Platte County senior Cosette Stephenson hits a shot during the Class 2 District 8 championship dual with St. Pius X on Wednesday at Platte County High School. TODD NUGENT/PC Preps Extra

Team district title continues to elude Platte County after lead vs. St. Pius X evaporates

Pirates still have pair of doubles teams set for Class 2 state after dropping District 8 championship dual in heartbreaking fashion.

Platte County came out of the doubles portion of the Class 2 District 8 championship dual Wednesday at Platte County High School with an advantage and confidence. Less than two hours later, an otherwise accomplished season for a retooled lineup was over.

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Platte County senior Madelyn McFall hits a shot during the Class 2 District 8 championship dual Wednesday at Platte County High School.

St. Pius X took the first four singles matches to escape with a 5-2 victory and advance to the state playoffs.

Platte County was again denied a historic first district title. Although the doubles teams of senior Cosette Stephenson and junior Addy Mayne and senior Ellie Fish and Olivia Holbrook will play this week in the Class 2 Missouri State Tennis Championships individual tournament, the disappointment from this part of the postseason couldn’t be denied after taking a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches against St. Pius X.

“The weird thing is not only were we up 2-1,” Keith said, “but it felt we were substantially the better team. What we very quickly realized was that they were an entire team of really good singles players and far less strong in doubles.”

Platte County (10-7) saw a six-dual winning streak came to a crushing end in the program’s second district final appearance in the past three years. Due to a quirk in state lineup rules, Keith even gambled a bit with his doubles pairings, opting to keep his state duos together but forced to play district champions Stephenson and Mayne at No. 3.

Mayne and Stephenson play in the Nos. 3 and 4 positions for singles, while Holbrook and Fish are at Nos. 2 and 5. That left sophomore No. 1 Maggie McBratney and senior No. 6 Madelyn McFall to play their first matches together in a District 8 semifinal win over Kearney and then the championship match.

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Platte County sophomore Maggie McBratney hits a shot during the Class 2 District 8 championship dual Wednesday at Platte County High School.

Because each of the pairings add up to seven, the highest-ranked singles player determines the order of the doubles teams.

With that in play, McBratney and McFall lost 8-4 at No. 1, while Platte County’s top doubles team of Stephenson and Mayne were dominant 8-3 winners at No. 3. Fish and Holbrook, who lost to their teammates in the District 8 final, then held on for a 9-7 win at No. 2 to give the Pirates the early lead.

“I had to play our (doubles) teams in the order that I did,” Keith said. “Ellie and Olivia had a really long doubles match, and when they came off the court, I really felt great about our chances to win the dual. I think all three of us coaches collectively breathed a sigh of relief.”

The relief didn’t last.

St. Pius X took leads in all six singles matches and ended up taking sweeps at Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6. Mayne lost a tiebreaker in the first set of the No. 3 match and did not even make it to the second set, but the team result was sealed.

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Platte County senior Ellie Fish attempts to hit a return during the Class 2 District 8 championship dual Wednesday at Platte County High School.

“We basically felt like we were trauma surgeons, and our patient was hemorrhaging from so many places we couldn’t stop the bleeding fast enough,” Keith said. “It was a very helpless feeling. I don’t think we lost necessarily because our girls didn’t play well, but I think St. Pius played fantastic.

“Of course were were a combination of sad and disappointed we didn’t advance. This team had a little bit of that feeling of being a team of destiny. I know that sounds kind of corny, but these girls exceeded expectations all year long so we just had this feeling like it was going to continue.”

Indeed, Platte County returned only Fish from last year’s district semifinalist, which went 12-4 and incidentally also lost saw the season end with a loss to St. Pius X. She manned the No. 5 spot all season while players like McBratney, Holbrook, Mayne and Stephenson made big jumps up the depth chart, and McFall and junior EmmaLyn Burnett split time at No. 6.

In fact, only Fish had significant varsity experience, and many of the players took lumps against a tough schedule but consistently showed improvement.

Platte County finished second to Grain Valley in the Suburban Conference White Division and managed an impressive tie for fourth in the Suburban North Tournament. The Pirates then built momentum with the second and third state-qualifying doubles teams in program history at the District 8 individual tournament before going into the team bracket as the No. 1 seed.

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Platte County junior Olivia Holbrook hits a shot against St. Pius X in the Class 2 District 8 championship dual Wednesday at Platte County High School.

St. Pius X went on to defeat Capital City in a Class 2 sectional Monday, while Grain Valley — the 2021 District 8 champion moved to District 7 this year — beat Glendale in another sectional. Both teams earned wins over Platte County this season and will now play in the state semifinals

“Ultimately, I was so proud of them,” Keith said. “We had many opportunities this year to decide we could be a below-average team. Instead, we consistently rose to the occasion. These girls have learned a lot, improved a lot, and we get to celebrate a great season by bringing two doubles teams to state.”

Stephenson/Mayne and Fish/Holbrook will receive their pairing for the state bracket and open play Thursday morning at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.

Platte County’s only previous state doubles team was district runners-up Lisa Wyrwinski and Rachel Bumstead back in 2009. The Pirates have only four individual state entrants in program history with Molly McBratney the lone singles qualifier two years earlier in 2020.

Both Wyrwinski/Bumstead and McBratney went 0-2 in their lone state appearances, meaning this year’s doubles teams could become the first to win a state match.

Platte County 5, Kearney 1

The Pirates held seed over the No. 4 Kearney in a semifinal Tuesday at Platte County High School.

During the regular season, Platte County defeated the Bulldogs 9-0 and then looked almost as dominant in the rematch. The state-bound doubles teams of Fish/Holbrook (8-2 at No. 2) and Stephenson/Mayne (8-0 at No. 3) were dominant winners, and the Pirates went into singles up 2-1.

The bottom two-thirds of Platte County’s lineup then cinched the win thanks to sweeps for Mayne (6-1, 6-1 at No. 3), Stephenson (6-2, 6-1 at No. 4), Fish (6-1, 7-6 (10-2) at No. 5) and McFall (6-3, 6-1 at No. 6). McBratney led 6-1, 4-2 at No. 1 when the dual was stopped, while Holbrook had won her first set and trailed 4-5 in the second.

“I was really proud of the way the girls came out and took care of business against Kearney,” Keith said. “It was a match that felt a little bit like a trap in the sense that Kearney is a long-time rival, and the result was more lopsided than normal earlier in the season. I knew we would get their best effort because they are that type of team.”

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