In their final home event of the 2008 season on Tuesday afternoon, the Leavenworth girls’ tennis team defeated Bonner Springs four matches to none after falling to Sunflower League rival Lawrence Free State by the same score.

The Pioneers improved to 3-6 overall in head-to-head matches, not including their third-place tie in the DeSoto Wildcat Invitational on Saturday, and are 1-5 against Sunflower League opponents.
Head coach James Vanek was pleased with his team’s performance, especially against Bonner Springs, as they geared up for the Sunflower League Tournament on Thursday.

“It’s a good win...” said Vanek, who believes his team is prepared for Thursday’s big meet. “I think we’re okay. We got some good wins, in terms of individual wins, through the course of the season. I know our team record isn’t necessarily what it ought to be, but we got some good wins individually through the course of the season against some league schools.”

The Leavenworth lineup was chock full of new doubles combinations on Tuesday as Vanek tries to see what will work with regionals approaching on Oct. 9.

“Coach (Vanek) is trying to figure out what the set-up is going to be for regionals and for league,” said junior Paige Sheaks, “and he needs to ... kind of test the waters.”

Sheaks was part of a different doubles combination in both of her matches. She and senior Hilary Klotz lost to Lawrence Free State 7-4 before she paired with sophomore Andrea Messen for the first time to take a 7-2 win over Bonner Springs.

“I like playing with Andrea,” Sheaks said. “She’s a good player, and we had fun ... we worked well together with what we had. It was a good game.”

The number two doubles slots were switched up against both opponents as well. Juniors Molly Sevcik and Mady Wilcox teamed up against Lawrence Free State, but lost 7-1. Wilcox then paired up with Klotz to provide the match of the day, an 8-7 win over Bonner Springs that went to a tiebreak, which the Pioneers won 7-5.

“This was our last dual, our last home match,” Vanek said. “I just kind of wanted to mix it up a little bit. Let them play with somebody new, let them get kind of a new taste ... I think they all enjoyed it for the most part.”

Klotz and Wilcox had fallen behind 5-4, but came back to take a 7-6 lead before the Bonner Springs squad tied it up at seven, forcing the tie-break. After the Leavenworth pair took a 6-3 advantage in the extra period of play, they had to hold off a run by the Braves for the 7-5 win.

In singles, sophomore Emily Harper split her two matches, losing in the number two slot against her Firebird opponent by a score of 7-2 before coming back in the number one slot against the Braves for a 7-0 sweep.

Sophomore Azhar Sultanova held down the number two position against Bonner Springs with a 7-3 win. Messen competed in the number one slot against the Firebirds, but lost 7-1.

Despite the ups and downs, the Pioneers feel they are much closer to being ready for the league meet on Thursday, as well as for the challenges that will come their way at regionals the following Thursday when it’s do-or-die.

“I think we’ve definitely gotten better,” Sheaks said, “getting the experience that will help us out with our matches the next two times (out).”

Thursday’s Sunflower League Tournament will begin at 8 a.m. at Shawnee Mission East High School.