Spoofhounds win third-straight district title
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Maryville hoists the district championship plaque and coach Nicole McGinness’ daughter Keller onThursday at the Mark Rosewell Tennis Center. Pictured from left: Jonah Conn, Andrew Ferris, TJ Kain, Will Sheil, AJ Dinsdale, Nathan Walter and Kyler Skidmore.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — It’s been a fun ride for the Spoofhound boys tennis team. Maryville hasn’t lost more than four matches in a season since 2015, and picked up their third-straight district championship on Wednesday with a 5-1 win over Kirksville.
Keller, coach Nicole McGinness’ daughter, has had a front row seat for all of the Spoofhounds’ success — literally moving her lawn chair from court to court during the match to make sure she saw every player. When her grandparents were ready to take to soccer practice, she delayed them because she hadn’t sat by senior TJ Kain’s court yet.
“It was really fun,” Keller said.
Keller made it back in time for Kain to seal the district championship with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) win in No. 6 singles. Kain cruised in the first set then fell behind in the second set, rallied to tie it at 5-5, then fell behind 6-5 before forcing a tiebreaker.
“When it got to that second set, I was not focused at all until it got to about down 2-4 or 2-5,” Kain said. “Then I started focusing on what I has doing, what he was doing, where I needed to place the ball and how I need to play the game.”
Kain dominated the tiebreaker, but didn’t immediately realize he had clinched the title for his team.
This season has been more special than the previous championships for Kain because this is the first year he has been a varsity player. Kain is the lone newcomer to the lineup this year after waiting his turn with junior varsity.
“It feels a lot better this year,” Kain said. “I’ve had a lot to do with the team this year. I’m on varsity. I’m the 6-seed now. This game I just came out for the win for our team in the district championship — so it feels pretty good.”
The other singles win for the Spoofhounds came from No. 1 Kyler Skidmore. The junior was dominant with a 6-0, 6-1 win.
“It is a testament to them wanting it, trying as hard as they can, and then reaching that goal,” McGinness said. “Got a a lot of goals that were set this year and they are achieving them all. I’m really proud of them.”
The match opened with doubles and Maryville swept the three matches. The most lop-sided doubles win came from senior Andrew Ferris and Kain with a 8-1 win.
“It feels good,” Ferris said. “We had such a good victory.”
Skidmore and Sheil, fresh off their district doubles title, rolled in the No. 1 doubles match 8-3.
The closest doubles match was the No. 2 matchup where it was back-and-forth all match, but Nathan Walter and AJ Dinsdale held on for a 9-7 win — finally breaking Kirksville’s serve.
“We worked really hard for this, so it is nice to see all our hard work pay off,” Dinsdale said.
Maryville moves into the state quarterfinals, which the Spoofhounds will host on Monday against the winner of Forsyth and Logan-Rogersville, Thursday’s District 5 championship.
“We have been looking forward to it all year,” Dinsdale said.
