SOUTHEAST WELL REPRESENTED AT STATE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Jackson's Lena Steinberg will compete in individual play in the Class 4A state tennis tournament.

As usual, the Missouri State High School Girls Tennis Championships will have a Southeast Missouri flavor when play is held Friday and Saturday at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.

Cape Girardeau Central qualified its two doubles teams of Lisa Ahstrom-Summer Chaudhari and Lara Golike-Rachell Thomas for the Class 4A state meet while Jackson will have singles entrant Lena Steinberg.

In Class 1A-3A, Charleston singles player Whitney Delay and doubles team Sayler Ault-Jenny O'Rourke, along with Fredericktown singles player Erin Kinder, will all participate.

For Cape Central, Ahstrom and Chaudhari defeated their teammates Golike and Thomas in the finals of the recent district tournament.

Ahstrom, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, and Chaudhari are both seniors while Golike and Thomas are juniors.

Golike and Thomas also qualified for state last year as a doubles team while Chaudhari will be competing in her third consecutive state tournament with a third different doubles partners.

"It's really tough at state," said Cape Central coach Annettee Slattery. "When you're there, you're already in the top 16 of state, so anybody you draw is really tough.

"Just to make it to state is a great accomplishment. Then anything else is kind of like icing on the cake."

Like Cape Central's Ahstrom, Jackson's Steinberg is a foreign exchange student who has experienced considerable success. Steinberg, who is from Germany, won the district championship as she improved her record on the season to 15-1.

"Lena has had a spectacular year. We were very fortunate to get her," said Jackson coach Linda Adams. "I know there will be some tough competition at state, but she's a really good player. Hopefully she can do well."

Charleston's doubles team of Ault and O'Rourke also won a district title, as did Fredericktown's Kinder, who beat Charleston's Delay in the district championship match. Kinder also handed Steinberg her only defeat this year.