PORTSMOUTH — Two tennis players from Miami Trace High School have advanced from the Sectional to the District tournament.

Bethany Reiterman and Haylee Higgins have been seeded fifth at the District tournament to be held Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. at Ohio University in Athens.

Reiterman and Higgins began the Sectional tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Bruce and Caines of Ironton.

In the second round, Reiterman and Higgins played Sierra Dawson and Maria Pickerill of Washington and won that match in three sets, with a tie-break in the second set.

In their third round match, Reiterman and Higgins played Knavel and Aftabizadeh of Athens.

“Unfortunately, they lost their rhythm and that match,” Miami Trace coach Kim Schirtzinger said. “Since they made it to the third round, they got to play one more match for the chance to be in the top six which would take them to the districts.”

Reiterman and Higgins next faced the team of Hopper and Meyers from Wheelersburg, the No. 1 seed in the Sectional.

“It was a fantastic match and a fantastic fight from our girls,” Schirtzinger said.

The first set went to a tie-breaker, with Wheelersburg winning that 7-6 (7-5).

Reiterman and Higgins won the second set, 6-4 to level the match.

They then won the third set, 7-5.

On Thursday, Reiterman and Higgins returned to Portsmouth to play for seeding purposes at the District.

They beat Stubbe and Gottfried of Marietta, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

“That was another great match for the girls,” Schirtzinger said. That win gave them the No. 5 seed for the District tournament.

The Miami Trace doubles team of Whitney Cockerill and Maddi Wallace began the Sectional tournament with a win over Wheelersburg’s second doubles team of Hooper and Thomas, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

“That was a great fight for the win,” Schirtzinger said.

In their second round of play they took on the team that ended up with the No. 2 seed in the Districts next week from Washington High School, Anna Nestor and Megan Downing. Washington won that match, 6-0, 6-0.

First singles player Cassie VanDyke had a bye in the first round and had to stop play for rain in her second round match against Alex Murdock from Waverly. That match was played on Tuesday. They restarted on Wednesday in a tie-break for their first set. VanDyke lost that tie-break and then ended up losing the second set also.

Shelby Mulford lost in the first round of the Sectional to Melanie Winter of Circleville.

Third singles player Macy Detty lost in her first round match to Audrey Graf of Portsmouth Notre Dame.