Park Hill won its unique doubles tournament for the second straight year in a tiebreaker.
Featuring eight teams with four doubles tandems apiece, the Park Hill District Tournament rewards depth and offers duals that can end in a tie. That’s what happened with Park Hill and Lee’s Summit in the finals on Wednesday, April 13 at Barry Park in Kansas City, Mo. The Trojans took the team title on aggregate games won in the dual.
BRYCE MERENESS/Citizen photo
Park Hill’s No. 2 doubles team of Chandler To, left, and Joel Lesher react after winning a point in a dual against Pembroke Hill on Friday, April 15 at Plaza Tennis Complex in Kansas City, Mo.
Park Hill’s No. 3 team of Ryan Moise and Matt Zhang and No. 4 team of Grant Martin and Cooper Hayes both went 3-0 to take individual titles. Jake McFee and Henry Eckold were third-place finishers at No. 1 for the Trojans.
Park Hill South finished fourth behind Park Hill, Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs South.
The Panthers ended up with two medals, including Joey Badaluco and Jason Jeong taking first at No. 2 doubles. Brandon Crabtree and Davis Ehlers were third at No. 4.
Park Hill South also won a pair of duals during the week, improving to 4-2 overall. The Panthers had won four straight entering a Monday, April 18 matchup with Rockhurst, which ended up postponed to a later date due to inclement weather.
Pembroke Hill 7, Park Hill 2
The Trojans’ undefeated run to start the season ended with a loss to the state’s biggest small school powerhouse Friday, April 15 at Plaza Tennis Complex in Kansas City, Mo.
McFee won 10-5 at No. 2 singles for Park Hill against Cormac Chester, who qualified last spring for the Class 1 Missouri State Tennis Championships as part of a doubles team. Joel Lesher beat Thomas Thornton 11-9 at No. 5 for the Trojans other win.
Park Hill sat at 10-1 entering a Tuesday, April 19 rescheduled matchup with Lee’s Summit West, moved back a day due to inclement weather. The result was not available at ’s deadline.
Park Hill 9, Oak Park 0
The Trojans lost just 12 games in six singles matches Tuesday, April 12, including Chandler To’s 10-0 win at No. 2. To and Lesher were 8-0 winners at No. 1 doubles, and the Northmen won just four games in the three doubles matches.
Excelsior Springs Invitational
The coin came up tails, giving Platte County the tournament title Wednesday, April 13 in Excelsior Springs, Mo.
The Pirates finished tied with Suburban Conference Blue Division rival Winnetonka, and after other tiebreaker options were exhausted, it came down to a coin flip. This marked their first tournament championship since winning the same event in 2013.
Platte County went undefeated in pool play and put each of five entries into the finals.
Zack Regan won the No. 2 singles flight, while the No. 3 doubles team of Brayden Percival and Burt Stinnett, who recently debuted on varsity thanks to some absences, also went undefeated. Spencer Kunz (No. 1 singles), Andy Day/Josh Timmons (No. 1 doubles) and Noah Singer/Spencer Klopfer (No. 2 doubles) were all runners-up.
In the championship match, Day and Timmons battled back from down 1-6 to force a tiebreaker, which they lost.
A day earlier, Platte County improved to 3-1 in Blue Division play with a 9-0 sweep of Belton. The Pirates’ next dual is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20 vs. Staley before continuing league play Thursday, April 21 against Belton at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Mo.
Independence Invitational
Platte County followed up its Excelsior Springs championship with a runner-up showing Saturday, April 16 in Independence, Mo.
Timmons and Klopfer highlighted the effort with a championship in B Doubles, while Regan and Kunz were runner-up in A doubles. The lineup looked much different than three days earlier with Day and Singer playing in singles.
The Pirates were tied for second with Blue Springs, finishing behind Raymore-Peculiar.