Teutopolis Wins Tennis Sectional Championship

Teutopolis won the Effingham Sectional tennis championship Monday.

Teutopolis High School captured the championship of the Effingham Tennis Sectional Monday. The sectional started Saturday and got some matches in before the rain ended play and it was rescheduled for Monday.

The Wooden Shoes tallied 30 points followed by Effingham St. Anthony 26, Mount Zion 10, Decatur St. Teresa 10, Hillsboro 8, Taylorville 8, Effingham 6, Shelbyville 0 and Vandalia 0.

T-town's Olivia Hemmen and Anna Probst were champions of the doubles bracket. The pair had a first round bye then defeated Grayson Good and Mia Morelock of Taylorville, 6-1, 6-0, won over Gadielle Velasco and Paityn Koester of Mount Zion, 6-2, 6-2 and finished out with the title by defeating Effingham St. Anthony's Mia Kinkelaar and Ellie Link, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Jada Buehnerkemper and Adi Davidson got third in doubles. The pair had a first round bye then defeated Kristen Armstrong and Addy Hemrich of Effingham, 6-0, 6-2, won over Chloe Martinicic and Zoey Spinner of Hillsboro, 6-1, 6-2. The pair then fell to Kinkelaar and Link of St. Anthony, 6-1, 6-3 to drop into the third place match.

In the third place contest, Buehnerkemper and Davidson won a tough contest over Velasco/Koester of Mount Zion, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4.

The Wooden Shoes' Julian Hemmen finished third in the singles bracket. Hemmen had a first round bye then defeated Lydia Hopkins of  Taylorville, 6-0, 6-0 and won over Effingham's Izzy Volpi, 6-3, 6-1. Volpi exited the sectional with the loss. Hemmen fell to St. Anthony's Emily Kowalke, 6-3, 6-4 to drop into the third place match. She faced her own teammate, Abbie Lee and won 6-3, 6-2. Lee finished in fourth place.

Lee had a first round bye then defeated Effingham's Charly Kreke, 6-2, 6-1 and downed St. Anthony's Liv Hoene, 7-5, 6-1 before falling to Decatur St. Teresa's Colleen Larry 7-5, 6-4 to drop into the third place match. Hoene had taken a victory over Mount Zion's Faith Roundcount before losing to Lee to exit the sectional. Effingham's Kreke fell to Lee and exited the sectional.

The first through fourth place finishers in both singles and doubles advance to the State Tournament.

All six Teutopolis players move on to the State along with Effingham St. Anthony's Emily Kowalke who won the singles championship.

Kowalke started with a first round bye then defeated Ashlyn Behl of Shelbyville, 6-0, 6-0. She won over Peyton Schroeder of Mount Zion, 6-0, 6-1 before defeating T-town's Julian Hemmen 6-3, 6-4.

Kowalke then won the championship by beating Colleen Larry of Decatur St. Teresa. Larry won the first set 6-4 but Kowalke came back strong with 6-0, 6-3 victories for the match.

The Bulldogs doubles team of Kinkelaar and Link finished second to advance to State. The pair had a first round bye then defeated Victoria Madler and Lucy Schnippel of Mount Zion, 6-0, 6-2 before downing Alyssa Andreatta and Clarie Vaira of Taylorville, 6-0, 6-0. They then defeated T-town's Buehnerkemper and Davidson, 6-1, 6-2 before falling in the championship to T-town's Hemmen and Probst, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

St. Anthony's Anna Greene and Nora Trupiano had a first round bye then won over Makenna Duckwitz and Kendyll Schoonover of Effingham, 6-0, 6-0 before falling to Mount Zion's Veglasco and Koester, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 to exit the sectional along with Schoonover and Duckwitz.

Effingham's Kristen Armstrong and Addy Hemrich had a first round bye then fell to Buehnerkemper and Davidson, 6-0, 6-2 to exit the sectional.

The State Tournament is hosted by Buffalo Grove and is played around the Chicago area. The tourney opens play Thursday at 8 a.m. and will continue Friday and finish out Saturday.

At Olney

Newton competed in the Olney Richland County Sectional and finished sixth as a team. The Eagles did not have a singles player or doubles team advance to State.

Robinson was the winner with 26 points followed by Mattoon 19, Olney 17, Fairfield 14, Flora 12, Newton 6, Casey-Westfield 4, Mount Carmel 4 and Charleston 0.

In singles play, Newton's Charlotte Schackmann opened with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Casey-Westfield's Cara Hancock, 6-0, 6-2 then fell to Robinson's Lauren Staller, 6-4, 6-2.

Abby Menke also won a first round match for the Eagles by beating Addison Seaton of Casey-Westfield, 7-5, 6-3 then lost to Lily Gregory of Mattoon, 6-1, 6-1.

The Newton doubles teams lost in first round play. Paige Klingler and Jailyn Hall fell to Evie Potter and Claire Uhl of Olney, 6-2, 6-2. Chloe Kroenlein and Kendall Sessions lost to Selby Patberg and Elizabeth Hefner of Mount Carmel, 6-2, 6-2.

Advancing in singles were Lisa Tomasi (Fairfield), Annie List (Robinson), McKenna Snider (Olney) and Lily Gregory (Mattoon).

Advancing in doubles were Evie Potter and Claire Uhl of Olney, Hannah Hevron and Anna Hargrave of Robinson, Avery Boyer and Kam Latrhop of Mattoon and Sydney Harmon and Grace Gower of Robinson.