The Liberty girls tennis team continued its successful season as they claimed their first ever Gateway Athletic Conference and district championships.

At conference, the team won six consecutive matches on way to the tournament victory. Coach Kleiber thought the team looked great winning its first title.

“It was not our first rodeo, but it felt good winning our first GAC,” Kleiber said.

Breonna Gillam has played varsity tennis for both her freshman and now her sophomore year. She succeeded to finish in first place in singles against Saint Charles West and Fort Zumwalt North.

“I was super excited when we won,” said Gillam. “I am a little nervous for districts though, but I feel like we could take another win.”

Also finishing in first was Nawal Cheema, Emma Ingle and Grace Flinn who finished in a third set tiebreaker taking the lead.

“It felt fun and satisfying to win. Being one of the youngest players on the varsity team was a great feeling,” Cheema said.

Abby Falgout and Emily Brockmann both took third place.  

Brockmann is a freshman this year and plays on varsity. She first started playing tennis at the beginning of the summer and is one of the three freshman on the varsity team. She took third place in number 6 singles against Fort Zumwalt East in the semifinals.

“It felt great to win and I was very proud of myself for getting such a good place with the little experience I had,” Brockmann said.

All varsity players made it to the championship rounds.

“We finished with a total of six first place finishes,” Kleiber said. “One second place finish, and four third place finishes. We have several girls playing with injuries and they dug deep to prevail and fight hard to finish in first place.  We started the tournament strong with multiple first place seeds, so it helped us to take the lead early and stay ahead.”

Liberty’s success in double play helped to give them a huge lead because doubles earns more points than singles. The following players helped give the Eagles a big lead in doubles: Emma Ingle, Grace Flinn, Nawal Cheema, Emily Brockmann, Breonna Gillam, Abby Falgout, Amy Sutton, Amy Carnahan, Julia Wolz and Emma Benesek.

The team, seeming to all be confident in another win, continued its success in district play by defeating Fort Zumwalt West and advanced to sectional play.