Dohee Lee defeats Anna Riedmiller in Tournament of Champions final

Dohee Lee wiped the sweat from just below the brim of her royal blue Polo cap.

The hat had shielded the sophomore from the unforgiving sun for the better part of 12 hours. She closed her eyes, as if to momentarily remove herself from a championship tennis match she had worked all day to reach.

Moments later, Lee would clinch the singles championship over Independent’s Anna Riedmiller 8-5, capping a marathon day and helping lead Andover to a third-place finish in the Tournament of Champions hosted by Collegiate.

“It has been a long day,” Lee said smiling. “It was worth it.”

It wasn’t easy.

The tournament played out more like a gauntlet of sorts, with the top teams from Classes 3A, 4A and 5A all represented and two of the top teams from 6A in the mix as well. After navigating her way through the competition, Lee wasn’t surprised Riedmiller was waiting for her from the other side of the bracket.

The two have been squaring off since childhood.

“Outside of the court we are best friends,” Lee said. “But when we are playing tennis we are totally different people. We have to play our game.”

Riedmiller played her game all day long, allowing her opponents to make mistakes and avoiding unforced errors. Last year’s Class 3A runner-up was dynamic early in the final as well, frustrating Lee and forcing her to grind out every point.

The two battled back and forth for large stretches of the match, each returning the other’s best attempts with just as much ferocity. But it was Lee who would get the better of her rival.

“I like playing Dohee,” Riedmiller said. “She is a really great player. I love playing in matches like this.”

With a bevy of the state’s top individual talent on hand, the tournament gave challengers a chance to find out where they stood, with regionals just around the corner.

“It’s definitely good to get this in right before the really big tournaments,” Riedmiller said. “I got really good experience and practice out of this and I’m ready for what’s next.”

Logan Morrissey and Camryn Parnell of Lee’s Summit North (Mo.) defeated Blue Valley Northwest’s doubles team of Lindsay Haight and Kylee White in the championship by a score of 8-4.

Blue Valley North won the team title with 144 points.

Team Results — Blue Valley North 144, Lee Summit North (Mo.) 119, Andover 115, McPherson 111, Collegiate 108, Bishop Carroll 105, Blue Valley Northwest 103, Independence 89, Kapaun 83, Arkansas City 82, Hesston 82, Derby 59, Conway Springs 56,Independent 53, Maize 52, Wellington, 52, Blue Valley West 52, Parsons 39, Goddard 18.

Singles — 1st. Lee, Andover, def. Riedmiller, Independent, 8-5. 3rd. Ball, Andover, def. Yan, BV North, 8-4. 5th. Nat. Lubbers, Carroll, def. Pringle, Kapaun, 8-4. 7th. Groff, Independent, def. Manivani, Collegiate, 8-5. 9th. O’Brien, BV North, def. Krause, Lee Summit North, 8-2.

Doubles — 1st. Morissey-Parnell, Lee Summit North, 8-4. 3rd. Burr-Gonzales, Arkansas City, def. Blackford-Tran, BV North, 8-5. 5th. Osland-Lindwall, Collegiate, def. Holle-Ediger, McPherson, 8-3. 7th. Nic. Lubbers-Steven, Carroll, def. Winter-Pauly, Conway Springs, 8-2. 9th. Hendler-Chang, BV North, def. Ravi-Ost, BV Northwest, 8-6.

This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Dohee Lee defeats Anna Riedmiller in Tournament of Champions final."