Tigers capture title in tennis

ST. LOUIS — Central seniors Kristi Lazarova and Christen Edmonds capped what already was a special day in dramatic fashion Saturday at the Class 2 District 1 tennis tournament at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.

Lazarova and Edmonds earned a bid to the state tournament Oct. 24 and 25 in Springfield with a three-set win in the semifinals over Jackson's Erinne Haff and Alison Keiper 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

They followed that with a scintillating 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (12-10) victory over top-seeded Lindy McBratney and Marcia Klopf of Eureka in the district championship match.

"Our whole focus was to get to state as seniors," Edmonds said. "We got through our first couple of matches yesterday fairly easily. But we knew that it would be a tough match against Jackson. We had beaten them twice before, but we certainly knew that we couldn't be overconfident."

The district semifinal match is the most tense one of the season for high school players as only the top two singles players and top two doubles teams make it to the individual portion of the state tournament. Thus, the semifinal winner can make reservations for Springfield while the loser will stay home.

"I always try to be aggressive, and once they won that first set, I knew that we needed to close it out," Lazarova said.

The tension was gone in the championship match, that is until things got really interesting in the third set. It would go to the tie-breaker with each team having numerous match points.

"The semifinal was the most important match," Lazarova said. "We really weren't expecting to win the final, but it turned out to be the most dramatic match I have played."

Lazarova and Edmonds thus always can claim to be district champions. That also means that they will play a second-place finisher from one of the other seven districts in Class 2 in the first round at state.

"We feel we have nothing to lose at state," Edmonds said. "We just want to hit the ball hard and not be nervous."

"We are going to play our best and see what happens," Lazarova said. "I am going to be relaxed and just enjoy the experience and make sure I get something out of it."

First-year Tigers coach Bryce Kristal was able to share in the celebration with her players and parents after the long day Saturday.

"The goal was to get to state, and we beat a good Jackson team to get there," Kristal said. "Jackson fought hard and it was an exciting match. And then on top of that thrill was the championship match. Being my first year, I couldn't have had a better group of girls. And it's great to have a doubles team that is district champions."

Jackson did not qualify anyone to the individual state meet, but Haff and Keiper still had a pivotal win in their third-place match against Parkway South's Mona Dai and Lisa McCarthy, 7-5, 6-2.

That clinched a second-place finish as a team for the Indians. Parkway South, which had the district singles champion in Laura Richardson, won the team title.

"Five of the six girls I brought here were seniors, and I was hoping that the experience was going to pull us through," Jackson coach David Brummel said. "This is the best finish I have had in my three years. We finished fourth last year."

A couple of familiar foes will match up in the team regional round Tuesday, as Jackson will host Central, which finished third, just a point behind Jackson.

Jackson has won both matches against Central this year, both by 5-4 scores.