What to watch at Missouri boys tennis championships
Missouri Class 1 and 2 tennis tournaments will be held Thursday to Saturday at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
The team races
The Rockhurst Hawklets have been a fixture at the state tennis tournament over the past two decades, accounting for 15 titles since 1996.
Yet their Missouri Class 2 semifinal matchup Thursday offers an opportunity for payback. The unbeaten Hawklets (12-0) will face Rock Bridge (17-1) at 9 a.m., a year after Rock Bridge upended them in the state final. The winner will play for the state championship later in the afternoon.
In Missouri Class 1, Pembroke Hill has cruised through the postseason without dropping a match. The Raiders (12-1) will face Springfield Catholic (18-1) at 9 a.m. Thursday. Pembroke Hill finished runner-up last season.
A Carson-Carson rematch
Staley’s Carson Gates is back in the Class 2 singles tournament after losing to fellow sophomore Carson Haskins (Parkway South) in last year’s championship match. It was his only loss of the season, which he finished 30-1.
Gates, now a junior, will work his way up from the bottom of the bracket in hopes of a rematch with top-ranked Haskins, who’s won two straight Class 2 singles titles. Gates’ first match is against Evan Sacks (Wentzville-Liberty) on Friday.
Ethan Henry (Lee’s Summit), Blaise Fagan (Kirkwood), Kamran Farid (Rock Bridge), Zach Grueber (Rock Bridge) and Donovan Walsh (Rockhurst) will join Gates in the Class 2 tournament.
Arkansas signee Josh Bortnick (Pembroke Hill) and junior Bradley Frye, who returned to Barstow after spending his sophomore season playing tournaments, will play in the Class 1 singles tournament. Frye lost to teammate Fletcher Scott in the 2015 championship.
Rockhurst repeat?
Rockhurst junior Collin Klumb was the only Kansas City-area player to capture a Missouri title last year. He won the Class 2 doubles championship with senior Justin Nogalski, beating Kenji Yanaba and Dillon Youngberg of Parkway West 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Klumb returned to the courts with a new partner in Henry Goeke. The pair will face Republic’s Case Birlew and Hunter Creek in the opening round.
Looking to end Rockhurst’s reign in Class 2 are teams from Rock Bridge (Kavin Anand and Luke Bouchard) and Park Hill (Chandler To and Cooper Hayes), which play in the first round of the same bracket.
In a lower bracket, Jacob Mcfee and Grant Martin of Park Hill will play Rock Bridge’s Brian Baker and Jake Frauerfelder.
Rockhurst’s team of Owen Dixon and Graham Colombo also earned a spot in the Class 2 doubles tournament.
Seth Forstner and Lane Rogers of Excelsior Springs qualified for the Class 1 tournament. Pembroke Hill will have two doubles teams playing — Nathan Turtledove and Garrett Kincaid; and Thomas Thornton and Matthew Gernon.
This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 5:44 PM with the headline "What to watch at Missouri boys tennis championships."