It is impossible to win a high school tennis championship in Missouri with just two players.
Barstow’s Atra Biria and Rose Biria almost did it by themselves. The Class 2 doubles champions got a little help from the Knights’ No. 3 player, Sofiia Shkuta, and it resulted in a Class 2 team championship.
The Knights defeated two-time defending champion Ladue 5-4 in the championship match Friday at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
The Rams fell behind in doubles but came back to take a 4-3 lead with straight-set victories at the bottom half of the singles order from Jenna Song (No. 4), Madeline Awad (No. 5) and Adela Haines (No. 6).
But the Knights won the final two matches on nearly simultaneous match points as senior Atra Biria won at No. 1 over Class 2 singles champion Kayla Chan while Shkuta closed out her match at No. 3 singles over Emma Jin.
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“It seems like in high school tennis that it usually comes down to doubles,” Ladue coach Genie Hong said. “They had the lead after doubles, but we were able to fight our way back. I think the girls were nervous and a little tight at the start of the match. But I told them to be calm and have fun. We played some good matches at the end but came up just short. I enjoyed the tournament and the season.”
Ladue, which defeated Thomas Jefferson Independent 5-0 in the semifinals Thursday, seem to have a bright future. The Rams did not have a single senior in their state lineup.
Barstow won its semifinal match against MICDS 5-3 in similar fashion.
Knights coach Tom O’Brien split up his Class 2 doubles champions, the Biria sisters. Atra played with Anya Stanojevic at No. 1 doubles while Rose played with Emilia Prier at No. 2 doubles.
As it did against Ladue, Barstow swept the top two spots in singles and doubles against the Rams. The Knights needed some dramatics to clinch the fifth court. MICDS freshman Audrey Taves had a pair of match points, leading 9-7 in the match tiebreaker for the third set. But Shkuta won the final four points and the match for the Knights. MICDS’ Margaret Coughlin was up 8-7 over Stanojevic at No. 4 singles when the match was clinched.
“It was a pretty impressive formula that they executed with no margin for error,” said MICDS coach Brad Heinemann, whose team came back to defeat Thomas Jefferson Independent 5-1 in the third place match Friday. “It was so close (Thursday) and the girls were disappointed. But they showed up and played very well (Friday). It was an accomplishment to get here to state and we only lose two of our top six. We should be very competitive the next few years.”
