Platte County continued to build toward the postseason with three postseason, closing out Suburban Conference White Division play with a second-place finish and then taking a look at potential two-doubles-teams, two-singles-players setups in the Suburban North Tournament over the weekend. The Pirates have less than two weeks until the Class 2 District 8 individual tournament and can only enter six players but have used nine in various varsity lineups so far.
On Saturday at Oak Park High School, Platte County senior Maggie McBratney reached the A singles semifinal but ended up with a solid third-place showing with a 2-1 record, while the emerging doubles duo and potential top postseason entry of sophomore Ellie Kaser and Lily Fish went 1-2 and placed fourth in A Doubles. The Pirates were sixth with the B entries of freshman Macie Keith (singles) and senior Jackie Frame and sophomore Veyda Chleboard (doubles).
The Northland tournament features a similar format to individual districts, although the seven teams will put all of their entries into one singles and one doubles bracket. The finalists in both advance to the Class 2 MSHSAA Tennis Championships.
Platte County has advanced two doubles teams to state each of the past two years but has not sent a singles entrant out of districts since Molly McBratney since 2020. She remains the only district champion and state qualifier in program history.
Maggie McBratney and Fish are the lone returners from Platte County’s first playoff team in program history, and neither has advanced to state. Both competed in singles last year and have now helped anchor a lineup that has also seen Kaser make a big jump up the ladder to No. 2 to lead the seven first-year contributors.
Grain Valley 7, Platte County 2
The Pirates came up short of a conference title after a loss in the decisive dual Thursday in Grain Valley.
Finishing 6-1 in the expanded White Division, Platte County (8-11) came out of doubles down 3-0 in doubles, and wins for McBratney (No. 1) and Fish (No. 3) in singles weren’t enough to spring a comeback upset. Grain Valley (15-4, 6-0) has won nine in a row overall and still needs a win over Belton on Tuesday to officially win the title, but the Eagles return a lot of talent from three straight playoff teams that have finished fourth, third and second at state in Class 2.
Platte County’s last win against Grain Valley came in 2020.
“I was really proud of the we prepared for and play in the Grain Valley dual,” Platte County coach Zach Keith said. “They are a really strong team, so we knew we would need to play really, really well to have a chance to win the conference championship. The final score isn’t truly indicative of how competitive the matches were early on. It was our best tennis all season collectively.”
Platte County kept matches close in doubles while using the same recent dual combinations. In particular, the teams of Fish and Macie Keith (8-5 loss at No. 2) and senior Brooklynn Mahowski and sophomore Macy Doll (8-6 loss at No. 3) were close to springing upsets. In singles, McBratney gave the Pirates a boost with her 8-4 win over Grain Valley senior Brooklyn Spencer, a three-time state qualifier in doubles with a second-place finish in Class 2 to her credit from 2022.
Fish needed a tiebreaker to win 9-8 at No. 3, but Grain Valley recorded decisive margins of victory in the other four singles matches.
Platte County 9, Raytown 0
The Pirates were especially dominant in singles during a shutout of Raytown in a White Division dual Tuesday at Platte County High School.
McBratney (No. 1), Kaser (No. 2) and sophomore Lillian Goodale (No. 4) all recorded 8-0 wins for Platte County, while Fish (No. 3) and Keith (No. 5) only lost one game each. Frame finished off the Pirates’ sweep with an 8-2 victory.
Fish and Keith (No. 2) recorded the biggest margin of victory for Platte County in doubles, while McBratney and Kaser (8-2) and Doll and Mahowski (8-3) were also quick winners. This marked a second straight win for the Pirates and set up the showdown with Grain Valley two days later.
Platte County 7, Truman 2
After winning 2 of 3 doubles matches Monday in Independence, the Pirates added five singles victories to avoid a potential upset.
Doll and Mahowski posted an 8-0 shutout at No. 3 doubles, while McBratney and Kaser were 8-1 winners at No. 1 for Platte County. McBratney (No. 1), Kaser (No. 2), Keith (No. 5) and Frame (No. 6) were the Pirates’ singles winners.
Platte County entered on a three-match skid from the previous week’s Liberty Invitational.
