The Thomas Jefferson boys tennis team is sending a doubles team and a singles player to the Class 2 individual state tournament.
The Cavaliers punched their tickets to state by finishing second in their respective brackets at the Class 2 District 7 tournament at Belton High School.
“I’m proud of the guys today,” Thomas Jefferson coach Tom Brumfield said. “We had tough matches with Barstow as expected. We feel good about moving a doubles team and a singles player on to state.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Ian Ding and Tyler Brouhard took second in the doubles bracket and advanced to state.
After an opening round bye, Ding-Brouhard defeated Webb City’s Tristan Lynch-Felipe Perez 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinals, Ding and Brouhard beat Barstow’s George Colombo-Aaram Salam 6-1, 6-3.
In the title match, Barstow’s Richard King-Robert King defeated Ding and Brouhard 6-0, 6-1.
Thomas Jefferson’s Lala Qian and Devan Murali finished fourth in the doubles bracket.
Qian-Murali beat Grandview’s Kenneth Reyes-George Scott 6-0, 6-0, defeated Webb City’s Jacob McDonald-Christian Alberts 6-2, 6-1 and then lost to Barstow’s King-King 6-0, 6-0.
In the third-place match, Barstow’s Colombo-Salam topped Qian-Murali 6-3, 6-4.
In other doubles action, Webb City’s McDonald-Alberts defeated Carl Junction’s Cameron Ball-Jayden Wolf 6-1, 6-1, while Webb City’s Lynch-Perez beat CJ’s Ben Morey-William Russel 6-1, 6-4.
In singles action, Thomas Jefferson’s Prithvi Nagarajan was the runner-up, earning a spot at the state tourney.
Nagarajan beat Belton’s Jacob Dolphin 6-1, 6-0 and defeated Barstow’s Liam Groden in the semifinals (score unavailable).
In the championship match, Barstow’s Sankeerth Gandhari defeated Nagarajan 6-0, 6-1.
In other singles action, Thomas Jefferson’s Hari Nagarajan defeated Belton’s Van Driel Van Driel 6-2, 6-3 and then lost to eventual champ Gandhari 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals.
Webb City’s Aiden Peterson and Lucas Lowery suffered opening-round losses.
Carl Junction’s Dan Hodson defeated Lowery but then lost to Gandhari in the quarterfinals. Carl Junction’s Blaine Wilkerson defeated Grandview’s De’Qevion Pointer 6-0, 6-0 in the first round before falling to Barstow’s Groden in the quarterfinals.
TEAM DISTRICTS NEXT
The Class 2 District 7 team tournament begins on Monday.
Second-seeded Thomas Jefferson takes on seventh-seeded Grandview, fourth-seeded Webb City meets fifth-seeded Carl Junction and third-seeded Belton plays sixth-seeded Ruskin.
Barstow is the No. 1 seed and has a first-round bye.
After winning the Class 1 state title last season, Barstow was bumped up to Class 2 this year due to MSHSAA’s championship factor. Thomas Jefferson finished second at last year’s Class 2 state team tournament.
