Smyrna High School's Valyaeva third in conference tennis tourney

    With a third place finish, first singles Tania Valyaeva had the top showing for Smyrna High girls’ tennis team at the Henlopen Conference tournament on May 8 and 9 at Sea Colony near Bethany Beach.
    As the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Valyaeva had a first round bye. In the quarterfinals, she defeated Lake Forest’s Bullock, 6-0, 6-1. In the semifinals, Seaford’s Kimpton topped Valyaeva 7-5, 6-2, but Valyaeva won the consolation match over Cape’s Butterly, 6-1, 6-0, to capture third place.
     At second singles, Smyrna’s Olivia Hughes topped Lake Forest’s Afton 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Hughes fell to Dover’s Brennan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
    Smyrna’s third singles player, Emiley Conboy, topped Sussex Central’s Phares 6-1, 6-3 in the first round before falling to Seaford’s Graves 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
    First doubles Maggie Humphrey and Sarah Koehler fell to Cape Henlopen’s Hines and Bowski, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round.
    Second doubles Gabby Pope and Nichole Young fell to McColley and Maloney of Milford, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
    The following Smyrna players were named academic all-conference: Tatiana Valyaeva, Emiley Conboy, Maggie Humphrey and Sarah Koehler.