PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. – The Wichita Collegiate Spartans dominated the 3-2-1A Boys State Tennis Tournament at Harmon Park Tennis Complex Friday and Saturday, finishing first and second place individually in both the singles and doubles brackets. Their performance gave them a maximum possible amount of points at 60 overall. Two Ad Astra Radio area teams battled their way to the other two team trophies, though, as Central Plains finished second with 28 points and Sterling was third with 24.
The top area finisher in singles was Jace Darnauer of Sterling who finished in third place. As the number four seed, he had a first round bye and then won 6-0, 6-3 in the second round over Grayson Allen of Conway Springs. He then beat Hoisington’s Jasper Pawlowski 7-5, 6-3 in the quarters to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. After falling to top seed Amir Khicha of Collegiate 6-0, 6-1, Darnauer ended up with a win over Camden Stiles of Central Plains in the 3rd Place match. Despite winning the first set 7-5, Stiles retired due to injury in a 1-1 tie in the second set. Stiles had a solid opening day, beating Owen Schultz of Ellsworth 6-0, 6-1 in the second round after receiving an opening-round bye. He then picked up a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 win over Drew Fay of Cair Paravel to advance to Saturday’s semis where he had a tough battle, but fell 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to G Farha of Collegiate.
Pawlowski ended up in sixth place for Hoisington in singles. He opened with a 4-6, 6-0, 10-5 win over Lathem Kizzar of Sterling after a first round bye. After his loss to Darnauer, he beat Jonah Arnold of Cair Paravel 8-1 and Devin Boice of Haven 8-6 before falling to Fay of Cair Paravel in the 5th Place match. Boice had a strong tournament and took eighth place overall, while Kizzar finished in 11th.
In doubles, Central Plains’ top team of Peyton Dody and Alden Metro took third place. As the four seed, they had a first round bye and beat Ty Latta and Luke Misak of Chaparral 6-0, 6-1 in the second round. The quarterfinal match against their county rivals Ty Hammeke and Ethan Schloctermeier of Ellinwood proved to be one of the best matches of the tournament. After splitting the first two sets 6-3 and 4-6, the super tiebreaker took 52 points to decide with Dody and Metro coming out on top 27-25. They returned to the courts Friday for the semis, falling to Charlie Gentile and Maddox Drumright of Collegiate. After a first set loss in the 3rd Place match, Dody and Metro recovered for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Blane Farley and Owen Holdeman of Trinity Academy to take the third place medals.
Hammeke and Schloctermeier of Ellinwood won two matches on the consolation side, beating Walker and Reyes of Chaparral 8-1 and Mason Yingling and Camdyn Flavin of Trego 8-5 to advance to the fifth place match. They fell to Joseph Beck and Eli Benge of Conway Springs to finish in sixth place. Trace DeShon and Ben Bierstedt of Sterling finished in seventh place with an 8-5 win over Yingling and Flavin in the 7th Place match. After falling to the back side of the bracket in the quarterfinals, Jack Bieker and Pierce Keller lost to DeShon and Bierstedt in the consolation quarters. They battled back for two straight wins, though, finishing their tournament with an 8-1 win over Richard Hayes and Scott Lamatsch of Central Plains to take ninth place, while Hayes and Lamatsch finished in 10th.
