Ark Valley News - Senior eighth at state tennis tournament

Ray Strunk comes to the net and returns a volley in the third round at state.

Senior eighth at state tennis tournament
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: May 21, 2015

Valley Center High School senior Ray Strunk placed eighth at the Class 5A state tennis tournament May 15 through 17 in Goddard.

Fellow seniors Triston Herbst and Nathan Jones missed the medal matches of the doubles draw.

Together, however, the Hornets had enough team points to tie for seventh place out of 24 teams competing.

Coach Dean Schulz called it "a good tournament for Valley Center tennis."

Strunk's finish was the highest by a boys singles player since 2009, when David Alley was seventh. He also became Valley's third top-10 finisher at state since 1988.

"It's great to be a state medalist," Strunk said. "Just to be among all those players that I have looked up to … to finish with players who have been there all four years, consistently the top players in the state. To be among them was awesome."

In the first round, Strunk had little trouble knocking off St. James Academy freshman Isaac Howes in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.

The win set up a battle with a familiar opponent — junior Logan Benham of Pittsburg, whom Strunk defeated in a third-set tiebreaker in the first round of the 5A state tournament last year in Topeka.

Benham had a first-round bye this year after finishing second in his regional tournament draw in Ark City the week before.

Strunk ran out to a quick 6-3 win in the first set before locking himself into a struggle with Benham.

Benham led most of the second set and had multiple set points.

"I just thought to myself, ‘This is what I've been working for these past couple of years and this is the situation that I need to perform. If I'm given this opportunity, I can't let down now when I'm so close,'" Strunk said.

He pushed it to a tiebreak, which he thought would go on forever

Strunk led 5-4 in the tiebreaker, but Benham scored two points for a 6-5 lead and a chance to clinch the second set.

Strunk dug deep and stayed even through 8-8 before Benham again inched ahead at 9-8.

Strunk then ran off three straight tiebreak points to win the match, 6-3, 7-6 (9).

The victory put him into the championship quarterfinals and guaranteed him at least 12th place, his first state medal in two tries. Strunk celebrated with assistant coach Matt Klusener.

Strunk had a hard time getting psyched for his third-round opponent, Salina Central's Zachary Hampton.

"Emotionally, I was drained because I put everything I had into the match before," Strunk said. "It was hard to even get motivated."

Emotional fatigue may have been a factor, as Hampton eased to a 6-3, 6-0 win. Despite the loss, Strunk thought he played as well against Hampton as he had against Benham. Hampton proved a much better player, as he finished second and Benham ninth.

In the consolation bracket, Strunk had no problem winning 9-1 over Hayden Smith of Blue Valley West to enter the semifinals and a chance to reach the fifth-place match.

Strunk's semifinal match against Ian Farris of Goddard Eisenhower started on May 16 and ended on May 17. In between were nearly 24 hours of rain delays.

Before the rain and lightning started on May 16, Farris had jumped out to a 5-1 lead, and Strunk trailed love-40 in the seventh game.

Play resumed about 8:30 a.m. the next day, and Strunk quickly found himself behind 6-1 in the nine-game pro set.

Strunk won five of the next seven games to pull to within a game of Farris.

Farris served to lead 8-6, and Strunk answered on serve to get to within one again, 8-7.

Farris prevailed, however, using a strong forehand to hold off Strunk's attempts at a comeback.

"I was kind of expecting the rain delay and I let it get out of hand pretty quickly," Strunk said. "I wasn't playing inspired, worried too much about things other than the match. The weather; I was too focused on that.

"With him (Farris) having a 6-1 lead, he didn't have to do as much to put it away," Strunk added. "I felt pretty happy I was able to make it as close as I did after getting down so big. I just wasn't quite able to put it away."

Strunk fell into the seventh-place match, where he went up against an old nemesis, Stephen Le of Andover. Strunk beat Le the first two times they played this year. However, Le won at league and captured the seventh-place medal at state with a 9-5 victory

"At the end of the day, I felt like I had performed beyond what I thought I would do," Strunk said.

In doubles, Herbst and Jones opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Jackson Stevens and Rob Warner from Blue Valley Southwest. In the second round, they lost 6-1, 6-1 to Salina Central's Zach Hilbig and J.D. McHenry.

In the consolation bracket, Herbst and Jones eased by Andrew Englander and Josh Spradlin of St. James 9-1. Their season ended with a tiebreak loss to the other St. James duo, Caleb Book and Ben Robke, 9-8 (4).

"They were disappointed, but after recovering from the loss they agreed they had a great tournament," Schulz said of Herbst and Jones.

Blue Valley West won the team championship with 51 points. Two-time defending state champion Salina Central was second with 47 points. Finishing third with 35 points was Newton.