Trojan tennis takes third
The Hillsboro High School boys' tennis team began its season Thursday with a third place finish at the Conway Springs varsity quad.
The Trojans racked up nine points, six points ahead of fourth place Circle. Conway Springs (30) and McPherson (20), were first and second respectively.
Hillsboro picked up one victory in the number one singles, number one doubles, and number two doubles en route to earning its nine points.
"Our guys made some nice plays, but we also had a number of unforced errors," head coach Stu Holmes said.
Number one singles player Clay Shewey was 1-2 with an 8-2 victory against Circle's Will Peterson. He fell to McPherson's Ethan Waggoner 8-6, and Conway Springs' Mitch Kibbe, 8-3.
Ben Hayen and Taylor Hagen teamed up for a victory in the number one doubles play, defeating Ryan Coffman and Tyler Schiesser of Circle, 8-1. They lost to Austin Russell and Parker Miller of McPherson, 8-3, and were shutout by Conway Springs' Kody Koester and Andrew Devlin.
Nolan Dirks, Hillsboro's number two singles, did not earn a victory, losing to Josh Lukes of McPherson, Stratton Lange of Conway Springs, and Kevin Smith of Circle.
The final points for the Trojans came from the number two doubles team of Mathew Brown and Mark Prieb.
After losing to Tyler Singleton and Corey Horton of McPherson, 8-2, and Mat Pauly and Michael Devlin of Conway Springs, 8-4, they earned an 8-4 victory against Kyle Brady and Kyle Wilson of Circle.
Holmes was glad to see the tough competition at the tournament.
"We'll be able to compete much better against some of the top area teams once the guys develop their game more, and get more consistent," Holmes said. "We'll continue to work and stress consistency like we have been in practice."
