SPRINGFIELD, Mo. • Lafayette sophomore Haleigh Chobanian called her quarterfinal win over Suzanne Barth of Park Hill the biggest of her young high school career.
It was big in many ways, first and foremost in that it assured a medal for Chobanian in her first appearance at the state tournament.
Chobanian had qualified for the individual singles tournament as a freshman, but did not get to play because of a broken ankle. Last year, she learned the results of an MRI two days before she was scheduled to leave for the state tournament Springfield.
Chobanian's 6-4, 6-3 win over Barth on Friday also avenged a loss to Barth the day before in the team portion of the tournament.
"I felt bad for the team because since I lost, we had to go to doubles," Chobanian said.
Despite Chobanian's loss, the Lancers prevailed in a 5-2 in the third-place match.
"I learned a lot after playing her yesterday," Chobanian said. "Her forehand is her strength so I tried to stay away from that as much as possible."
Barth, a senior, has been a fixture on the podium at Springfield's Cooper Tennis Complex. She teamed with Merritt Whitley to win a state doubles championship in 2008. Barth competed in singles the last two years, finishing second in 2009 and sixth in 2010 (the top six singles players and doubles teams stand on the podium and receive state medals).
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Former Parkway Central standout Amanda Pratzel was in attendance at the tournament Friday. Pratzel was watching another Colts star, Hannah Wille, along with the rest of the top talents in her role as assistant coach at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
Pratzel was on the Cooper podium four times at the state tournament. She finished third with Janie Saltman in doubles in 1999. In singles play, she was second in 2001 and third in 2000 and 2002.
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Friday was a good day in Springfield for the Gateway Athletic Conference. Troy advanced to the Class 4 state softball championship next door while Francis Howell's Barker sisters, Allison and Erin, became the school's first state semifinalists in tennis. They advanced in doubles although another GAC player, Savannah Drew of Timberland, fell just short of making it to the semifinals in singles. Drew lost in three sets in the quarterfinals to Tess Herder of Lee's Summit.
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The St. Joseph's doubles team of Taylor Revling and Grace Hyde hope to extend an amazing streak Saturday morning. The Angels have had a representative in the state finals of the singles, doubles or team competition every year since 1992. Revling and Hyde will need to win their doubles match in the semifinals against Allison and Erin Barker to extend that streak.
