the crack of dawn Thursday morning. Due to inclement weather in Farmington, the team had to make the same drive back when the Class 2 District 1 girls tennis tournament was moved to Poplar Bluff.
When the 85-degree temperatures cooled and the dust settled, Poplar Bluff had its season come to an end Thursday, but it secured one upset and didn't go down without a fight.
The No. 1 doubles pairing of senior Mya White and sophomore Clarissa Varner took down Mehlville juniors Brooke Beczkala and Rebecca Roungon 6-1 and 7-5 early on in the day for Poplar Bluff's only match win.
"It feels really good, especially since we haven't had the best season this year, but (it's nice) to get a win, especially against a harder team" said Varner.
Added White, "(It's nice) to pass a round in districts after we've worked so hard every day in practice."
With White patrolling near the net and putting zip on her serves while Varner secured the back, the Lady Mules duo picked up a big win to reach the next round.
White said the duo served well in that match and took solid angles, and Varner attributed the win to solid communication between the two of them.
"(The team) played really well," Poplar Bluff head coach Mike Sowatzke said. "I mean, there was lots of good forehands; lots of good backhands; some good net game, so I'm very happy with how they ended up playing today."
After that, though, they ran into the No. 3 seed and eventual third-place team of Abigail Jent and Mary Burcham from Farmington. White and Varner fell short in their second match with a pair of 6-1 losses.
"We communicated really well," White said. I thought we worked hard. We didn't give up. In the end, they were better players. We played our hardest."
Senior Megan Murphy took to the court in the No. 2 singles spot, and nearly pulled off a win in the first set of her match.
Facing Jackson No. 1 Alexandria Spurgeon, Murphy stayed with her nearly every step of the way but came up just short, falling 7-6 in the first set after Spurgeon claimed the tiebreaker. Spurgeon went on to claim a 6-2 victory in the second set to reach the next round.
As a first-year tennis player, steady improvement from Murphy is what the coaching staff has seen, and that's all they can ask for from someone still relatively new to the game.
"Megan's played the best she's played all season this week and last week. She's had some really good matches and come out on top several times, but she always seemed to draw that athletic opponent," Poplar Bluff assistant coach Missy Cox said.
Senior Sara Holland filled the other No. 1 singles spot and took on Oakville No. 2 Taylor Powell. Holland won her share of games and forced some back-and-forth rallies but eventually couldn't keep up as Powell was hitting well-placed balls into the corners and seemingly everywhere else on the court. She forcing Holland to give chase and eventually surrender games on the way to a pair of 6-3 wins for Powell.
"She's got the unfortunate spot of being number one. Every team, no matter how bad they are, usually has a good number one, and she's just been up against everyone's best everywhere we go.
"Every game she had amazing points, and that's nice to see that."
Poplar Bluff's No. 2 doubles team of Simone-Elizabeth Anders and Emily Williams fell to Farmington's No. 2 duo of Virginia Lugo and Rebekah Kimpel 6-2 and 6-0 to round out the performances by the Lady Mules.
Alyson Piskulic took Mehlville's No. 1 singles spot. She won the tournament without losing a single game. In the final against Oakville's Aleksandra Blagojevic, Piskulic scored points early and often with a plethora of aces and authority on her returns.
The No. 1 seeded doubles team of Oakville freshman Isabella Hong and junior Callie Balin took down the No. 2 seed duo of Jackson seniors Larissa Hoffman and Alexandra Rother 6-4 and 6-3 to earn first place in doubles action.