CENTERVILLE — Eaton’s girls tennis team made the most of its first-ever appearance in the Miami Valley Tennis Coaches Association Coaches Cup Tournament.

The Eagles tallied 31 points to finish second. Miamisburg won the team title with 32 points.

“As a team, we didn’t really have any expectations going in to the tournament. We were just looking for some challenging matches,” Eaton coach John Hitchcock said. “However, when you realize that we were that close to first place that’s kinda a big pill to swallow. Especially knowing we held the tiebreaker advantage over Miamisburg had we tied.”

Other teams in the tournament, which was played Saturday, Sept. 15, at Centerville High School, included Beavercreek, Centerville Black, Chaminade Julienne, Springboro B, and Tippecanoe. Beavercreek placed third with 28 points as they held the tiebreaker advantage over Tippecanoe.

Eaton’s Sophia Murphy placed first at 1st singles by beating Centerville 8-3, and then Beavercreek 8-1 in the finals.

Grace Murphy, at 2nd singles, placed second overall. She beat Tipp 8-2, then had a tight match with a another freshman from Miamisburg winning 9-8(5), then eventually losing to Beavercreek 1-8 in the finals.

Tess Murphy placed first at 3rd singles by beating Miamisburg 8-4, then CJ 8-0 in the finals.

The doubles teams played very well against some tough competition, according to Hitchcock.

The first doubles team of Addie Bell and Brianna Ward placed 6th. They lost to Tipp City 4-8, then to a talented Beavercreek team 6-8.

“We actually had control of that match as we held leads at two different times but in the end Beavercreek edged us out,” Hitchcock said.

The second doubles team of Anna Kramer and Erika Wilkinson had a heartbreaking loss to Centerville in their very first match.

“We had the lead for the entire set and even had three match points but unforced errors kept us from capitalizing on it,” Hitchcock said.

Kramer and Wilkinson eventually lost 8-9(6).

“That match I would definitely like to get back,” Hitchcock said. “Those are the ones that sting for awhile.”

The duo then faced off with a team from CJ, losing 4-8.

“Hopefully these tough losses will help motivate the doubles teams to work harder and highlight areas of their games that need improvement,” Hitchcock said. “If your not winning, you should be learning.”

Earlier in the week, Eaton defeated Talawanda 5-0 and Brookville 5-0.

Eaton was scheduled to play Milton-Union on Tuesday, Sept. 18. They are to host Valley View on Wednesday and will travel to Preble Shawnee on Thursday. The Eagles will close out the week with a trip to Centerville for a doubles tournament on Saturday.