Ark Valley News - Hornet tennis team second at Andover

Hornet tennis team second at Andover
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: April 12, 2018

It was a good showing for the Valley Center High School tennis team April 5 at Andover. The Hornets finished second in the eight-team event. Individually, they were second and third in singles, with both doubles teams placing third.

Winning the event was Andover Blue with 26 points, followed by Valley Center with 21, Eisenhower 19, Hesston 15, Andover Central 13, Andover White 11, Wichita Independent 8 and Wellington 3.

Hayden Brauer placed second in No. 1 singles. He defeated Hunter Bryant (WEL) 8-0 and Logan Gamble (HES) 8-1 before losing to Jayden Richardson (ANDB) 8-6.

"Hayden got down one game break early and could not recover as both held serve to close out the championship match," coach Dean Schulz said. "We will continue to work on the mental game against Richardson."

At No. 2 singles, Scott McCune finished third. He defeated Ethan Moran (HES) 8-0, lost 8-7(6) to Will Vetter (ANDB) and beat Palmer Farrow (IND) 8-2.

"Scott lost a close match in the semis to the player from Andover who won the No. 2 singles flight, also in a tiebreak," Schulz said.

Valley's No. 1 doubles team of Ian Clifton and Garrett Rogers beat K. Adams/J. Adams (WEL) 8-0, lost 8-5 to Morales/Carlson (HES) and beat Shanks/Blizzard (ANDB) 8-2 for third.

"Ian and Garrett were not playing their best and dropped a match against a good Hesston team but bounced back to win the third-place match easily," Schulz said.

At No. 2 doubles, Colby Swift and Brandon McClure defeated Redfern/Warrington (ANDC) 8-1, lost 8-3 to Watson/Abel (EIS) and beat Brimager/Armbrister (ANDW) 8-6 for third place.

"We switched up the No. 2s for this match and were somewhat successful, as Colby and Brandon went 2-1 to finish third also," Schulz said. "Their only loss was to the champions of the No. 2 doubles bracket."

The varsity played April 11 against Campus at Riverside Tennis. It will play April 12 at Circle and April 17 at Buhler.

JV beats Maize — Valley won 10 out of 18 matches in an April 5 home dual with Maize.

"This was a big improvement from our first dual with Maize back on March 15 in which we lost," Klusener said.

The Hornets won seven out of 12 singles matches, including the top four. Valley winners were Jeremiah Gamble 6-2 over Tyler Erickson, Jared Robertson 6-5(3) over Nathan Putter, Gavin McGee 6-3 over Phong Nguyen, Dominic Santiago 6-1 over Jack Dugan, Jake Carroll 6-2 over Spencer Headding, Austin Miller 6-4 over Blake Wade and Ryan Phillips 6-1 over Jordan Cannon.

Valley's Aydin Lewis lost 6-4 to Peter Montgomery, Trevor Reed lost 6-0 to Mike Miller, Sheridan Peterson lost 6-3 to Ethan Hallowell, Phillips lost 6-2 to Aden Sheldon and Jesse Spencer lost 6-3 to Trevor Satterfield.

In doubles, Valley Center split six matches, winning the top three. Gamble and Robertson defeated Erickson/Hallowell 6-0, Lewis and McGee rallied from down 0-5 to edge Headding/Sheldon 6-5(4) and Santiago and Reed downed Dugan/Montgomery 6-2.

Other doubles matches found Valley's Peterson and Carroll losing 6-3 to Putter/Phong, Miller and Spencer lost 6-0 to Miller/Wade and Spencer/Miller lost 6-2 to Cannon/Satterfield.