Mexico girls tennis earns first 9-0 win, honors nine seniors vs Columbia Independent

Nine was a special number for Mexico girls tennis on Wednesday night.

Mexico Girls Tennis Senior Night Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs swept Columbia Independent 9-0 at the Fairgrounds Park Netplex for their first 9-0 victory of the season and then honored their nine seniors on their home courts. Four of the nine seniors came away with victories, whether it was in varsity or junior varsity.

“We appreciate all of the community support on our Senior Night,” head coach Kim Costley said. “It was good to see so many attend. We had several close matches against a good opponent and everyone won their matches.”

Costley continues to be impressed by senior No. 1 Katie Gooch’s play as she won her singles match 8-0 and doubles match with partner Jyllian Whitworth 8-2. Lucy Gleeson was also victorious for the first time in singles 8-3 after competing in many tight matches this year.

Among the other senior victories were Lani Blair 8-6 in singles and Blair and Claire Hudson 8-2 in doubles. Other singles victories included Whitworth 8-5, Alice Eggen 8-5 and Hudson 8-0 while the other doubles match had Eggen and Gleeson as the victors 8-6.

“We have several girls who have been adding to their toolbox, and they are maturing in their strategies,” Costley said. “It's been fun to watch.”

Senior Phoebe Whipple and Marali Herrera-Sanchez won their junior varsity doubles match 8-5 while seniors Daida Herrera-Garcia and Alexis Smythe came up just short 9-8 (7-0).

Other seniors honored with their families after the match included Maite Esteban, Franziska Hotek, Lara Vennemen and Lotte Van Grinsven. This senior class was the biggest for Costley as she said she had four foreign exchange students this season.

Mexico won its 10th dual of the season with an 8-1 victory at Boonville (1-7) on Thursday before returning home on Friday to face North Point (5-7) and then traveling to Columbia to face Battle (0-9) at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Lady Bulldogs rotate through roster in four-set loss to Kirksville

Mexico volleyball is feeling the toll of the season 10 matches in.

Mexico vs Kirksville Photo Gallery

One night after being swept in a home match and in the season series by North Central Missouri Conference foe Fulton, the Lady Bulldogs lost in four sets to conference foe Kirksville to drop both meetings with the Lady Tigers this year. Mexico did win the first set 25-23 before losing the final three 26-24, 25-18 and 25-21.

Head coach RaShonda Willis said Mexico (1-9, 1-5 NCMC) had to adjust to injuries on Tuesday night as it was already without junior outside hitter/defensive specialist Karsyn Heidemann due to a broken foot. Early in the match, junior libero Skyler Arnold was hit in the face and tried to play through it until she was hit again and then pulled out. Not having these girls leaves Mexico without their contributions, but Willis said it also results in a domino effect on the rest of the team.

“We have a bunch of new players,” Willis said. “We now have someone (sophomore Ava Herron) come up from JV so we’re just trying to work things out and get her acclimated with actually playing the entire round. She did very well the first game, but it’s just falling apart because they’re not used to that body being next to them. It also fell apart because our libero got hurt as well. I pulled her in that third set and it is where everything trickled down.”

Willis said communication is a key aspect of volleyball so that and focus is thrown off whenever players need to become accustomed to new teammates next to them on the court and when they are worried about the health of their teammates. Kirksville (5-4, 3-1 NCMC) took advantage near the end the second set, coming back to win with an 11-1 run.

Herron did have a solid performance and has proven to be a good fit for the varsity roster, Willis said, as she had a hand in distancing Mexico from Kirksville in the first set. The teams were going point-for-point as the Lady Bulldogs were trying to find a serving solution until Herron converted on one of her two service aces within a 4-0 run to give Mexico the edge. 

“The first set, they just came out and played as we’ve seen Kirksville before,” Willis said. “We watched film on them. A lot of times we look at the seams between the positions 1 through 6 so we usually serve in between the seams. A lot of times they leave their ‘donut hole’ open, or middle of the court.”

Willis said there were several girls that placed the ball well on not just serves but whenever Mexico fought for points during volleys. Emily Moppin had four kills and two aces, Mary Test added six kills and JaClynn Cline had the most crucial game for the Lady Bulldogs, leading with 13 kills and five aces. 

During the first set and at moments during the rest of the match, Cline came through whenever Mexico needed a point. Willis said Cline can hit the ball hard but thrives in all types of hits and adjusting to coaching instructions, which is why the sophomore is one of the team captains.

“Last year, she played middle but now she plays my right side,” Willis said. “She is more accurate on the right side. I love that she is actually putting the ball down and finding those spots and being coachable. She’ll look at the bench, listen to the coaches and then she’ll place the ball.”

Willis said Moppin did well placing the ball and swinging, Arnold did a nice job hustling and covering ground, including one time where she tripped over Mexico’s bench area while retrieving a ball, and Test displayed powerful serves and showed confidence “snapping” when she serves. 

Having all of these pieces that fit well in various areas makes Willis excited for Mexico’s potential but also eager to have everything finally come together. The Lady Bulldogs have lost every set except for the first set Tuesday against Kirksville and the three they took in a 3-1 victory at Marshall earlier this season. 

“They need to continue talking and communicating with each other, having each other’s back and being confident,” Willis said. “We understand, when we step on the court, we can play with anybody and anybody can get beat any given day. We did it (Tuesday in the first set) and now we just have to finish games.”

Mexico lost in four sets at Bowling Green on Thursday before competing in the Megan Gross Invitational on Saturday in Warrenton.

Henderson breaks out for Mexico in 6-1 win at Moberly

Mexico is breaking in a new pitching staff this season.

Two of the arms are freshmen and one of them, Aleigha Henderson, led the Lady Bulldogs to a 6-1 victory on Tuesday at North Central Missouri Conference foe Moberly. Henderson pitched seven innings six strikeouts, four hits, and one run to beat out Moberly’s Taylor Martin’s seven innings of seven hits, five walks, three earned runs and two strikeouts.

Hannah Loyd started Mexico (9-9, 5-1 NCMC) off right in the first inning with a two-RBI triple to eventually finish with three RBI in the game. Kenley Jones had a RBI double, Karlee Sefrit went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Jo Thurman scored twice despite not hitting safely.

Henderson allowed a run in the first inning but shut the Lady Spartans (5-7, 2-3 NCMC) down the rest of the way, only hitting two batters in the fifth inning and allowing a single in the seventh inning.

Mexico plays Friday and today in the California Turf War Tournament.

Bulldogs allow another eight goals in loss to Hannibal

Mexico has struggled keeping up with conference foe Hannibal.

The Bulldogs’ North Central Missouri Conference record fell to 0-5 after losing 8-0 on Tuesday at home to Hannibal (8-2, 3-0 NCMC, who they’ve lost to by eight goals in the previous two meetings.

Mexico’s junior varsity lost 2-1.

Mexico (4-5-2) plays at 5 p.m. Monday at Fatima (2-5).

Mexico JH boys finish third in Fulton Invitational

On Sept. 16, the Mexico junior high boys had a good showing at the Fulton Invitational.

The Bulldogs finished third out of 16 teams, with six finishing in the top 50.

Seth Stevenson had the top finish in 21st with a time of 13:29, Reid Bickell was 24th with a 13:33, Israel Hernandez was 26th with a 13:46, Angel Muralles Pedroza and Gavin Gruer were 31st and 32nd with with a 13:59, and Easton Stuart was 47th with a 14:41.

Bentley McCarty finished 34th in the girls 3,200 meters with a time of 16:28.