TJ's Ding advances to second day of state tennis tournament; Jeyaraj goes 1-2
Oct. 15—SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Thomas Jefferson Independent girls tennis player Allison Ding went 2-1 on Friday to reach the consolation semifinals in the singles portion of the Class 1 State Tournament at Cooper Tennis Complex.
Ding will continue the tournament with a match against the victor between North County's Lucy Pace and Duchesne's Mary Beckemeier on Saturday in the lower-bracket semifinals.
A stroke of bad luck pitted Ding against her TJ teammate, Jeanna Jeyaraj, in the consolation quarterfinals, where Ding picked up a 2-0 victory (6-1, 6-0) to remain alive in the bracket.
Jeyaraj, just a sophomore, picked up a 2-0 win (6-0, 6-4) over Kennett's Carley Winston in the first round before falling 2-0 (6-1, 6-0) to Savannah's Iris Alvarez in the quarterfinals. She finished her season with a 21-7 record.
Ding, a junior, suffered a 2-0 loss (6-2, 6-3) to Notre Dame de Sion's Anna McGeeney in the first round before rebounding with a 2-0 win (6-1, 6-0) over Lafayette County's Elena Williams in her first consolation match. She sports a 23-5 season record heading into Saturday.
"I'm proud of them both for the way they've competed all season," TJ coach Tom Brumfield said of Ding and Jeyaraj. "Sometimes it just comes down to the draw, and it's unfortunate they had to play each other in the back half. But again, I'm very proud of both of them and their accomplishments."
