The De Soto High School girls’ tennis team traveled to Emporia Aug. 31 to compete in a the Emporia Invitational, the first time the Wildcats have competed in this event. . This nine-team tournament went well for the Wildcats with DHS taking the team title.

Sophomore Issa Sullivan won a gold medal by finishing first in No. 1 singles, while junior Bailey Ramsdell finished second at the No. 2 singles spot.

Sullivan faced players from Maize South High School, Valley Center High School, Classical School High School and Andover Central High School.  All are teams she hasn’t faced in prior competitions.

“My hardest match was against Andover’s best player,” Sullivan said. “She was a foreign exchange student from Czech Republic, and I was really nervous to play her, as it was tight most of the match and was very competitive.”

Ramsdell’s competitors hailed from AC, VC, CS and Olathe West.  Her only loss was to Andover’s Central’s No. 2 singles player, who was slated to to be AC’s No. 1 before the player from the Czech Republic arrived on campus In addition to the success with singles, the DHS doubles teams held their own at the tournament. Seniors Kelsey Heer and Josie Bedford finished third, while seniors Raegan Ramsdell and Carly Bodenhausen finished fourth. Both teams played in the\No. 1 doubles bracket.

Head coach Justin Hoffman was very happy with the outcome of the tournament especially for the doubles teams because it can be hard to find the right partners at the beginning of the season.

“Putting doubles teams together at the beginning of the season is always a trick,” Hoffman said. “So, the fact that they came out and played as well as they played together makes me happy and gives us something to work with moving forward.”