Park Hill South had a breakout season last year. After going 14-2, winning the conference title, and not even losing a match in the district tournament, the Panthers advancing to the state sectionals before falling to Park Hill by a score of 5-3. They also saw senior Michelle Royle take third place at state in the singles bracket.
“We did well, finished pretty well as a team, had a girl finish 3rd at state, so we had both team and individual success,” assistant coach Ian Cunliff said. “The hard part for this season is going to be trying to fill the void that those seniors left.”
With a new season upon them, the Panthers will rely heavily on returning varsity players Marie Gehrke and Samantha Burford to lead the way towards another winning season. Joining them will be juniors Emily Jackson, Lindsay Plattner, and Katie Smith. Coming straight into the varsity lineup as a freshman will be Adele Royle who will be right in the mix with her upperclassmen teammates.
Once again this year, South will have their sights set on rival Park Hill who dealt them their only regular season loss last year and brought an early end to their playoff run through the Missouri state tournament. They feel confident in their ability to defend their conference title and will compete strongly in the district tournament. Telling competitions for South will be matches against Liberty and St. Theresa’s as well as the Winnetonka and Northland Tournaments. As the Panther program has grown by size and reputation over the last several years, they hope 2011 is the year where they prove they can reload by taking it to the next level.
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