McCracken County girls tennis duo Alex Poore and Cassidy Parker concluded their run at the State Doubles Tournament in Lexington after making it all the way to the semifinal round. Ultimately they fell 7-6, 3-6, 10-5 against Corbin High School’s Lindsay Jones and Katherine Morton on Thursday morning.
“We worked really hard,” Cassidy Parker said following the tournament. “We practiced five times a week to get to this point. It was a really fun experience.”
After winning the First Region doubles tournament, the two won their round of 64 match by an easy 6-0, 6-0 on Tuesday on their home court, before making the trip up to Lexington for a pair of Wednesday matches.
There they took down a duo from Madisonville-North Hopkins in the round of 32 6-2, 6-0, followed by a 6-2, 6-3 victory against the Owensboro Catholic pair in Sweet 16.
The Lady Mustangs’ toughest win came in a come-from-behind fashion in the quarterfinal round. The number four seed duPont Manual pair Helen Bai and Himani Deo took the first set 6-2, but the McCracken tandem took the second set and tiebreaker to win 2-6, 6-1, 10-8.
The duo credits their friendship off the court as to how well they succeed in their matches, saying the chemistry translates over in big moments like this.
“It’s always better when we’re together,” Alex Poore said after the match. “We’re really comfortable with each other, so we never really get frustrated at one another.”
With Parker wrapping up her sophomore campaign and Poore a year below her, this duo is going to continue to wreak havoc in the First Region and state tournaments for years to come. Both have their eyes set on that championship trophy next year, and will no doubt be contenders for the foreseeable future.
“We want to win state,” Parker said. “Next year we got it.”