TROY — Troy coach Mark Goldner knew Troy junior Elizabeth Niemi and freshman Nina Short would make a good combination in doubles.

And they proved him correct Monday at the Troy D-I sectional tournament at Troy High School and Troy City Park.

Short and Niemi, the first and second singles players throughout the season, were the top seed and easily cruised into Saturday’s semifinals — earning them a spot at next week’s district tournament.

“They have both played well all year,” Goldner said. “They are both aggressive and hit the ball well. The plan going in was to win all three matches 6-0, 6-0. Having a third match helped them get some extra time on the court together.”

They defeated Dhruvi Patel and Cecilia Klinger of Sidney; J. Dixon and K. Bragg of Trotwood-Madison and Olivia Petty and Ava Long of Butler all by 6-0, 6-0 scores.

They will face fourth Kennedi Robinson and Makayla Hibbard of Northmont in the semifinals Saturday.

Troy also had the second seed in doubles in Olivia Johnston and Casey Rogers.

After opening with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Daisy Carpenter and Ashley Weiss of Northmont, they were upset by Fairborn’s Myleigh Smith and Rylee Hensley 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

“I knew they were a good team,” Goldner said of the Fairborn duo. “That was their first singles player and one of their first doubles players. We had chances to win the match. Just a couple of missed shots at the wrong time.”

In singles, Gwen Turnbull made a run that came up just short of a district berth.

Turnbull knocked off Alexa Fogt 6-3, 6-0 and Gaby Mann of Stebbins 7-5, 6-3 before losing to second seeded Lily Braswell of Northmont 6-0, 6-0.

“I would say Gwen (Turnbull) did herself proud to get to the go-to district match,” Goldner said. “She said her legs were a little sore after playing six sets of singles today after playing doubles all year.”

Josie Romick defeated Aubrey O’Bryant of Xenia 6-2, 6-3 before losing to fourth seed Hannah Faulkner of Butler 6-3, 6-2.

Katie Bertke defeated Alexis Dixon of Trotwood-Madison 6-0, 6-0 before losing to top seed Natalie Schoenherr of Butler 6-0, 6-0.

PIQUA

The Piqua girls tennis doubles team of Sierra Leonard and Nataya Yaqub made it to the go-to district match before having their season end.

They Brooklyn Koester and Ava Graber of Sidney 6-0, 6-3 before losing to third seed Dani Riggs and Jenna Sutter of Butler 6-0, 6-0.

Diya Patel and Abby Smay lost to Mikayla Stambaugh and Layla Grossnickle of Fairborn 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Along with Fogt, in other Piqua singles matches, Alyssa Hale lost to Heidi Kennard of Wayne 6-0, 6-0 and Ava Owen lost to Tyler Buxton of Northmont 6-0, 6-1.