Photo by Bill Roseberry
(From left) Kourtney Singleton and Ashley Peck
Kourtney Singleton and Ashley Peck were disappointed when they lost to Belleville West’s Kaitlyn Fiedler and Isabel Papachrisanthou in two sets in a second-round match of the Class 2A Belleville East Sectional on Oct. 14.
It was not only their last match of the season, it was also the last time the two Granite City girls played together as a doubles team. Peck is a senior and Singleton is a junior.
“We started getting to work together more,” Singleton said. “We communicated more and better. It’s kind of sad because it was the last game and we were getting that bond. We were starting to get better, so it was sad that it ended so fast.”
Still, Singleton and Peck turned in a strong season as the Warriors’ No. 1 doubles team. They picked up several victories and earned third-team all-Southwestern Conference honors in doubles.
The banner season earned Singleton and Peck this year’s Granite City AdVantage News Co-Girls’ Tennis Players of the Year awards.
Singleton and Peck were promoted to No. 1 doubles after Granite City lost Bailee Warsing and Mikayla Kingsley to graduation. Singleton played No. 1 singles and Peck was Granite City’s No. 2 singles player.
For most of the season, the Granite City players faced tough competition such as Edwardsville’s Morgan Colbert and Grace Desse, Alton’s Hannah Macias and Abby Fischer, Belleville East’s Isabel Burwitz and Chloe McIsaac and O’Fallon’s Miley Brunner and Kate Macaluso.
“Even though it was a hard time playing them, we still have fun and we like to communicate,” said Singleton, who played No. 3 singles last year. “It was a fun time playing with Ashley for her last year.”
Peck, who joined the girls’ tennis team in her junior year, said she was happy to play No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles in her senior year.
“I was definitely excited, but it was definitely a challenging spot to have to be playing all the good people around,” she said. “We’re definitely not one of the best tennis teams, but we definitely know how to have fun.”
Singleton and Peck were the only Granite City representatives on the all-conference girls’ tennis team. They picked up their awards at the Granite City Fall Sports Awards ceremony on Nov. 1.
Peck received her first all-conference award.
“I was super surprised that I was going to get it,” she said.
Singleton earned all-conference honors for the second year in a row. She got third-team singles honors last year.
Singleton is pretty optimistic about next year’s Granite City team. She’ll be one of five returning players.
“I’m excited for next year because we’ve got some freshmen who came this year who are really good,” the junior said. “I can’t wait to see how they turn out because they did really good this year.”
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