Platte County spent decades building an impressively consistent program. Over the course of two days, senior Ellie Kaser and junior Macie Keith redefined the standard for excellence in a stunning yet unsurprising result.
In a second straight trip to the Class 2 MSHSAA Tennis Championships, Kaser and Keith went a perfect 4-0 this week at Cooper Tennis Complex to win a state doubles title and join an elite list of individual girls state champions across all sports. They recorded a pair of victories on both Thursday and Friday, concluding with a whirlwind 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 victory over Webster Groves’ team of senior Meg Nakatani and junior Jillian Kisslinger.
This marks the first state title of any kind for the boys and girls tennis programs.
“If you see the picture of Ellie and Macie hugging each other, that tells it all,” Platte County coach Scott Blakley said. “Macie is blown away. I guess I’d say it like this. At the beginning of the year, I had them write out their goals. Macie said I want to be a medalist. That was the goal. Then they won their first two matches, and we’re already celebrating like we won a state championship.
“We really weren’t too worried about what would happen in semifinals, and then they played maybe the best match they ever have. Then to get it done in the championship was just unreal. It’s wild to think of them as state champions, and I bet if you asked them, they’d say the same thing.”
Prior to last season, Platte County never had a doubles team win a match at state. Kaser and Keith did so in the first trip to the Class 2 MSHSAA Tennis Championships, going 1-2 and just missing a medal. The duo then repeated as district champions with Kaser the first three-time state qualifier for the Pirates and Keith just the fourth to go at least twice.
The draw in this year’s doubles bracket looked favorable with few teams bringing back prior experience.
Kaser and Keith quickly guaranteed a medal Thursday, opening with a 6-1, 6-1 sweep over senior Kailee Biri and junior Elaina Govero of Farmington and then a well-earned 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over seniors Sophia Wolf and Reagan Williams of St. Dominic. Neither of those teams ended up medaling in the tournament.
Kaser and Keith maintained the high-level of play in Friday morning’s semifinal, with another clean sweep — this time 6-1, 6-4 over Helias seniors Josie Meystrik and Margaux Browning. Meystrik also made the state doubles semifinals last season but with a different partner.
“The draw was favorable, but the matches were still tough,” Blakley said.
The finals fittingly ended up the toughest test.
Nakatani and Kissinger were at state for a second straight season, as well, but also did not medal. A big reshuffling of class assignments for private schools changed the landscape this time around.
Both teams seemingly battled nerves in the first set, but Webster Groves took momentum after the second. The super tiebreaker started extremely tight, but Kaser and Keith took the final six points to lock up the state championship.
“We kind of got to a place where we thought we could win this match,” Blakley said. “As that belief builds, I started to see this is a thing. The Webster Groves girls were good. They felt some pressure themselves, and we took the first set. Then things started to heat up.
“When that third set super tiebreaker starts, I told the girls, ‘We play more tiebreakers than anybody else. We practice more tiebreakers than any team here. You’re ready for this moment. Go out here, believe in each other and win a state championship.'”
“They were the best version of themselves in that semifinal,” Blakley said. “They took advantage of their opportunity and made the most of it.”
Kaser and Keith become just the fifth individual state champion for Platte County across all sports, joining Elizabeth Robbins (track, 2000), Rebekah Geddes (track, 2017), Maya Sullivan (field, 2021) and KayLyn Munn (wrestling, 2022).
In a special twist to the story, Ron Keith signed on to be an official assistant for Platte County this season. He is the father of Zach Keith, the first head coach in program history who stepped away from those duties two years ago to turn the reins over to Blakley. Ron Keith put the first-place Class 2 state medal around his granddaughter Macie Keith’s neck on the podium this week.
Family runs deep for Platte County tennis.
“We had so many people rooting for us from our school and from the area,” Blakley said. “We heard from previous players, previous coaches. So cool. We’re glad everyone was a part of this.”
The season does not end here for Platte County, which turned the second district title in program history into a berth in this week’s Class 2 MSHSAA Tennis Championships state semifinals scheduled for Thursday in Springfield. The Pirates open against Thomas Jefferson Independent (11-0) with the placement match against either Parkway West (11-4) or St. Dominic (15-4) later in the afternoon.
This marks the first state trophy in girls program history, while the boys have taken home three straight, placing second in 2023 and fourth in each of the past two seasons.
“We’re on this high,” Blakley said. “We’ve reached the top of the mountain, and we’re not done yet. We get to go right back.”
