Park Hill freshman Carter Lovitt was one of the four Trojans who won their singles match to pull off the 5-4 district championship win over Liberty on May 8.
LIBERTY – Losing only one match in the regular season, Park Hill (16-1-1) was able to avenge that defeat in a larger setting by taking down Liberty (17-6) in the Class 3 District 8 Boys’ Tennis Championship on May 8.
Sitting at 11-0-1 in the final stretch of the regular season, Park Hill lost 6-3 to Liberty on April 22. With only two more matches prior to districts, the Trojans toppled teams left and right until rematching with the Blue Jays with a district title on the line.
The district championship had a dramatic finish with Park Hill winning 5-4 to claim its fifth district title since 2015. Liberty went up early winning two of the three doubles matches as Park Hill juniors Will Poole and Gianfranco Timotei won theirs 6-4.
In singles play, it went down to the wire with the championship being decided by the No. 6 match. Sophomore Cody Phan brought the crown home for the Trojans with a 7-6, 6-3 victory.
Tristan Houchin and Drew Miller came up short in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for Park Hill. Freshman Carter Lovitt, Timotei and Poole also earned victories in singles play.
On the road to the second district title in the last three years, Park Hill beat Oak Park (4-7) 5-0 on May 7 and Park Hill South (13-3-2) 5-1 on May 7. The Panthers’ only win came in doubles play when Henry Jacobs and Michael Walzl took down Houchin and Phan 8-5.
Park Hill South ended the season with a 0-2-1 record against Park Hill and a 13-1-1 record against everyone else. The Panthers won 10 in a row – including a 5-1 win over Staley (8-14) to kick off the postseason – before losing to the Trojans.
Park Hill moved on to the Class 3 State Sectionals and were set to hosted Pembroke Hill (11-2) on May 13 until a weather postponement occurred. The match was pushed to May 14.