Park Hill South’s sophomore Henry Jacobs helped the Panthers clinch a second-place finish in the Platte County Invitational when he won his singles bracket on March 20.
PLATTE CITY – Eight teams came to compete in the Platte County Boys’ Tennis Invitational with Park Hill South taking second place, followed by Park Hill and Platte County tying for third place on March 20.
St. Joseph’s Central walked away as the victor, earning 20 points in the tournament that started off with singles in the morning and ended with doubles in the afternoon. Liberty North, Staley, Willard and Kearney rounded out the bottom rankings.
Park Hill South ended with 20 points – one more than Park Hill and Platte County – with most of that credit due to the strong play in singles. The Panthers had five of their six reach the singles championship led by sophomore Henry Jacobs with a first-place finish amongst number ones.
Noah Patel, Jack Arnold, Noah Slaughter and Mikey Walzl all took second place. Park Hill sophomore Drew Miller beat Patel in the No. 2 championship.
Ryan Morrow was the No. 6 and the only Panther who didn’t reach the championship, being bumped to the third-place match after losing to Park Hill sophomore Cody Phan. Morrow fell to Liberty North’s David Berkland to take third place.
Miller wasn’t the only Trojan who played for first place as Phan matched up with Platte County’s Paul Havemeier there. The Pirates’ No. 6 came away on top.
Kevin Poggemiller from St. Joseph’s Central knocked off Platte County senior Gavin Nichols in the second round. The all-state Pirate bounced back with a third-place finish over Park Hill senior Tristan Houchin.
Platte County had three guys finish in third place, along with Aaron Vaughn and Daniel Bunge. In the second round, Slaughter beat Vaughn and Walzl beat Bunge.
In number three singles, Platte County junior Hayden Cook came up short against Park Hill freshman Carter Lovitt. The Trojans also had Franco Timotei and Jeremy Hernandez finish in fifth place, along with Pirates’ number two Jack Bralley.
Later in the day, Platte County and Park Hill South’s number one doubles team met up in the championship. Nichols and Cook prevailed over Arnold and Patel.
Houchin and Phan took down Bralley and Vaughn in the number two doubles championship as Jacobs and Walzl took fifth place. In the number three doubles, Park Hill South took second, Platte County took fourth and Park Hill took sixth.
Following the tournament, Park Hill and Park Hill South met in a season opening dual on March 21. The Trojans came out on top 6-3, thanks to a sweep in doubles, and brought it home with single wins by Miller, Lovitt and Phan.
Platte County has started off 2-0 in a pair of one-sided duals, taking down Willard 8-1 on March 19 and beating Blue Springs South 7-2 on March 21. The Pirates will head to Liberty on April 1.