KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Top-seeded Barstow defeated second-seeded Thomas Jefferson 5-0 in the championship match of the Class 2 District 7 boys tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Barstow, last year’s Class 1 champion who bumped up to Class 2 this season, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the state team tournament.
Thomas Jefferson, last year’s Class 2 runner-up, ends the team season with a record of 13-2.
The Knights (11-2-2) won the three doubles matches and ended the match with two wins in singles.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Thomas Jefferson coach Tom Brumfield said. “They came out in the match and competed tough. The first part of each doubles match went back and forth. The back part of the set Barstow took more control of. We knew we had to have at least one of the doubles matches. They have a great pair at No. 1 and No. 2 that took control in singles. Our No. 3 and No. 4 were both in a tight set that could have gone either way when we stopped. We had a great season and lost to a very good team from Barstow.”
At No. 1 doubles, Barstow’s Richard King and Sankeerth Gandhari defeated TJ’s Prithvi Nagarajan and Chengle Qian 8-3.
Robert King and George Colombo beat Thomas Jefferson’s Ian Ding and Hari Nagarajan 8-3 at No. 2 doubles, while Liam Groden and Aaram Salam defeated TJ’s Tyler Brouhard and Devan Murali 8-5.
“The No. 3 doubles match ended up being the difference of one break in serve,” Brumfield said.
In completed singles matches, Richard King defeated Ding 6-1, 6-1, and Robert King beat Prithvi Nagarajan 6-0, 6-1.
The Cavaliers will have two entries at next week’s individual state tournament, as Ding-Brouhard advanced in doubles and Prithvi Nagarajan qualified in singles.
