Hazelwood West Loses Season Opener to Ft. Zumwalt South

The Hazelwood West High girls tennis team's first meet of the season was probably a day they’d just like to forget.   

The Wildcats certainly played hard, just as they had practiced all summer. But Tuesday’s opponent, the , combined with the day’s 108-degree heat, proved a bit too much for the Wildcats. West won just one match out of seven, in a 6-1 team meet defeat to the Bulldogs.

“I guess the heat probably was a factor,” said West High head coach Scott Borcherding. “We played some tough matches, but you have to credit Fort Zumwalt South. They did what they had to do to win those matches.”

Indeed they did, winning all four singles matches and taking two of the three doubles contests in what proved to be an easy win for the visitors.

The lone West High win came at No. 2 doubles, where Wildcats Meaghan Mahoney and Victoria Mares, both juniors, defeated South High’s Chloe Vitale and Kira Hill, 6-4 and 7-6, respectively.

“That was a good match,” Borcherding said. “They all were. But we’ll be looking for a lot of improvement in our next match coming up.”

That next meet is scheduled for Thursday, when West High will travel to O’Fallon to play a series of matches against .

“One thing we need to work on for sure, is playing to our own strengths,” Borcherding said. “That’s our going to be our plan in the future. We want to play to our strengths and our opponents weaknesses.”

On Tuesday, it was South High that followed that formula for an easy win, especially in the No. 1 singles match, where West High’s Abigail Talton lost 6-0, 6-1 to South’s Morgan Roberts.

The other singles contests went Jaclyn Basiley over Taylor Stewart (7-5, 6-0); Madison McElligott over Jessica Schnell (6-0, 6-2); and Masha White over Thomia King (6-2, 6-2). All in favor of Fort Zumwalt South.

At No. 1 doubles, West’s Taylor Proske and Jennifer Lowe suffered a narrow loss to South’s Destiney Kelley and Allyx Davenport (6-4, 7-6). The final match of the day went 6-3, 6-2, in favor of South’s Kira McGrothy and Prachita Bhagat over West’s Deanna Heffner and Sarah Carlos.

“I was a bit surprised that we didn’t play a little better,” Borcherding said. “The girls worked real hard all summer, and they were really ready for today.”

West’s next home meet is Friday when the Wildcats will host Francis Howell Central High at 3:30 p.m.