Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

East's Stivers battles to fifth at state

Buoyed by a first-round bye as a regional champion, Olathe East senior Kristen Stivers reached the quarterfinals Friday at the Kansas 6A state tournament.

Stivers' first match was a 6-0, 6-3 victory against Maize's Zoie Young in the second round.

Facing Blue Valley junior Ashley Tieful, Stivers fell 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

The best she could finish after that loss was fifth, which Stivers rallied to claim with three straight 9-1 wins.

Coming off an eighth-place finish last year, Stivers whipped Goddard's Courtney Coad, BV Northwest's Jennifer Lowe and Wichita Northwest's Lindy Wilkerson in succession en route to fifth place.

Stivers finished the season 29-4, which matched the Hawks' all-time record for wins in a single season. Ally Majercik, who now plays at Iowa, went 29-1 in 2007.

Stivers also tied Majercik for the third-best singles finish at state. Majercik was third in 2008 and fifth in 2005, while Haley Craig was fourth in 2006.

| Tod Palmer, todpalmer@theolathenews.com

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