Xavier girls tennis earns two state berths at WIAA Division 1 sectional, extra qualifier added
AppletonSportsPage.com
APPLETON – Xavier senior Dana Keesler, and juniors Kate Jannette and Mariel Pante are heading to state after competition at a WIAA Division 1 girls tennis sectional Thursday at Fox Cities Racquet Club.
The top four finishers in No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, and the top finisher at No. 2 singles and doubles at each of the eight Division 1 sectionals qualify for the 2024 WIAA State Individual Tennis Tournament, which will be held Oct. 17-19 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. A maximum of 16 additional singles players and doubles teams, which were eliminated earlier in the tournament series, may be chosen as well. The complete brackets for the individual state tournament will be released Friday.
Neenah won the team title with 56 points and moves on to the 2024 WIAA State Team Tennis Tournament, which will also be at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, on Oct. 25-26. Xavier finished second with 30 points.
Keesler (16-12) reached the finals to qualify for state at No. 1 singles with a pair of straight-set wins before losing to Neenah’s Izzy Murray 6-4, 6-2.
Jannette and Pante (23-5) also won its first two matches at No. 1 doubles to earn a state tournament berth. The Xavier duo lost in the finals to Meredith Werner and Sydney Michalkiewicz of Neenah 7-6, 6-1, in the finals.
Xavier’s other two sectional qualifiers reached the finals, but lost and will have to await possible extra qualifier spots for state.
Xavier junior Sophia VanStraten won her first match 7-6, 6-3 over Taylor Longdin of Slinger, before losing in finals to Celia Gentile of Neenah 6-1, 6-0.
Seniors Gabby Stammer and Grace Ogden won their opening match for the Hawks at No. 2 doubles, 6-0, 6-0, before falling to Ava Motto and Rebekah Thomas of Neenah, 6-4, 6-2.
Stammer and Ogden (24-4) were added to the state tournament No. 1 doubles brackets as an extra qualifier.