Central in hunt for second straight district title

The Tigers were tied with Rockwood Summit after the first day of play in the two-day event.

The chance for a second straight district title and two state berths remained in tact for the Central girls tennis team as the doubles teams of Dani Gross-Monica Toole and Lindsey Pingel-Sarah Ford each reached the semifinals of the Class 2 District 1 tournament with two wins Wednesday at Central.

The semifinals and finals will be played today at Central. The semifinal round is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Gross and Toole, seeded first, cruised in their first match 6-0, 6-0 against the team of Diane Serati and Aimee Dumay of Rockwood Summit. In the quarterfinals, Gross and Toole defeated the team of Hines-Geniec of Mehlville 6-2, 6-1.

Pingel and Ford, the No. 3 seed, also had an easy route. The Central sophomores opened with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Ashley Hammers and Stephanie Forsythe of Farmington, and then won a 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal match against Jessica Drum and Sarah Detring of Jackson.

The other two semifinal teams will be No. 2 seed Melissa Cullmann and Michelle Ruf of Lindbergh, who will face Pingel and Ford, and No. 4 seed Ashton Miller and Sarah Barks of Farmington, who will face Gross and Toole.

"Our doubles teams have both beaten the teams they will play, but that was early in the season," Central coach Annette Slattery said. "But we have our confidence going into it."

Central's four doubles wins gave it a tie for the team lead with Rockwood Summit. Both teams have 17 points after the first day. Summit is led by singles players Sara Helbig and Lauren Needham. Both reached the semifinals in their bids to duplicate last year's sweep of the district's two state berths.

"We need to win both our doubles to beat Rockwood Summit, and they need to win both theirs to have a shot at us," Slattery said.

In the district tournament, a doubles win counts for 2 1/2 points, while a singles win is just two points. Third-place match winners receive a point less in singles and doubles.

"It's really going to go down to the wire between us and Rockwood Summit," Slattery said.

Eureka was next with 16 points but did not have a player in the semifinals. Poplar Bluff and Cor Jesu each had 12 1/2 points, Farmington had 12, followed by Lindbergh and Jackson with 11 1/2.

Both of Central's singles players lost their opening matches. Paige Foley fell to Katie Hasenmueller of Eureka 7-6, 6-3, and Kristen Ford lost to No. 5 seed Priya Gujarati of Poplar Bluff 6-4, 7-5.

Gujarati, along with No. 3 seed Katie Wanner of Cor Jesu, will join Helbig and Needham in the semifinals.

Jackson had four wins on the day, led by the doubles team of Drum and Detring with two wins. Shannon Cobb and Ellyn Beil picked up a win in doubles, and Alynda Lane won her first match in singles before being eliminated. Sarah Hinkebein was eliminated by Needham.

With a new wrinkle in the district system, the top four teams in the district will square off for the two sectional berths. The district winner will host the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team will host the No. 3 team. Both dual matches will be played on Tuesday.

"You really can't look ahead," Slattery said. "We're still focusing on what's happening tomorrow. But as soon as it's over, we have to regroup."