The Platte County Invitational offered top-to-bottom challenges for a home team likely to spend the entirety of the regular season developing an identity.
Platte County senior Maggie McBratney hits a shot during the Platte County Invitational on Friday at Platte County High School.
Playing a second tournament in as many weekends, Platte County received another important opportunity simply to see competitive court time Friday at Platte County High School. The Pirates tied for fifth out of eight teams after a promising start in singles gave way to afternoon struggles in doubles play.
Platte County sophomore Ellie Kaser continued a strong start to her first season in the varsity lineup, topping the No. 2 singles bracket, while senior Maggie McBratney finished as runnerup at No. 1. The duo then combined to place third at No. 1 doubles to account for three of the Pirates’ four medals on the day.
There were six singles flights and three for doubles with one-set matches played to six games with no tiebreakers.
Platte County sat alone in fourth — just two points out of a tie for second — with senior Lily Fish placing third at No. 3 singles, and freshman Macie Keith coming back from a first-round loss to finish fifth. The tournament awards a point for each match won, and the Pirates had just three in doubles.
Platte County senior Lily Fish hits a shot during the Platte County Invitational on Friday at Platte County High School.
Liberty North placed first in 7 of 9 flights to win the team title (24 points), while Platte County and Savannah both finished with 12 points to tie for fourth.
“This tournament provided a nice variety of competition for the whole team,” Platte County coach Zach Keith said. “It was important for us to see how they reacted to competing against players who were at a similar experience level to us. There were multiple bright spots throughout the day, and most importantly, the girls got to play a ton of tennis.
“That type of court time is exactly what we need at this point.”
At No. 1, McBratney lost just one game in her first two victories (6-0 and 6-1) before coming up just short in a quick rematch with Liberty North’s Olivia Escobar, who escaped with a 6-5 victory to claim the title. Kaser ended up with the No. 6 seed at No. 2 but rattled off wins of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1 to claim the title.
Macie Keith dropped her first match at No. 5 by a score of 6-5 and then battled back with wins of 6-3 and 6-4 to finish 2-1.
At No. 1 doubles, McBratney and Kaser lost 6-1 in the semifinals to the eventual champions from Liberty North but came back for a 6-2 win over Park Hill South in the third-place match.
Platte County senior Jackie Frame hits a shot during the Platte County Invitational on Friday at Platte County High School.
McBratney returns to the No. 1 spot in the lineup after also playing there as a sophomore but going to No. 2 last fall when Platte County captured the Class 2 District 8 team title before losing in the state quarterfinals. Fish moves up to No. 3 in her second year as part of the Pirates’ top six.
However, Kaser, sophomore Lillian Goodale (No. 4), Keith and senior Jackie Frame (No. 6) all made debuts a week earlier. Goodale and Frame went winless in singles at the Platte County Invitational. Fish and Macie Keith played No. 2 doubles and went 1-2 to finish sixth, while Goodale and fellow sophomore Veyda Chleborad played No. 3 doubles.
Platte County graduated four seniors from last year’s lineup, and all played in the Class 2 MSHSAA Tennis Championships after sweeping the District 8 spots in doubles. The Pirates also don’t have senior Summer Jenni back after she played early in 2023 before suffering a serious knee injury during a dual with Staley. Her rehab has not put her in position to play this season.
Liberty North 7, Platte County 2
The Eagles swept doubles on the way to a dual victory Tuesday at Platte County High School in nonconference action for the two teams.
Platte County played the first straight dual of the season in the traditional format and trailed 3-0 going into singles. McBratney held off Escobar by a score of 8-5 at No. 1, while Kaser won 8-4 at No. 2, but the Pirates took only six games total in the remaining four matches.
Liberty North won the No. 1 (8-3), No. 2 (8-2) and No. 3 (8-3) doubles matches, meaning Platte County needed to take five singles matches to forge the comeback. The Pirates have a 2-5 record going into this week at home vs. Staley (Monday) and on the road at Park Hill (Tuesday) before opening Suburban Conference White Division action at home against Belton on Thursday.
Platte County’s first six duals this season were in the Interstate Championships at Joplin but featured a unique best-of-five format with three singles and two doubles matches in each but a player only allowed to be in one apiece.
