PHS girls win second straight district title
by Mark Cheffey
The PHS girls tennis team won its second district team title in a row Thursday, beating Mexico on its home courts 5-0.
The victory advanced the Lady Panthers (10-2-1) to sectional competition in St. Louis, Monday.
Members of the PHS girls tennis team hold their team district championship trophy after their victory over Mexico Thursday. From left are Katy Rindom, Jaynee Durst, Reese Gottman, Bella Perkins, Rylee Ingram, and Maura Gottman.
All three doubles pairs were victorious including No 1, Katy Rindom and Maura Gottman, 9-8, 7-2 tiebreaker; No. 2 Jaynee Durst and Rylee Ingram, 8-4; and No. 3 Reese Gottman and Bella Perkins, 8-5.
Winning matches for Palmyra were the No. 4 singles player, Reese Gottman, 6-2, 6-3 and the No. 6 singles player, Rylee Ingram.
By clinching the team victory with five victories, the team’s No. 1 through No. singles players, Rindom, Maura Gottman and Durst, did not have to finish their matches.
Top-seeded Palmyra, which earned a first-round bye, advanced to the title match with an exciting 5-4 win over Father Tolton in the semifinals Wednesday.
“The match came down to the last two singles matches, Ingram and Perkins,” said Coach Jessica Gottman. “We needed them both to win. Rylee won in two sets, but Bianca lost the first set but won the second and third to clinch the win.”
Ingram won hers 6-4, 6-1, while Perkins won 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Other singles-match winners were Maura Gottman, 7-6 (7-1 tiebreaker), 6-2, and Durst, 6-1, 6-2.
Durst and Ingram won their doubles match 8-6.
