Area Players Do Well At Tennis Qualifier

Left to right, Allison Kowalke and Emily Kowalke

Effingham area tennis kids are proving to be a challenge to the big city kids.  This past weekend several area players competed in the qualifier in Champaign for the Midwest Outdoor Championships.

For Girls 12's Emily Kowalke finished in third place by going 3-1.  She won 6-0, 6-1 against Gadiel Velasco of Decatur, then lost 6-0, 6-0 to Ananya Molugu of Bloomington (the eventual winner).  She then followed that up with wins of 6-2, 6-1 over Theresa Bartelme of Peoria and 6-0, 6-0 over Jenny Powless of Flora.

For Boys 12's Manaye Mossman finished in first place by going 3-0.  He won 6-0, 6-0 over Isaac Street of Newton and then 6-4, 6-0 over Mikail Pavlovic of Normal and then upset Grant Kroodsma in the final by a score of 5-7, 6-3 and 10-7 in the Supertiebreaker.

Isaac Street went 2-2.

For Boys 14's Thad Dillow went 1-2.

For Girls 16's Allison Kowalke went 4-1 to finish in fifth place.  Her first four opponents were all from Bloomington.  She beat Maggie Kraft by  6-3, 6-0, then lost to Amaya Fernandes 6-2, 6-2, then beat Grace Walls 6-3, 6-3 and Brooke Martin 6-2, 6-3.  For the final she beat Taylor Disharoon of Dunlap by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

For Girls 18's Diana Mossman went 3-1 to finish in third place.  She first beat Taylor Milholland of Westville 6-0, 6-1 and then lost to Jacelyn Street of Newton (eventual winner) 6-7, 0-6.  She then beat Shaling Reynolds of Springfield 6-0, 6-0 and Emily Kettering of Bloomington 6-2, 6-1.

Jacelyn Street won the division by going 2-0.  She first beat Diana Mossman 7-6, 6-0 and beat Abby Totten in the final by a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Next up for most of these kids who qualified is in Okemos, MI for 12's and 14's and Indianapolis, IN for 16's and 18s.

Manaye Mossman

Diana Mossman

Jacelyn Street