Lady Knights capture Heartland Conference title

The Marion County Lady Knights tennis team had an outstanding week of tennis, winning the Heartland Conference title on Monday of last week and beating John Hardin at home last Thursday.  The doubles team of sophomores Madison Cassidy and Elyssa Holt took the title of Heartland Conference doubles champions for the second year in a row, while teammate Olivia Thompson ended as the singles runner-up in the tournament.

Photo by Jessica Veatch

Senior Olivia Thompson returns the ball to her opponent during the Heartland Conference tournament. Thompson finished runner-up in the singles portion.

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At home vs. John Hardin...
The Marion County Lady Knights tennis team hosted John Hardin Thursday night.  Marion County claimed the victory, beating John Hardin overall 4-1.
In singles action, the only loss of the night came when Olivia Thompson was defeated by John Hardin’s Ashley Schamburg. Thompson lost in two sets (1-6) and (1-6).  Marion County’s Taylor Corbett beat Katie Ragland, taking the match to the tiebreaker game. Corbett won the tiebreaker 10-7 after the two sets were (4-6) and (6-4). Alyssa Farmer defeated John Hardin’s Rachel Boswell in two sets (6-4) and (6-1).
“The John Hardin girls team is strong in the singles matches,” Marion County Head Coach Angela Holt said. “Olivia and Taylor played powerful, steady players.  Taylor had another come-from-behind match that she won in a tie-breaker.”
In doubles action, the Marion County team of Madison Cassidy and Elyssa Holt picked up the win against Aliah Bilal in two sets (6-0) and (6-0). The Lady Knights’ duo of Hayley Abell and Allie Evans also defeated their opponents, Alicia Bibelhauser and Ailey Layson, in two sets (6-0) and (6-0).

In the Heartland Conference...
The Marion County Lady Knights tennis team traveled to Miller Park in Campbellsville on Monday of last week to compete in the Heartland Conference.  As a team, they captured the Heartland Conference title with Taylor County finishing as the runner-up. The entire tournament was played on Monday night because of the concern for rain in the forecast.
Going into the tournament, Marion County’s Olivia Thompson was the No. 2 seed in singles action. In tournament play, Thompson played in three rounds. In the first round, she defeated Brittany Ford of Campbellsville in two sets (6-0) and (6-0). In her second round of action, Thompson won her match against Taylor County’s Kelsea McCoy, but had to play three sets to take the win. The scores of the three sets were (6-4), (4-6), and (6-0). In her third round of play, Thompson fell to Taylor County’s Aryn Massengale in two sets (5-7) and (2-6), giving her the title of singles runner-up in the Heartland Conference. Thompson claimed the same runner-up spot last year, but it was in doubles with teammate Hayley Abell.
“It was a long night for us,” Coach Holt said. “Olivia had an easy first round match but played a 3-set match in the second round. Her final round opponent had only played two games going into the last match. Olivia played well but couldn’t defeat the fresher player.”
Taylor Corbett of Marion County went into the Heartland Conference as the No. 3 seed. In her first round of action, Corbett defeated Alison Feese of Adair County in two sets (6-0) and (6-0). However, in the second round of play, Corbett fell to Taylor County’s Aryn Massengale in two sets (3-6) and (2-6).
In doubles action, Marion County took three teams to compete in the tournament due to the fact that Washington County did not play in the Heartland Conference.  The team of Madison Cassidy and Elyssa Holt were the No. 1 seed going into the tournament. They showed why they were ranked No. 1 as they became the Heartland Conference doubles champions for the second year in a row.
Cassidy and  Holt were given a bye in the first round before defeating Taylor County’s Miller and Richerson in two sets (6-1) and (6-0). In the third round of play, Cassidy and Holt had to play their Marion County teammates of Hayley Abell and Allie Evans. They won the match in two sets (6-0) and  (6-4). Finally, in the fourth round, the duo of Cassidy and Holt defeated Taylor County’s doubles team of Riggs and Thomas in two sets (6-4) and (7-6) to become the champions.
The Marion County doubles team of Hayley Abell and Allie Evans came in as the No. 4 seed and had a bye in the first round as well. In the second round, they claimed a win over Campbellsville’s Harris and Milby in two sets (6-3) and (6-2). In the third round, they fell to teammates Madison Cassidy and Elyssa Holt.
“Hayley and Allie played a tenacious young pair from Campbellsville in the second round of the tournament,” Coach Holt said.
The third doubles team that competed in the Heartland Conference was made up of Brooke Lee and Lauren Buckman. In the first round, they were defeated by Riggs and Thomas of Taylor County in two sets (4-6) and (6-7).