Mitchell secures ESD girls tennis title after six individual titles – Mitchell Republic

WATERTOWN, SD — After six flight champions, the Mitchell High School girls tennis team won the conference title on Tuesday.

The Kernels secured the Eastern South Dakota Conference championship with 321 points over the two-day meet. Yankton was second (266) and Watertown was third (246). The event was contested over two days at Belmont Park and Highland Park in Watertown.

Carsyn Weich, the top-seeded singles champion, captured the Flight 2 title after advancing to the finals, losing a total of six matches, following wins over Pierre’s Breanna Tedrow and Aberdeen Central’s Avery Tennant. She defeated Yankton’s Sabrina Krajewski 10-6 in the championship match.

Elly Clement, the No. 2 seed, took home the Flight 4 title, edging out top seed Chloe Ladner of Aberdeen Central. Clement won all of her matches with final scores of 10-8, defeating Brandon Valley’s Reagan Morrell in the quarterfinals and Harrisburg’s Noa Lovro in the semifinals.

At Flight 5, Matteah Graves defeated Brandon Valley’s Harper Betch and Aberdeen’s Sara Knie to advance to the finals and win the championship after running as the No. 1 seed. Graves earned a 10-5 victory over Watertown’s Cayda Weiss.

Mia Larson was the Kernels’ other singles champion, taking home the Flight 6 title. Larson, who had lost only three matches against Yankton’s Meagan Scott and Aberdeen’s Ashley Ortega, narrowly defeated Watertown’s Jade Smith, 10-9 (8).

In singles, Megan Mastel was the Flight 1 consolation champion, defeating Harrisburg’s Mckenzie Vickery 8-1 after narrowly defeating Brookings’ Sophie Tanner 8-6 in the consolation semifinals. Katie Morgan beat Harrisburg’s Jessi Muth 10-9 (1) in the quarter-final match and finished fourth in the 3rd singles singles. Aberdeen’s Reese Comstock won the third-place match 8-2.

In doubles competition, Mitchell captured two of the three flight titles. Clement and Graves secured the Flight 2 title with a 10-7 victory over Aberdeen’s Comstock and Ladner. Larson and Morgan won the No. 3 doubles title, defeating Harrisburg’s Hope Gabel and Hannah Frye 10-8 in a close match.

Yankton took home the other flight championships from the tournaments. Nora Krajewski earned the No. 1 singles title with a 10-6 win over Watertown’s Ellie Zink. Paige Mitzel beat Watertown’s Faith Berg 10-3 to take third place in singles. Nora Krajewski and Sabrina Krajewski won the No. 1 doubles title, defeating Watertown’s Ellie Zink and Leyla Meester, 10-7. Mitchell’s No. 1 doubles team of Mastel and Weich finished fourth.

The Class AA girls state tennis championships will be held Oct. 10-11 at Sioux Park and Parkview Tennis Complex in Rapid City.

Blake Durham is a Mitchell Republic Sports Correspondent who joined in October 2023. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in December 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. Durham has a variety of prep and varsity sports events in the area.