Go-Hawks win conference tourney; 4 Comets named to All-Academic team

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — As Charles City girls tennis coach Brian Parrott was explaining to several spectators at Wednesday’s North Central Tennis Conference Tournament at Wartburg College, the serve is the one shot you have complete control of.

“And you can practice it all by yourself,” he said.

Waverly-Shell Rock senior Chelsea Poesch has apparently been practicing her serve as she had little trouble getting her first one in during her five No. 1 singles matches during the tourney.

A No. 1 doubles champion in 2015 with partner Kayla Reusche, Poesch score two 8-0 match wins and managed to edge Decorah’s Kally Peterson  5-3 — there were eight games played in each match with no tiebreakers as total games won determined placings in the round-robin tournament.

Poesch was the No. 1 singles champ with Chisolm placing second.

Waverly-Shell Rock won all the singles categories with champions Madi Overmann (No. 2), Krissy Weir (No. 3), Ashlyn Hughes (No. 4), Hannah Folkerts (No. 5) and Olivia Phillips (No. 6).

Poesch and Phillips also won the No. 1 doubles, and Weir and Folkerts took the No. 3 doubles.

Almost needless to note, the Go-Hawks were overall champs in the six-team conference field that included traditional Northeast Iowa Conference rivals Charles City, Oelwein and tourney runner-up Decorah; as well as Clear Lake and Oelwein.

Decorah, which defeated Waverly-Shell Rock in last year’s regional finals, won the No. 2 doubles title with Anna Spencer and Carina Yee.

The best placer for Charles City was sophomore Jodie Sindlinger, who placed third in No. 2 singles. Senior Sandra Bontemps placed fourth in No. 6 singles; and Morgan Kellogg (No. 1), Amy Boggess (No. 3), Emilee Bilharz (No. 4) and Emma Heidebrink (No. 5) all placed fifth in their singles categories.

The Comet No. 1 doubles team of Kellogg and Bilharz and No. 2 doubles team of Boggess and Sindlinger both tied for fourth; and CC No. 3 doubles team of Heidebrink and Taylor Walters placed fifth.

The tournament also awarded its Academic All-Conference Team, that included Bilharz, Bontemps, Heidebrink and Kellogg. The criteria was to play at the varsity level while maintaining at least a 3.5 grade-point average.

“They only awarded it to juniors and seniors,” Parrott said, “otherwise, we would have had all six of our girls on the list.”

North Central Tennis
Conference Tournament

May 3

At Wartburg College

TOP 3 TEAMS

1. Waverly-Shell Rock, 2. Decorah, 3. Clear Lake.

TOP SINGLES PLACERS

No. 1 — 1. Chelsea Poesch (WSR), 2. Kally Peterson (D).

No. 2 — 1. Madi Overmann (WSR), 2. Anna Spencer (D).

No. 3 — 1. Krissy Weir (WSR), 2. Chloe Mueller (CL).

No. 4 — 1. Ashlyn Hughes (WSR), 2. Vita Domnenko (D).

No. 5 — 1. Hannah Folkerts (WSR), 2. Mara Freiden (D).

No. 6 — 1. Olivia Phillips (WSR), 2. Ali Greux (D).

TOP DOUBLES PLACERS

No. 1 — 1. Waverly-Shell Rock (Poesch-Phillips), 2. Decorah (Spencer-Carina Yee).

No. 2 — 1. Decorah (Peterson-Domnenko), 2. Clear Lake (Mueller-Maranda Harrison).

No. 3 — 1. Waverly-Shell Rock (Weir-Folkerts), 2. Osage (Sarah Jenkins-Ann Marie Milbrandt).

CHARLES CITY PLACERS

SINGLES

No. 1 — Morgan Kellogg 5th.

No. 2 — Jodie Sindlinger 3rd.

No. 3 — Amy Boggess 5th.

No. 4 — Emilee Bilharz 5th.

No. 5 — Emma Heidebrink 5th.

No. 6 — Sandra Bontemps 4th.

DOUBLES

No. 1  — Kellogg-Bilharz 4th.

No. 2 — Boggess-Sindlinger 4th.

No. 3 — Heidebrink-Taylor Walters 5th.

Academic All-Conference — Bilharz, Bontemps, Heidebrink, Kellogg.