De Soto High School held its annual Wildcat Invitational Tennis tournament on Sept. 24. The Wildcats placed fourth as a team and ended the day with two doubles teams placing in the top eight and sixth place finisher in singles.

Assistant coach Cassandra Zoller was content with the performance the girls gave. She was proud of how they played and persevered.

“The girls did well. We finished where we thought we might. There were some tough matches and close games, but we didn’t give up and kept fighting,” Zoller said.

The doubles team made up of senior Emily Euler and junior Kelsey Heer went 3-1 for the day to place sixth. In addition, juniors Carly Bodenhausen and Raegen Ramsdell went 2-2, to place eighth. 

Girls from De Soto playing singles that weekend included senior Emily Parr and sophomore Bailey Ramsdell.  

Parr finished sixth with a final record of 3-2. Bailey finished with a record of 1-2 on the day.

Parr also had an excellent comeback in a match later that day that led her to victory.

“During my fourth match, I felt like giving up. I was down three games due to heat exhaustion, but I came back and won it,” Parr said.

Zoller is confident in the girls and knows that they will do well in trying to achieve the goals set as a team.

“A goal for the rest of the season is to get as many girls to State as we can” Zoller said. “Another goal is to continue putting in our best effort and with great attitudes and sportsmanship while having fun.”

The Wildcats plan on continuing to improve on the courts for the remainder of the regular season to help prepare for the postseason which begins with Regionals, which will be held in Pittsburg on Oct. 8.