The Beatrice girls tennis team traveled to Lincoln on Thursday for the NSAA State Tennis Championships at Woods Tennis Center.
The No. 1 doubles team of Tayla DeKoning and Sonia Romero Benavides were able to win 6-2, 6-2 in their first match of the day before falling to No. 4 seed Paulina Fomicheva and Ella Schutte of Elkhorn 6-1, 6-0.
"Sonia and Tayla really have come so far from the beginning of the year and pulled together to form a consistent, dynamic duo," said Beatrice head coach Christine Strubel.
The Lady O No. 2 doubles team of Carly Miller and Audrey Reimer won their first round match over Lincoln Northwest 6-0, 6-1.
"They won while playing a game filled with hustle, energy and strategy," Strubel said of her No. 2 team.
The duo then lost to No. 5 seed Georgia Mendoza and Megan Sorenson of Norris 6-1, 6-0.
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"The girls really returned their shots and answered with some great points," Strubel said. "They lost, but many of their games were very closely played."
Grace Ideus played No. 1 singles for Beatrice and had to face the defending No. 2 singles state champion in her opening round match. Ideus fell to Tanya Bach of B-T/Concord 6-0, 6-1.
"Grace played very hard against Tanya," Strubel said. "She answered with her hustle and consistent shots. She lost 6-0, 6-1 but played her very closely in many of those games."
In No. 2 singles, Beatrice's Ashton Strubel fell to sixth-seeded Isabella Hecht of Norris in her first round match 6-2, 6-1.
"Ashton's game has increased in strength and consistency," Strubel said. "She fought hard and went to many deuces and close games when she played. Her serving, serve returns and hard hit rallies were great to watch."
Strubel said overall, the season was a great one with much growth and improvement. Ashton Strubel got third at the York Invite, Carly Miller and Audrey Reimer placed second at the Beatrice Invite and Trailblazer Conference Tournament, Grace Ideus placed second at the Trailblazer Conference Meet and Benavides and deKoning finished second at the conference meet.
The team got third at the York Invite, fifth at the Elkhorn North Invite and were conference champs.
"It was a great group of girls all year," Strubel said.
Norris has had a good showing at state so far. After their win over Beatrice, Norris' No. 2 doubles team of Mendoza and Sorenson won their next match over No. 12 seed Bailey Stover and Tessa Colling of Kearney Catholic 6-1, 6-4. The win moves the Norris duo into Friday's rounds.
Their No. 1 doubles team of Eizlee Misko and Natalie Roche were the No. 7 seed entering the tournament and they won their first round match over Lincoln Christian's Reese Looper and Sara Van Ostrand 6-3, 6-0.
Norris' No. 1 single player Jessica Craft won her opening match over Hershey's Brandy Bode 7-5, 6-4. Craft then lost her second round match to No. 1 seed Ina Satpathy of Duchesne 6-0, 6-1.
After her win over Beatrice's Strubel in No. 2 singles, Norris' Hecht fell in her second round match 6-3, 6-0 to No. 11 seed Sophia Finney of Duchesne.
Wilber-Clatonia's No. 1 singles player, Aleksa Chambers, fell in her opening match to Hannah Walker of Gering 6-0, 6-0.
Wilber-Clatonia's No. 2 singles player, Alayna Steffensmeier, lost her first round match to Lincoln Northwest's Lilly Keifer 6-0, 6-0.
Wilber-Clatonia's No. 1 doubles team of Ellinor Bengtsson and Amy Kozak lost their first round match to Holdrege 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 1-10.
Wilber-Clatonia's No. 2 doubles team of Harley Bloom and Jocelyn Hoover lost their first round match 6-1, 6-4.
