Pioneers tennis boys, girls take first at lone home tournament of the season

When it came to recapping everything that had happened in the hours prior to that moment, Stillwater High tennis players Leah Edwards and Alaina Ropp both wanted to give it a go.

So they sorted it out the old-fashioned way with a high-stakes game of rock, paper, scissors.

Then one emerged from the circle of players that had crowded around to watch the two.

"I won it with paper," Edwards said.

That wasn't the only thing she won Saturday afternoon. Edwards and Ropp, both juniors, took first place in No. 1 doubles at the Pioneers’ first and only home tournament of the season.

It marked only their second time playing together, and they haven't lost a match yet.

"It was really good. It was really exciting," Edwards said. "We played really well, and I’m happy with the results."

It was never easy, Edwards said, but they were able to pick up a 6-2, 6-2 win in the finals at the Greenwood Tennis Center. That was emblematic of what both the Stillwater boys and girls were able to do on the day.

Both squads walked away atop the team standings, with the boys tying for first and the girls winning it outright. And due to a team dropping out of the tournament at the last minute, the Pioneers’ junior varsity team got to play as well.

"Super thrilled with today," Stillwater coach Chance Sistrunk said. "Even teams that we weren't expecting to do as well today still had really good days. I don't think anybody that played in the varsity lineup finished off the podium, which is a good day. So, nothing but happy with that."

Maggie Norwood continued her hot start to the season throughout the first four outings. Norwood, a sophomore, took first in No. 2 singles. Her only two losses on the year, Sistrunk said, were to state-podium-caliber players.

She dominated in the finals, winning 6-0, 6-1. Playing from early in the morning until late in the afternoon can be grueling, so Norwood figured it was best to keep it simple.

"It was pretty fun," said Norwood, who played her matches for the day at the Colvin Recreation Center. "You just have to be consistent and keep the ball in and just outlast the other person."

On the other side of town from Norwood and Edwards, Stillwater's No. 1 doubles sophomore duo of Maddox Krueger and Trace Irwin took first in their matches at Couch Park. In fact, those two inspired Norwoods’ and Edwards’ game by doing so first just a few moments earlier.

Both Krueger and Irwin, who have been friends since they were young, wanted to boast about being able to pull out a back-and-forth match to cap the day with a win.

"We were just able to play to our strengths: consistency and teamwork," Krueger said. "It felt great. We’ve been working hard for this for a while. Pretty good."

There's still a long way until regionals – five meets and 44 days, to be exact. And while the Pioneers are already eyeing what's possible down the road, they aren't letting that derail the momentum they’ve built throughout the first three weeks of the season.

Stillwater will have a little more than a week until heading to Ponca City on April 8, and the Pioneers will now turn their attention to that. But Edwards, Norwood and Krueger know what this tournament could mean for them moving forward. Sistrunk does, too.

"We have a lot of events, and they all mean something. They’re all for – whether it's a good practice match or good, competitive matches – they all mean something," Sistrunk said. "That's what they’ve been working for all year long. That's been their goal, and my whole goal is to help them achieve their goals. That's what we’re working for."

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