CLASS 6A 

At Riverside Tennis Complex, Wichita 

BLUE VALLEY WEST PUTS TITLE CHASE ON FULL DISPLAY IN FIRST DAY OF 6A STATE

WICHITA — If there were any doubts about Blue Valley West’s pursuit of a fourth straight Class 6A boys tennis championship, the Jaguars spent Friday erasing them one match at a time. 

By the end of the opening day at Riverside Tennis Complex, Blue Valley West had positioned itself exactly where it wanted to be — with all four entries still alive and guaranteed finalists in both singles and doubles. 

The Jaguars couldn’t have scripted a much better start to the state tournament. 

Blue Valley West placed both of its singles players in Saturday’s semifinals, highlighted by a dominant performance from senior Jonah Stolte. The No. 2 seed rolled past Olathe South’s No. 7 Nolan Fosha, 6-0, 6-1, to advance. 

Stolte, a two-time state runner-up, moved one step closer to the elusive singles championship that has narrowly escaped him during his decorated career. 

On the other side of the bracket, teammate and No. 3 seed Aarya Anjankar survived one of the day’s tougher tests, rallying for a three-set victory over Blue Valley Northwest’s Luca Ospino, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. 

That result set up an all-Blue Valley West semifinal Saturday morning, guaranteeing the Jaguars a singles finalist. 

The dominance didn’t stop there. 

In doubles, the Jaguars flexed their depth as both teams marched into the semifinals. No. 1 seed Ishaan Musti and Ganesh Skrikanth, both juniors, controlled their quarterfinal from start to finish, defeating Maize’s No. 8-seeded duo of Alex Benage and Devin Francis, 6-1, 6-3. 

Blue Valley West’s other tandem of Hayden Gansen and Marcus Sha, the No. 4 seed, looked equally sharp in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Washburn Rural’s No. 5-seeded pair of Dylan Willingham and Cale Duetscher. 

Like singles, the Jaguars will square off against one another in Saturday’s semifinals, assuring Blue Valley West another berth in a state championship match and adding valuable team points toward its title defense. 

On the opposite side of the singles bracket, Free State asserted itself as a major contender behind the state’s top-ranked player. 

No. 1 seed Micah Ward, the lone undefeated singles player in Kansas, continued his dominant postseason run with a commanding 6-0, 6-1 victory over Shawnee Mission East’s Christopher Long. 

Ward will face a familiar opponent in Saturday’s semifinals — teammate Ishaan Rao. 

The No. 4 seed battled through a tough quarterfinal against Manhattan’s No. 5 Jay Hoke, bouncing back after dropping the second set to earn a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory and give Free State two semifinalists. 

Blue Valley Northwest also stayed alive in doubles as No. 3 seed Srinivasa Vel and Anay Oberoi rallied after dropping the opening set to defeat Shawnee Mission South’s Ryder Heaven and Carson Mower, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. 

They will meet Shawnee Mission East’s Aidan Lashley and Teddy Long in Saturday’s semifinals after the No. 2-seeded Lancers duo survived a marathon quarterfinal battle, outlasting Olathe Northwest’s Aidan Messerly and Bryan Branstrom, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. 

Class 6A state tennis action resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday at Riverside Tennis Complex. 

CLASS 5A 

At Andover District Tennis Complex

MAIZE SOUTH SETS TONE WITH STRONG START

Maize South turned in a stellar first day at the Class 5A state tournament, sending defending singles champion Evan Goates and a doubles team into the semifinals while keeping all four entries alive.

Goates (33-2) kept his title defense alive with a 6-0, 6-0 win over teammate Landon Cook in the quarterfinals. He will meet Andover freshman Harsha Maradana in the semifinals. Maradana earned a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Blue Valley Southwest’s Nidhish Padmanaban in the quarterfinals.

Maize South’s Jacob Kurniadi and Tucker Lowe advanced after outlasting No. 2-seeded Johnny Vogel and Baird Greenamyre from Piper, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

The Mavericks also have Cook and the doubles team of Preston Heard and Jack Pringle still competing on the backside of the bracket as Maize South looks for its second state title after capturing its first in 2022.

Bishop Carroll’s top-seeded players cruised into the singles and doubles semifinals with dominant performances.

Carroll’s No. 1 singles seed Brandon Steven will face Andover Central’s Henry Walker in the semifinals after a pair of 6-0, 6-0 wins. Walker defeated Spring Hill’s Breckin Martin, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

Steven topped defending state champion Evan Goates from Maize South in the regional final last week. Steven and Goates are 2-2 against each other this season, with a possible rubber match looming if both win their respective semifinals.

In doubles, Carroll’s Gabe Weber and Braeden Dugan kept their bid for a perfect season alive, moving to 29-0 after beating Kapaun’s Johnny Korfhage and Andrew Korfhage, 6-0, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.

Weber and Dugan will face Saket Jagannath and Vidhu Reddy in the semifinals after the Blue Valley Southwest duo pulled out a three-set quarterfinal win over Aquinas’ Will Felski and Will Nash, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Blue Valley Southwest’s other doubles team, freshmen Hamza Khan and Sabinth Kathiresan, also punched its ticket to the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over Valley Center’s Braxton Nicholson and Gabriel Shaffer. Khan and Kathiresan will face Kurniadi and Lowe.

Blue Valley Southwest has three entries left in the tournament, with Padmanaban on the backside of the bracket in singles.



CLASS 4A 

At Kossover Tennis Center, Topeka 


BUHLER DUO HARDER, GILLETTE PULL OFF LONE UPSET IN CLASS 4A
 
Not everything went according to chalk on the opening day of the Class 4A state tournament at Kossover Tennis Center, but it was pretty close.
 
The only spoilers on the day were Buhler’s doubles team of Reuben Harder and Jaxton Gillette, who came into the tournament as the No. 6 seed, but advanced to Saturday’s state semifinals with a 6-2, 6-2 upset of No. 3 seeded Kevin Mah and Heston Smith of Independence in the quarterfinals.
 
But the Crusader duo were a bit fortunate to even be in that position after nearly falling victim to an upset in the second round. Harder and Gillette lost their first set in the second round to Winfield’s duo of Corden Cuington and Evan Hutto 6-3 before rallying for a 6-4, 10-4 victories in the next two sets to pull out the win and set up their upset of Mah and Smith.
 
The rest of the top seeds at the tournament held up. 
 
In doubles play, top-seeded Matthew McLenon and Brodie Small of Independence had no trouble reaching the semifinals, winning their first match 6-0, 6-2 before taking a 6-1, 6-3 win over Buhler’s Titus Bortzfield and Quinn Brown in the quarterfinals.
 
Hesston advanced both of its doubles teams to the semifinals as No. 2 seeded Braiden Leichty and Tim van Bergeijk took a 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal win over McPherson’s Jona Emery and Mason Eisenbarth after winning their first match 6-2, 6-3. The Swathers’ other doubles combo of Jerick Humphreys and Ben Bartlett cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal win over Parsons’ Cole Kennett and Kai Gregory after rolling 6-1, 6-1 in their first match.
 
Humphreys and Bartlett will meet McLenon and Small while Liechty and van Bergeijk will meet Harder and Gillette.
 
In singles play, the top for seeds advanced though Hesston’s Janmejay Patwardhan got everything he wanted from Wellington’s Maverick Peterson. Peterson outlasted Winfield’s Copeland Quiett 3-6, 6-3, 15-13 in the second round but still had more than enough to push Patwardhan to the limits in their quarterfinals match, rebounding from a 6-1 loss in the first set to force a third set with a 6-4 win in the second set.
 
The third set was back and forth before Patwardhan pulled out a 7-5 win to clinch his semifinal berth. The No. 2 seeded Swather will take on No. 3 seed Josh Moore of Winfield in the semifinals after Moore topped El Dorado’s Reece Knight 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.
 
Three-time state runner-up and top-seeded Wyatt Shultz of Parsons positioned himself for a fourth straight finals appearance with a dominant first day. The Viking senior won his opening match 6-0, 6-1 before blanking Independence’s Brody Cooley 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
 
No. 4 seed Mosiah Fawson of Iola downed McPherson’s Rylan Unruh 6-4, 6-0 in their quarterfinal match to set up a semifinal against Shultz.
 
By putting three in the semifinals, Hesston got a big leg up on the team race and still has its fourth qualifier, singles player Henry White, alive in the consolation bracket after White won two straight consolation matches. The Swathers are the only team with all four entries still alive.


CLASS 3-1A

At Harmon Park Tennis Complex