Doubles teams from Park Hill and Platte County boys tennis earned medals at the MSHSAA State Championship last weekend at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
After a seventh-place medal last year, the Class 3 tandem of Andrew Miller and Carter Lovitt from Park Hill returned to Springfield for a second straight year to earn third.
Miller and Lovitt cruised through their opening matchup, defeating Blue Springs South’s Alex Hunt and Will Griffel 6-0, 6-1. The Trojan duo had to work a little more in their quarterfinal matchup against Lucas Riffe and Gavin Collyot from Republic, but still swept them with a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
On Saturday, they fell in the semifinals to Evan Tang and Jerry Chang of John Burroughs by scores of 6-4, 7-6 (4). Park Hill trailed 4-1 in the opening set, but made John Burroughs work to earn the first-set victory before a second-set tiebreak defeat ended their state title hopes.
Park Hill sophomore Carter Lovitt against Liberty on May 8.
In the third-place match, Miller and Lovitt had the edge over John Burroughs’ other doubles tandem of Jasper Schmidt and Avi Patel. The Trojan duo went behind 5-2 early, but won five consecutive games to win the opening set 7-5. They clinched the third-place medal with a 7-6 triumph via tiebreak in set two, taking the tiebreaker 8-6.
In Class 2, Platte County’s doubles tandem of Jack Bralley and Hayden Cook earned a sixth-place medal. They won their opening match 7-6 (0), 6-1 against Calvin Werner and Oliver Staab from Warrensburg, but lost their quarterfinal to Jai Patel and Arjun Puri from MICDS 6-0, 6-3.
To conclude Thursday, Bralley and Cook won their consolation quarterfinals, taking out Ian Malinofsky and Ethan Schott from North Point 6-2, 7-6 (6). On Friday, they defeated Aydin Pasic and Anes Ramic from Mehlville 7-5, 6-4, but settled for a sixth-place medal after a consolation championship 6-0, 6-3 defeat to Noah Suthar and Alan Walker from Westminster Christian Academy.
Platte County senior Hayden Cook against Branson on May 13.
In Class 2 singles, Platte County’s Paul Havemeier got off to a promising start with a three-set victory against Beny Schwende from Ft Zumwalt South 6-3, 4-6, 10-6. The rest of Havemeier’s day was not what he was hoping for, losing to John Varley from Priory in the quarterfinals 6-0, 6-0 and suffering a devastating three-set defeat to Jack Goodhue in the consolation quarterfinal 2-6, 6-2, 11-9.
Park Hill South junior Henry Jacobs also made the trip to Springfield for Class 3 singles. He got a brutal draw, suffering a first-round defeat to eventual state champion Shaan Patel from John Burroughs 6-1, 6-0. Jacobs bounced back to defeat Andrew Davis from Nixa 6-1, 6-0, but was eliminated from medal contention after a 6-3, 6-2 defeat against Joseph Coder from Kickapoo.