by Brian Turrel
Two Bonner Springs tennis players are headed to the KSHSAA 5A state tournament in Andover next weekend after placing in the regional tournament at Mill Valley High School this Saturday.
Penelope Kline took second place at the regional, nearly knocking off top-seeded Heidi Baillos of Mill Valley. Kline took the first set of the championship 6-3, with the tremendous pace on her forehand and serve forcing Baillos onto the defensive.
Baillos lacked Kline’s sheer pace, but countered with an uncanny ability to drop her shots just inside the endline no matter what was hit her way. Kline won a few points by mixing in drop shots, but Baillos won the second set 6-2.
An extended break before the decisive third set seemed to refresh the Bonner junior, who immediately broke serve and took a 2-0 advantage. However, the accuracy of her ground strokes and serve was on the wane, and Baillos, looking fresh as ever, broke two consecutive Kline serves to take the match (6-4) and regional title.
Autumn Ashford placed fifth in the regional, defeating St. James’ Abby Coker decisively (6-0, 6-1) in their consolation match. Ashford’s only loss was in the second round to tourney champ Baillos.
Bonner Springs also qualified two doubles teams, Newson/Smith and Leslie/Profeta, but both lost their first-round elimination match-ups.
After the match Bonner Springs head coach Matt Dow talked about his team’s showing at the tournament.
“It was a great performance,” said Dow. “I’m so happy with how hard Penelope worked — how hard Autumn Ashford worked. Great tennis, hard work, gutsy tennis — a lot of grit and determination today.”
Sumner Academy qualified two singles players and two doubles teams for the regional. Sofia Mercado was seeded 13th in singles and lost in the first round to St. Thomas Aquinas’s Megan Law. Melissa Ortega was seeded 15th and lost to Kline in the first round.
Sumner’s doubles teams, Fileto/Garcia and Vang/Tial, were both eliminated in the first round.
Piper High School’s Avery Roellchen also qualified for the tournament in singles. Despite an early lead, she narrowly lost 9-8 to Leavenworth’s Riley White in the abbreviated nine-game play-in format.
