The Hays High School boys tennis team has started its season, playing its first two matches back-to-back on March 31 in Phillipsburg and April 1 in McPherson.
At the Phillipsburg meet, the gold team placed fourth overall. In No. 1 Singles, senior Ethan Dague ended in fourth place, and in No. 2 Singles, junior Levi Crisenbery finished in fourth place. In No. 1 Doubles, senior Peter Hyatt and senior Trenton Staley ended in fourth place, and in No. 2 Doubles, senior LeRoy Goodspeed and senior John Weisenborn finished in fourth place.
At the Phillipsburg meet, the Maroon Team placed third overall. In No. 1 Singles, junior Tyler Huynh ended in third place, and in No. 2 Singles, sophomore Brody Burns finished in third place. In No. 1 Doubles, sophomore Camden Luck and sophomore Cyler Luck ended in third place, and in No. 2 Doubles, sophomore Daniel Adkins and sophomore Brody Baczkowski finished in third place.
“McPherson is generally a more challenging meet with quality players,” coach Kayla Brown said. “Everyone played well, but the wind and it being the first meet for this group certainly gave us an idea of things to continue to improve on.”
For the McPherson meet, the Gold Team placed fifth overall. In singles, senior Kale Schwien ended in fourth place and also in singles, senior Ken Shaffer finished in sixth place. In doubles, senior Preston Parr and senior Mason Schleicher ended in 10th place, and also in doubles, senior Christian Miller and senior Madox Zimmerman finished in 15th place.
“Overall, the team did okay,” Zimmerman said. “We went in expecting better and came out knowing we needed to work more. Towards the end of the meet, we began to find where we needed to be at for the rest of the season.”
In addition to just playing tennis, for the players going to McPherson, they were delayed in Salina on the way back home, as there were tornadoes near Salina.
“It was a cool experience,” senior Kenny Fisher said. “None of us had ever seen a tornado that large up close. It’ll be a great story to tell in the future.”
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