FARMINGTON, Mo. -- The Poplar Bluff tennis team won a rain-shortened Farmington Invitational on Friday, four of six players into the finals before play was stopped.
Humza Siddiqui, Trenton Nepean and Ben Stewart were playing in the championship matches while Brett Keele placed second after losing the No. 6 seed final 6-3. Adeesh Mishra placed fourth in a tiebreaker, losing 7-6 (7-3).
The Mules were a combined 9-4. The eight-team tournament went to 6-game sets with no-ad scoring.
"We certainly wished we could have played regular scoring in nice weather, but we were happy with our play and glad that we got in as much as we did," Mules coach Charles Harper said.
Siddiqui was tied 4-4 with Farmington's Alex England in the top-seeded final. It was the third meeting this season and eighth in the last three years between the two, who could see each other again in the district. Siddiqui advanced with a 6-0 win over Cape Central's top seed and a 6-3 win against Dexter's Zach Potts.
Nepean won a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-1), in his first match against Notre Dame's Collin Smith who had won two previous meetings this spring. After a 6-4 semifinal win, Nepean was trailing Dexter's Eric Hahn 4-2 in the final when play was suspended.
Stewart had wins of 6-0 and 6-1 to stay unbeaten in singles play while Nathan Smith suffered his first loss, 7-5, after breaking a racket string in the first game and playing with a borrowed racket.
Mishra won 6-1 before losing his semifinal by the same score while Keele won 6-2 and 6-0 to reach the final, which Notre Dame's James Stroup won 6-3.
SOCCER
The Mules lost in penalty kicks at Kelly on Friday, 2-1.
Poplar Bluff (6-8) led until late in the second half when the Hawks scored off a corner.
"We didn't have our best game and got very tired towards the end of the game without very many subs," Mules coach Rusty Crafton said. "We are going to keep moving girls around until we find the right combination to help us make a late push towards the end of the season."
Shelbey Johnson scored her 27th goal of the season in the first half on Sophie Rowland's 17th assist.
Johnson had a breakaway chance in the first overtime stopped by the Kelly keeper and the Mules had other missed chances in the second overtime, Crafton said.
Sophie Rowland scored to match Kelly in the penalty kicks but the Mules missed on their next two chances.
Poplar Bluff's Shelby Sievers had 17 saves.