The Platte County and Park Hill boys’ tennis teams sent a singles and doubles team to state, but neither was able to bring a state title back home.
Tommy Matthys and Kobe Smith made up the doubles team that made it to state for Park Hill and earned a medal with an eighth place finish. The Trojan duo opened up with a win over Oakville’s doubles team (6-7, 7-3, 12-10) on May 19.
Park Hill’s doubles team of Tommy Matthys and Kobe Smith pose with head coach Rustin Reys and assistant coach Tim Kalis after the duo finished in eighth place at the Class 3 State Tennis Tournament on May 20.
Matthys and Smith lost to Rockbridge’s Max Litton and Akhil Elangovan – who went on to win it all – by scores of 6-2 and 6-4 and then defeated Charith Myneni and Ryder Wardn (Parkway South) to qualify for All-State distinction on May 20.
Park Hill fell short in both of the distinction matches, coming up on the losing end of the doubles matchups with Liberty and John Burroughs. The Trojans were swept in both, losing to Liberty by 6-4 in both sets and losing by scores of 6-2 and 6-1 against John Burroughs.
Park Hill’s Ethan Slaggie was the sole Trojan singles player who competed in the Class 3 State Tournament. Slaggie fell short against the eventual Class 3 Runner-Up Trey Lambright, from Pembroke Hill, by scores of 6-0 and 6-1, and was also defeated by Raghav Bansal (Springfield Central) 6-2 in both sets.
For Platte County, sophomore Gavin Nichols made his return in singles to the Class 2 State Tournament – with no Pirate ever making it to state singles before his arrival last spring – where he lost two of his three matches. Nichols was joined by twin brothers Austin and Nathan Vanek in the doubles to give Platte County its first duo at state in 12 years.
The Vanek brothers lost in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 4-10) against Farmington’s Maddox Waller-Brenneke and Wyatt Bach to be sent to the back side of the bracket. The Pirate doubles team was eliminated with a pair of 6-2 defeats against Garrett Beckham and Jacob Decker (Branson).
Nichols started the state tournament off strong – winning 6-4 and 7-5 – against Prithvi Nagarajan (Thomas Jefferson Independent). The Pirate sophomore had a tough matchup with a pair sweep losses against Willard players: Alex Crawford in the quarterfinals and Caden Lingenfelser in the consolation quarterfinals.