Lutheran South avenges loss, advances to Class 1 girls team tennis state semifinals

The Lutheran South girls tennis team went 0-for-September to begin the 2024 season.

October has been a different story as the Lancers have lost just one match. They avenged that in a big way Monday with a 5-1 victory over Lutheran St. Charles at Watson Trails Park in the Class 1 quarterfinals.

Thus, Lutheran South will spend the last day of October at the Missouri girls team tennis state tournament.

The Lancers will face Bolivar in the Class 1 semifinals at 9 a.m. Halloween morning at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield. Defending state champion Clayton, which defeated North County 5-1 on Monday, will face Tolton in the other Class 1 semifinal. The Class 1 championship match will be played at 3 p.m. later that day.

This will be the fourth trip to the state final four for the Lancers. They finished third in 1999 and fourth in 2010 and 2011.

"It was tough, for sure, at the beginning," Lutheran South coach Steve Dingus said. "But those kinds of matches prepare you for matches like today."

Lutheran South opened the season with losses against MICDS, Westminster, John Burroughs, Nerinx Hall and Whitfield. The Lancers got their first win Oct. 1 against DuBourg but then lost to Lutheran St. Charles 6-3. That was Lutheran South's last loss as it has won seven in a row. Five of those have come without losing a court.

"It helped so much playing the teams we did at the beginning of the season," said Lily Soetaert, who was the lone senior in the Lancers lineup Monday. "It showed that if we could rally with them, that we could close out on the opponents we had at the end of the season."

The team's drastic improvement was most on display Monday against a Cougars team which had not lost since their opening match of the season.

"We lost to them just a week and a half ago and then came back to win the way we did today," Dingus said. "We are definitely playing our best right now which is what every coach in every sport wants."

Abby Cristea and Hadleigh Todd won at No. 1 doubles for Lutheran St. Charles on Monday but Lutheran South dominated the other two doubles spots. Soetaert and Elise Hoehner won 8-0 at No. 2 and Lydia Gilbert and Lauren Blake won 8-1 at No. 3.

Hoehner won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4 singles over Lucy Quagliata.

The other two Lutheran South singles wins came after losing the first set. Soetaert defeated Gabriela Hurayt 2-6, 6-2, 10-3 at No. 3 singles. Naomi Giammanco won the clinching fifth court at No. 1 singles over Cristea 3-6, 6-0, 11-9.

"This is my best year of playing tennis," said Soetaert, who did not start playing until high school. "It is awesome to go as a senior with the whole team. We know playing state level teams will be difficult. We are going in with the mindset of playing the way we have recently."

Dingus feels confident that his team will show well in Springfield.

"I don't know the other three teams," Dingus said. "But I think we have as good a chance as anybody if we continue playing the way we have recently."

Lutheran St. Charles had a 14-match winning streak snapped one step short of the final four.

"It was a great year," Lutheran St. Charles coach Chris Cristea said. "This was our first district title and I think the match was a little too big for them. But we have a bunch of battlers and they gave it their all. Lutheran South played some terrific tennis today."

St. Louis will have two teams in each of the three classes at the team state tournament Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.