Hopkinsville had to play deep into the night to get one of their girls’ doubles’ team into the Second Region semifinals with the other having to wait an extra day to complete their quarterfinal match in Henderson.
Eighth graders Ella Lester and Allie Fort, the tourney’s No. 2 seed, beat Fort Campbell’s Nitzay Irizarry-Rivera and Halee Brugge 6-0, 6-1 and Webster County’s Natalie Austin and Mariah Austin 6-2, 6-2 in a match that ended at 10:10pm.
They will play No. 3 seed Kally Priest and Isabelle Wright of Henderson County in one semifinal.
Skylar Ray and Sophie Maddux, the No. 4 seed, dispatched of Union County’s Jariah McDaniels and Lilly Shirel 6-1-, 6-1. Their opponents in the opposite bracket were not as methodical. Madisonville’s Dani Cruz and Riley Marsh had to wait for their Fort Campbell opponents to win a 7-6 second-set tiebreaker to win their opening match. Cruz and Marsh then had to eke out a three-set win over the Lady Falcons to advance to the quarterfinals. However, the matched ended after the 9pm deadline to start a new one.
Ray and Maddux will play Cruz and Marsh in Tuesday’s opener with the winner to face top seed Maddie Morgan and Chasie Phelps of Caldwell County in the semifinals.
In singles’ play, No. 2 seed Riley Fort took care of UHA’s Mitali Patel 6-0, 6-1 and advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Union County’s Emily Hibbs. Fort will face Caldwell County’s Kaylee McEnaney, an upset winner of No. 3 seed Kendall Warren of Madisonville.
No. 4 seed Anna Maddux beat Madisonville’s Meg Tackett 6-1, 6-0 in her opening match, but lost to Webster County junior Marissa Austin 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Austin will meet top seed Belle Englebright of Caldwell County in the other semifinal.
Caldwell County and Hopkinsville are tied in the points standings with six points each. Madisonville is third with three points.