By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not everything went Washburn Rural's way in Thursday's city boys tennis tournament, but advancing to the finals in all four divisions was enough to give the Junior Blues a second straight city team championship at Kossover Tennis Center.
Washburn Rural dropped tight decisions in both the No. 1 singles and doubles championship matches, but the Junior Blues swept both No. 2 titles on the way to a 32-23 margin over runnerup Seaman while Topeka High was a point behind the Vikings in third place.
Greyson Jones won the city championship in No. 2 singles, helping Washburn Rural win its second straight city team title Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ben Tryhus and Kieffer O'Connor won a city title in No. 2 doubles for team champion Washburn Rural Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural got a title from Greyson Jones in No. 2 singles and from Ben Tryhus and Kieffer O'Connor in No. 2 doubles while while Keegan Knudtson was the No. 1 singles runnerup and Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham finished second in No. 1 doubles.
"We're a young team, we're still piecing together who's fitting with who and what arrangements work best for the team as opposed to the individual and we've come a long way since the first practice,'' said Michelle Rose, who is in her first season as Rural's coach.
"They're excited, I'm excited for them. I think we've got great opportunities ahead of us and it's going to be fun. We have incredible talent in boys tennis in Topeka.''
Individually, Thursday was a big day for Topeka High junior Tres Lassiter in singles and the Cair Paravel doubles team of juniors Eric Buchenau and Drew Fay.
Topeka High junior Tres Lassiter won the city title in No. 1 singles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Lassiter, in his first season of high school tennis, won the city championship in No. 1 singles with a 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker), 6-4 win over Washburn Rural's Knudtson.
"This was one of my goals to win city,'' Lassiter said. "This was a big goal. I'm enjoying my high school season. I have a winning record right now and that's all I wanted this season, was just to have a winning record.
"Every day when I'm at practice my coach (Duane Pomeroy) and my teammates are getting me better and that gives me confidence for these up and coming meets that I'm about to do.''
Cair Paravel's Drew Fay (left) and Eric Buchenau won the city championship in No. 1 doubles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Cair Paravel's Fay and Buchenau, a foreign exchange student from Germany, captured the No. 1 doubles title with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Deutscher and Willingham.
Fay had finished second in the city meet and fourth in Class 3A-1A in singles as a sophomore before making the decision to switch to doubles this spring.
"I want to play college tennis and you need to be able to play doubles to play college tennis,'' Fay said. "I wanted to get that experience and I also thought it would be fun and it's been a lot of fun.''
Fay and Buchenau are now 20-1 on the season after Thursday's hard-fought win over Deutscher and Willingham.
"We just wanted to stay level, play hard and whatever happened would happen,'' Fay said. "We didn't want to go out there and play scared and if we didn't play scared we would have been happy with the result. This was our best match of the year, so it gives us a lot of confidence.''
Seaman finished second as a team on the strength of three top-three finishes.
Ethan Winter placed third in No. 1 singles while Camden Dutton was the runnerup in No. 2 singles and the Vikings also finished second in No. 2 doubles.
CITY BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Kossover Tennis Center
Team scores
Washburn Rural 32, Seaman 23, Topeka High 22, Hayden 19, Cair Paravel Latin 17, Shawnee Heights 14, Topeka West 14, Highland Park 5.
Individual results
No. 1 Singles
Championship -- Tres Lassiter, Topeka High, def. Keegan Knudtson, Washburn Rural, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
Third -- Ethan Winter, Seaman, def. Cole Fay, Cair Paravel, 6-4, 6-3.
Fifth -- Brock Corley, Shawnee Heights, def. Mark Cianciarulo, Topeka West, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 2 Singles
Championship -- Greyson Jones, Washburn Rural, def. Camden Dutton, Seaman, 6-2, 3-6, 10-2.
Third -- William Luke, Hayden, def. Tyler Durbin, Shawnee Heights, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 10-4.
Fifth -- Victor Arriaga, Topeka High, def. Alan Tessmer, Highland Park, 4-6, 6-4, 12-10.
No. 1 Doubles
Championship -- D. Fay/Buchenau, Cair Paravel, def. Deutscher/Willingham, Washburn Rural, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
Third -- Blaser/George, Hayden, def. Raymond/Sink, Topeka High, 6-0, 6-1.
Fifth -- Ramcharan/McGee, Topeka West, def. Stewart/Schneider, Seaman, 6-1, 6-7 (8-10), 11-9.
No. 2 Doubles
Championship -- Tryhus/O'Connor, Washburn Rural, def. Budge/Budge, Seaman, 6-3, 6-3.
Third -- Luke/Reynoldson, Hayden, def. Bowers/Rice, Topeka West, 7-5, 6-4.
Fifth -- Kandagaye/Johnson, Topeka High, def. Wylie/Dittman, Shawnee Heights, 6-3, 6-1.
