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Park Hill boys dominate tennis tournament
By BOB LUDERThe Kansas City Star
Not all was settled, but one thing was certain at the Missouri Class 2 District 8 boys tennis tournament Thursday — Park Hill was the best.
The Trojans placed two players each in the singles and doubles semifinals, had a singles player finish as runner-up, one place third and doubles teams place third and fourth. They ran away with the team race at Oak Park, winning with a score of 31.5.
The rest of the team table is cloudier at this point.
North Kansas City’s doubles team of Corey Johnson and Alec Russell advanced to the final against Oak Park’s Quinton Osborne and Preston Coughlin. Only, Johnson and Russell needed to rush back to school Thursday afternoon to take an important exam.
Northtown and Oak Park already had a dual scheduled for today — actually, the completion of a previously rained-out match — back at Oak Park. So, it was agreed that before the resumption of the dual, the Northtown and Oak Park teams will play their district final match.
“That one match will determine a lot,” said North Kansas City coach Daniel Berkland. “It’ll determine first and second at districts. It’ll determine which team gets second and third as a team. And if we beat Oak Park in our dual match, we’ll win the conference title undefeated. If we lose, it’d be a tie among us, Oak Park and Blue Springs South.”
St. Joseph Central overtook Liberty late and captured the fourth and final team spot that advances to next week’s team sectionals. Central moved to fourth after senior Andrew Ellis defeated Park Hill sophomore Sam Barth in the singles final 6-3, 7-5.
It was a full day for Barth, who was stretched to three sets in both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
It appeared he had little left against Ellis, who was stretched himself to three sets in the semis by Barth’s teammate, Brian Hellix.
“I wouldn’t have done as good as I did if I wasn’t playing my best,” Barth said. “I beat some good people. There weren’t any easy matches.”
Both of Park Hill’s doubles teams lost tight, three-setters in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Scott Florence and Paul Jensen defeated Luke Pauley and Mike Merchant, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, handing Florence and Jensen an alternate spot for the state doubles field.
Hellix also won his third-place singles match.