The moment of celebration was imminent Friday for Ladue High at the Missouri Class 2 girls team tennis state championship.
The Rams needed to win just one more court to defend their title at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
The question was which court was going to be the clincher as Kayla Chan at No. 2 singles and Jenna Song at No. 5 singles had simultaneous match points.
“The girls didn’t know which court to rush to,” Ladue coach Margaret Shapiro said. “As it turned out, they finished at the same moment.”
And the Rams had their 5-1 victory over Grain Valley to defend their crown.
“It’s the end to the ultimate season,” said Grace Qian, who was the lone senior in the starting lineup. “It’s been a dream and it is bittersweet that it is over.”
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Qian, who joined the team as a junior after moving from Wisconsin, has been a part of back-to-back titles, which were the first for Ladue since 2009.
“It was a new and exciting last year,” Qian said. “But this one feels different. Maybe it is because I am a senior and I got a chance to lead the cheers with a special group of teammates. I have so many great memories that will last a lifetime. I made so many friends through tennis and I will miss this a lot.”
The Rams cruised to the title last year and in fact won the championships match against Fort Zumwalt South without losing a single game in the five completed matches.
Grain Valley, which has lost to Ladue the last three years in the final four, put up a fight and earned one of the three points in doubles Friday.
“Grain Valley brings a level of defensive play which frustrated us at times,” Shapiro said. “They made us play with patience and made us work hard. It’s always special to win a state title and every year is a new year. We got through a tough district and that helped propel us to Springfield.”
The state title is the ninth in school history for the Rams.
“Each of the girls on this team have a championship mindset,” Qian said. “We fight for ourselves and fight for the team.”
Webster Groves, which lost to Ladue in the semifinals, came back after falling behind 3-0 in doubles to defeat Thomas Jefferson Independent 5-4 in the third-place match.
John Burroughs’ Eva Kasal competes during the Class 3 girls doubles championship on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Mo. Gordon Radford | Special to the Post-Dispatch
John Burroughs defeated Lafayette 5-0 on Friday and will play for the Class 3 title at noon Saturday against Liberty of Kansas City.
The Bombers got a huge 9-8 win at No. 1 doubles as Sahana Madala and Eva Kasal defeated Class 3 singles champion Amber Yin and Madison Pfeiffer.
John Burroughs swept the doubles and got wins in singles from Megan Liu at No. 4 and Mayumi Ross at No. 6.
The Bombers (13-1) are unbeaten against Missouri opposition, losing only to Chicago area power Hinsdale Central.
Liberty is undefeated at 18-0 after beating Lee’s Summit North 5-0 in the other Class 3 semifinal Friday. Liberty is led by freshmen Ava Beltran and Corinne Korte, who won at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively in the win over the Broncos.
The Class 1 team tournament will be played Saturday. The the semifinals are at 9 a.m. and include an Ursuline-Clayton matchup, and the championship is at 3 p.m.
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