Rock Bridge’s Kimes and Stamose win tennis doubles while Lin places seventh in singles

Two Rock Bridge girls tennis players claimed first place in the MSHAA Class 3 Doubles Tournament in Springfield on Saturday. Freshman Katherine Kimes and junior Rebecca Stamose defeated St. Joseph’s Academy's Alice Elizabeth Kennedy and Ashley Behan 2-0 to claim the state title with scores of 6-4 and 7-5.

“It just feel so surreal,” Kimes said. “I just love it, and I’ve been soaking in every minute of it, and it's just been a dream for a really long time..the fact that I’m a freshman and am a state champion is just really cool.”

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Kimes and Stamose defeated Allison Elisabeth Wayne and Isabelle Hawkins in the semifinal round 2-1 with scores of 6-3, 3-6, and 10-7. In the quarterfinal round the duo took down Lafayette’s Madison Pfeiffer and Zoey Gjorgjievski.

“It’s been our dream for many years, and the fact that we put in a lot of hard work on and off the court and having a good connection and staying positive through all our ups and downs, it just feels amazing,” Stamose said.

Kimes and Stamose’s connection has thrived all season for the Bruins, which led them to this point.

“Our connection on the court is well. Even if we lose a point, we stay connected to each other, have positive energy, and do not let our negative thoughts get to us,” Kimes said.

What made the victory more impressive is that the two had to defeat a total of four seniors to claim the state crown. Rock Bridge head coach Ben Loeb was pleased with the way they bounced back after the team lost in the State Quarterfinal to St. Joseph’s Academy, which fueled the efforts in the individual and doubles matchups on Saturday.

“It’s a fantastic accomplishment for anybody, no matter what school, because it’s so tough. The singles and doubles tournaments at the Class 3 level are just grueling,” Loeb said. “So I think we really earned it in a big way, because of how tough the competition was to be able to come through in close matches against the caliber of players that we played. It was just very gratifying to be able to see that.”

Junior Jenna Lin placed seventh in the singles tournament. She defeated Olivia Lee McGruder 2-0 with scores of 6-0, 6-0. Loeb called Lin the most improved player on the team, which she has noticed throughout the season.

“I improved on my consistency, and just like making more balls, and also my ball speed,” Lin said. “I was able to handle harder balls and hit back, and also, my serve improved.”

Lin defeated Kirkwood’s Hadley Allaria in the first round on Friday, before falling to Mia Wang Yin in the Quarterfinals. She bounced back, defeating Lee’s Summit West’s Ava B Rosenbohm, but fell to St. Joseph Academy’s Adelyn Ross Gross before taking down McGruder.

Luckily for Rock Bridge, all three will be back next season for the Bruins, and they aspire to lead the team to another deep postseason run.

“It was just a lot to be proud of and a big accomplishment for themselves and for the team to finish our season this way,” Loeb said.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Rock Bridge’s Kimes and Stamose win tennis doubles while Lin places seventh in singles