As usual, Cooper Tennis Complex hosted the annual Springfield Tennis Invitational on Tuesday. And as usual, Anna Rader of Springfield Catholic took home first place in singles.
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Rader, a junior, has participated in three Springfield Invites, and each time she’s walked away as the singles champion.
This year she battled with an old friend – Kickapoo’s Coral Tracy – for first place.
“Coral and I have played together for a long time now,” said Rader. “We train together outside of high school tennis. We know each other, we’re friends and she’s a tough player. She’s very good. She’s been improving and improving, and she’s going out there and beating some good girls and I’m really excited for her.”
Tracy had a tough semifinal match with Glendale’s Rachel Dwyer, a match that Tracy won 9-8 with a 7-5 tiebreaker. Rader, on the other hand, defeated Glendale’s Brooke Smith by the score of 8-0.
Rader would go on to beat Tracy in the championship match 8 sets to 3. The win helped Springfield Catholic secure the overall team championship.
“It felt awesome,” Rader said. “Last year I think we got second, so being able to take first this year felt really great. Especially because there were so many good teams here this year. I’m excited for us.”
Kickapoo squared off with Catholic in both the singles and doubles championship matches, so it’s no surprise that the two teams finished in the top two spots in the tournament.
The Chiefs duo of Raegan Brown and Claire Conway took on Catholic’s Emily Kroutil and Cecilia Bailey for first place on the court adjacent to the singles showdown. Kickapoo defeated Catholic 8-3 to win the doubles title.
“It feels great,” said Conway. “I mean, that’s the cliché answer, but I feel like I’m on top of the world. It’s really important to me because it’s my senior year, so I’m kinda going out with a bang.”
The combo of Brown and Conway made it to the championship match without much trouble. Their 8-4 quarterfinal match with Springfield Central’s Darika Shaibekova and Halena Hadi was the tightest match they played all day.
“I really enjoy playing with my teammate and that’s who I focus on in the matches, focusing on my teammate and just making sure I’m staying happy and staying positive. So I don’t focus on my opponent too much, but I just try and have fun,” said Conway.
Glendale finished third in the team standings and Central came in fourth. Rachel Dwyer won third place in singles, beating her teammate Brooke Smith in the third-place match.
As for Rader, she’ll be right back at it tomorrow competing in the COC-Small tournament. She’s gearing up for another postseason run and hopes to finish better than she did in her sophomore campaign.
“Last year I placed fourth in state,” she said, “and I would really, really like to place higher this year. That’s what I’m reaching for, but we’ll see.”
