LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — Joplin and Carthage were among the boys tennis teams competing at the individual district tournament on Saturday.
Competing in Class 3 District 6 at Lee’s Summit North High School, none of the Eagles or Tigers were able to advance to the state tournament. The top two singles players and the top two doubles teams advanced.
Joplin’s doubles team of Adam Badr and Josiah Hazlewood fell one win short of advancing to the bracket’s title match.
After a first-round bye, Badr-Hazlewood defeated Carthage’s Will Wallace-Fabian Solano 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Rockhurst’s Luke Johnson and Nathan Dierks defeated the Joplin duo 6-1, 6-2.
Both Rockhurst teams were in the title match, with Caleb Bridges-Henry Stevens beating Johnson-Dierks 6-2, 6-2.
Also competing in doubles were Joplin’s duo of Hunter Merkley and Michael Mancipe and Carthage’s tandem of Silas Laytham and Danilo Lopez. Both teams went 0-1.
Carthage’s Wallace-Solano defeated Lee’s Summit West’s Nathan Fredlund-Dane Hooks 6-2, 6-3 before falling to the Eagles.
The top two singles players were Lee’s Summit West’s Arnav Gannavaram and Lee’s Summit North’s Maxon Chen.
In the title match, Gannavaram beat Chen 6-0, 6-2. Again, both players advanced to the individual state tournament.
Playing singles for Joplin were Leif Garrity and Oscar Kienzle, while Charlie Snow and Joshua Rivera competed for Carthage.
Snow defeated Kienzle 6-0, 6-0 before falling to eventual champ Gannavaram 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Garrity and Rivera went 0-1.
TEAM TOURNAMENT
The district team tournament begins at 4 p.m. on Monday.
In quarterfinal matchups, fifth-seeded Carthage is at fourth-seeded Lee’s Summit North and seventh-seeded Joplin is at second-seeded Lee’s Summit.
The other opening-round match features No. 3 Lee’s Summit West against sixth-seeded Raymore-Peculiar.
Top-seeded Rockhurst has a first-round bye and awaits the Lee’s Summit North-Carthage winner in Tuesday’s semifinals.
