Wellington wins regional championship in Scott City; sends both doubles teams to State
2023 Wellington girls tennis wins the regional championship.
Sumner Newscow report — The Wellington girls’ tennis team won the regional championship in Scott City Friday afternoon.
The Crusaders would beat Pratt by one team point to capture the regional crown. The team scores were Wellington 14, Pratt 13, Wichita Trinity 11, Scott City 10, Winfield 8, Ulysses 2 and Nickerson 0.
“This is the first regional champion we’ve had in a while,” said Wellington head girls tennis coach Brian Aufdengarten. “The last ones were in 2010 with Kaitlyn Buck and Lexis Hibbs winning doubles and Erianne Adams winning singles.”
The two Wellington doubles teams swept the tournament, facing each other in the regional championship. Sisters Lyric and Cruz Cornejo defeated teammates Kadynce Aufdengarten and Logan Robinson 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match. Both teams will go in as No. 1 and 2 seeds in the state tournament to be played next weekend at Winfield T.H. Vaughan Tennis Center on Oct. 13-14. Wellington is hosting the tournament.
Both Wellington singles players Kyra Cornejo and Addie Hinshaw were eliminated from the competition.
Kyra Cornejo received the No. 9 seed and lost a tough three-set match to No. 8 seeded Kate Jackson from Pratt. Cornejo won the first set 6-3, Jackson bounced back and took set two 7-5. In the final super tiebreak, Jackson had a 9-3 lead and Kyra got to 9-8, then Jackson won the last point, winning 10-8.
Addie Hinshaw received the No. 6 seed and squared off against Romero from Ulysses. Hinshaw dominated the first set, winning 6-0. Then Romero turned the tables, winning set two 6-4. The final set was won by Hinshaw 12-10. Hinshaw then had to play the regional winner Majors from Trinity, losing 6-0, 6-0. In her third match, Hinshaw played another Ulysses player named Clarssa Sianuqui. The Ulysses player won the first set 6-0, then Hinshaw slowed her game down and won set two 6-4. The third and final set went to Ulysses 6-0, eliminating Hinshaw.
“I was very proud of how hard both of our singles players battled,” Aufdengarten said. “They never gave up and showed a lot of heart today.”
Both doubles teams got first-round byes by getting the #1 and #2 seeds. The Cornejo sisters opened with Henderson and Davis from Wichita Trinity, winning 6-2, 6-2. K. Aufdengarten and Robinson were the No. 2 seed and opened up, beating Mitina/Le from Winfield 6-0, 6-0.
In the semifinals, the No. 1 seeded Cornejo sisters beat Pratt’s Candia/Hughes 6-0, 6-2. Aufdengarten and Robinson won their semifinal match over No. 3 seeded Scott City’s Roberts/Wells 6-0, 6-0. The Wellington doubles then met in the finals, with the Cornejo sisters coming out on top 6-1, 6-3.
“The doubles teams played great today; until the finals,” Aufdengarten said. “Kadynce and Logan hadn’t given up a single game. Our goal was to get both to the finals and they both did their job.”
