BUHLER, Kan. – The Hesston Swathers took home the 4A Regional Tennis title at Buhler this weekend. The Swathers had 22 points ahead of second place Buhler with 16. In singles, Janmejay Patwardhan took home the regional title and in doubles, Braiden Liechty and Tim van Bergeijk won the regional championship for Hesston. All six competitors for the Swathers qualified for the 4A State Tournament.
In singles, Patwardhan had a first round bye before defeating Tucker Schlatter of Buhler in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-0. In the semis, he beat Cayden Davis of Buhler 6-1, 6-2 and then won the championship match over Reece Knight of El Dorado 6-3, 6-0. Henry White finished in 6th place for Hesston in singles and will head to state. He had a first round bye before losing to Delken Hall of El Dorado in the quarters. He fought back with a consolation win over Reed Batterton of Scott City before a two-set loss to Schlatter of Buhler in the 5th Place match.
In doubles, the Swathers teams took first and second place. Liechty and van Bergeijk had a first round bye before beating Emilio Alarcon and Brody Stoecklein from Scott City 6-2, 6-0. They went on to win over Reuben Harder and Jaxton Gillette from Buhler in the semis 6-3, 6-4 and won the championship over their Hesston teammates Jerick Humphreys and Ben Bartlett, 6-3, 6-2. Humphreys and Bartlett also had a first round bye before winning 6-3, 6-2 over Keaton Bally and Gabe Duncan of Circle in the quarters and picking up a 6-4, 6-1 win over Titus Bortzfield and Quinn Brown of Buhler.
The 4A State Tournament will take place at Topeka’s Kossover Tennis Center this coming Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16.
