By Cort Reynolds
ELIDA⎯On September 3, the Bluffton High School girls tennis team finished a strong second at the four-team Elida Invitational event on the Denny Schwinnen Courts. Van Wert won the team crown with 13 points, followed closely by Bluffton with 11. Celina was third with six points, and Elida came in fourth with five points.
Junior Brooke Camper of Bluffton won the singles title with two straight-set wins. She beat Kaylin Howell of Celina 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals. "Brooke battled for the first-place position against the Elida opponent," said coach Jennifer Allgire. "She has lost to her three other times in previous seasons."
Camper then defeated Elida's Ava Long 7-5, 6-1 in the finals.
The Pirate duo of junior Caitlyn Couch and freshman Hannah Nieman took second in the A doubles tournament. They won their semifinal match in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 over Elida.
In the A doubles finals, the Pirate team lost to Van Wert 6-1, 6-2. "Hannah and Caitlyn have only played together three times this season and were able to win second place," noted Allgire.
The Bluffton tandem of sophomores Kaleigh Coffman and Brooklyn Moser
took second in the C doubles flight. The duo won their first match 6-1, 6-0 but then lost in the finals to a Van Wert team by a 6-3, 6-4 count.
"All of the girls worked hard for a second-place finish as a team today," said Allgire. "Since I’ve been coaching, we’ve not finished in the top two for this tournament. I’m proud of them and their accomplishments."
