ABERDEEN — The struggles for the Huron Tiger tennis team continued on Thursday, as the Tigers finished ninth in the ESD Tennis Tournament.
The Mitchell Kernels easily won the team title with 309 points in the tournament. Watertown was runner up with 270 points while Pierre claimed third with 189 team points.
All of Huron’s  10 team points came off the racquet of third-flight singles player Kayla Harvey. Harvey was the lone Tiger to earn a seed in the tournament, coming in with the No. 5 seed in the flight. After a first-round loss to Sydney Larson of Pierre, Harvey went on a tear, downing Olivia Tennant of Yankton 8-5 and then claimed the consolation championship with an 8-1 win over Mirra Frohling of Aberdeen Central.
The remaining Huron players all faced play-in matches to begin the day. Two Tigers, No. 2 singles player Megan Clark and Abby Thomas at No. 4 won their play-in games and earning a shot at the top seeded player in their respective flights.

Neither came up with wins, as Clark lost 10-2 to eventual champion Avery Larson, while Thomas dropped a 10-2 match to Megan Fannin of Watertown, who also went on to win her flight.
Other singles players, including Aubrey Rubish, Jaycee Clark and Alice Pisacane fell in their play-in game, as did two of the three doubles teams.
The lone doubles team to make it through the play-in match was the No. 2 team of Megan Clark and Thomas.
Huron is off until it heads to the State Tennis Tournament, which begins next Thursday in Brandon Valley and Sioux Falls.

Photo:

Huron's Abby Thomas returns a volley during the ESD tournament Thursday at the Northern State University tennis courts.

Photo by John Davis of the Aberdeen American News