SPRINGFIELD - The Jefferson City Lady Jays dropped a pair of matches Thursday to finish fourth in the Class 2 state tennis tournament.
Jefferson City dropped a 5-2 decision to Lee's Summit North in the semifinals before falling 5-0 to St. Joseph's Academy in the third-place match.
"We had our chances, we just couldn't win the ones we were close in," Jefferson City coach John Blosser said.
In the semifinals, the Lady Jays got singles wins from Paige Smith (7-5, 7-6) and Haley Snellen (6-2, 6-2). Falling in singles were Kelly Raithel (3-6, 3-6), Eden Hoogveld (5-7, 3-6), Kirsten Schmidt (0-6, 2-6) and Athira Nambiar (4-6, 2-6).
The semifinals ended when the doubles team of Smith and Hoogveld lost its match 1-6, 4-6. The other two doubles matches were tied going into the third set.
It was a dominating performance by St. Joseph's Academy in the third-place match.
"They were Rock Bridge-like," Blosser said.
Falling in singles were Raithel (5-7, 0-6), Smith (1-6, 3-6), Hoogveld (0-6, 2-6), Schmidt (0-6, 0-6) and Snellen (2-6, 2-6). Nambiar won the first set in her match 6-4, but did not finish.
The teams of Smith-Hoogveld and Raithel-Snellen will take part in the Class 2 state doubles tournament starting today.