Dexter girls tennis team suffers first loss to Kennett

Note: A photo gallery of the Kennett-Dexter tennis match is available here: Tennis Photos

DEXTER, Mo. - The winning streak ended at four matches Tuesday for the Dexter Bearcats varsity girls tennis team.

The Kennett Indians collected a 9-0 road win against previously unbeaten Dexter Tuesday.

Kennett also edged Dexter 5-4 in the junior varsity contest.

"The girls are playing well," Dexter coach Kurt Lovelady said following a rare loss. "We've played opponents with different ability levels and today the team we played had by far the best ability of any team we've seen this season. It caught us a little bit off guard. I'm happy with the way the girls played, but Kennett is a well-coached team and their girls play a ton of tennis."

Eight-time defending district champion Kennett improved to 3-2 with the victory. The Indians have 9-0 wins against Jackson, Charleston and Dexter this season and have suffered 6-3 losses to Notre Dame and John Burroughs.

"I knew Dexter was undefeated so I really didn't know what to expect until we got out here," Kennett coach Janet Hilburn said. "But our practices have been very productive so I felt good about today's match. Today was one of the hottest days we've played in so far. I was a little leery of the heat, but other than that I expected we would have a good match and we did."

"They are so far north we don't have a great deal of common opponents," Hilburn said of the upcoming district battle. "But we hope to get out and have as much success Wednesday as we did today."

Dexter (4-1) hosts Poplar Bluff Wednesday.

The Bearcats won a varsity match at Poplar Bluff 8-1 Monday.

"We played a lot of matches against Poplar Bluff on Monday and everyone got to play singles and doubles," Lovelady said. "Poplar Bluff will play better than they did Monday night so we definitely need to be ready. We've had two really long nights going into Wednesday and our girls will probably not be as sharp. I know Poplar Bluff had Tuesday off so they had a chance to rest up. We'll need to stay sharp tomorrow and then we get our break after Wednesday."

View complete results from Tuesday's matches below:

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VARSITY SINGLES

No. 1 - Hadley Hilburn (K) def. MaKayla Waldner 8-2

No. 2 - Heidi Shetley (K) def. Lexii May 8-0

No. 3 - Alexa McPherson (K) def. Macy Urhahn 8-1

No. 4 - Anna Williams (K) def. Rachel Singh 8-1

No. 5 - Kayton Harris (K) def. Nicole Sells 8-1

No. 6 - Darcy Campbell (K) def. Reagan Miller 8-1

VARSITY DOUBLES

No. 1 - Shetley-McPherson (K) def. Waldner-Urhahn 8-3

No. 2 - Hilburn-Campbell (K) def. May-Miller 8-5

No. 3 - Williams-Harris (K) def. Singh-Sells 8-2

JUNIOR VARSITY SINGLES

No. 1 - Carissa Oliver (K) def. Kalee Howard 6-4

No. 2 - Makenzie Jones (K) def. Morgan Aldridge 6-3

No. 3 - Sydney Davis (K) def. Abbie Dorton 6-2

No. 4 - Emma Phillips (K) def. Malia Cook 6-2

No. 5 - Sydni McAtee (K) def. Kirsten Teffertiller 6-0

No. 6 - Hannah Bien (D) def. Cheyenne Pittman 7-5

JUNIOR VARSITY DOUBLES

No. 1 - Howard-Aldridge (D) def. Hannah Mowrer-Alexis Parrent 6-1

No. 2 - Dorton-Cook (D) def. Alexa Blankenship-Annalyse Todd 6-4

No. 3 - Teffertiller-Bien (D) Isabella Rouse-Cheyenne Pittman 6-0