PRAIRIE VILLAGE – They went to bed with a team title mathematically in hand Friday night, then secured a place in Kansas tennis history Saturday morning after a smooth Class 3-1A state tournament semifinal session.
 
So as the searing, overhead sun diminished the canopy of Harmon Park Tennis Complex’s bountiful shade trees Saturday afternoon, the easy path for Wichita Collegiate’s state doubles finalists – top-seeded Charlie Gentile and Maddox Drumright, and No. 2 Vihaan Ganganala and James Nolan – would have been to dial down the intensity for their head-to-head season finale in the championship match.
 
But that’s not really how the Spartans get to this point so frequently when May rolls around.
 

Instead, the all-Spartan final turned out to be a treat for spectators, who watched Gentile, last year’s state singles champion, and Drumright, a state winner the two previous springs with his older brother Carter, overcome a spirited challenge from their sophomore teammates for a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory.
 
The 1-hour, 52-minute duel punctuated Collegiate’s third consecutive 3-1A title under coach Simon Norman and raised the Spartans’ state-leading boys tennis title count to 29. With Spartan sophomore Amir Khicha defeating classmate G. Farha 6-0, 6-0 in the singles final, Collegiate became the first Kansas boys tennis team in 30 years to score the maximum 60 points at a state tournament with 1-2 finishes in singles and doubles, joining Spartan teams that accomplished the feat in 1995 and 1996.
 
“It’s just a great bunch of guys battling hard,” Norman said. “Good kids, good sportsmanship. It’s a really close bunch and to see them do this was really fun.”
 
Collegiate, a perennial power currently stockpiled with talented underclassmen, came into the tournament as a heavy favorite and lived up to it. Khicha, who finished second to Gentile at state as a freshman, entered as the No. 1 singles seed for the second straight year, while Farha came in at No. 2.
 

The Spartans’ four state entries set up their intrasquad championship round by winning a combined 145 of 169 games (85.8%) in the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.
 
“I feel like we’re all very competitive with each other and we’re still very good friends at the same time,” said Khicha, who joined his father, Sanjay, as a Collegiate singles champion. Sanjay won the singles crown in 1988 and a doubles title with Albert Pereira in 1991.
 
“We push each other in practice and then we’re able to have a good time out here no matter what happens.”
 
Khicha finished the season 23-1, losing only to Class 5A singles champion Brandon Steven in Collegiate’s Tournament of Champions final. The left-hander was an unstoppable force in the two-day state tournament, winning 48 of 49 games.
 

Farha, who dropped just one game in his first two matches before defeating Central Plains junior Camden Stiles 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinals, couldn’t get on track against Khicha. After falling to Khicha 6-0, 6-1 in the Collegiate regional final, Farha managed just one break point and was unable to win a game in the final, finishing the season 29-7.
 
“Amir works so hard all the time and keeps improving,” Norman said. “He has a great attitude and he deserves everything he gets.”
 
Khicha quickly won his final on the adjacent court to the doubles championship, where Gentile and Drumright looked to top Ganganala and Nolan for the second time in as many weeks. But after Gentile and Drumright won 6-1, 6-3 in the all-Spartan regional final, they  found tougher sledding against their teammates in the rematch.
 
After taking the first set, Gentile and Drumright dropped the final four games in the second set as Ganganala and Nolan drew even.
 
“Vihaan was telling me before, ‘We’re not going to lay down for you. We’re going to go out there and beat you like you did to us in the regional,’” Drumright said. “We did need to fight through adversity because we were down a lot of the match.”
 

Gentile and Drumright appeared to re-establish control early in the third set, grabbing a service break in the second game and going up 3-0. But with both players struggling with key double faults, and Ganganala and Nolan scrapping to prolong points, the younger Spartans rallied to tie the set at 4-4.
 
The situation got more perilous for Gentile and Drumright as they fell behind love-40 in the pivotal ninth game. But Gentile, a senior, and Drumright, a junior, fought off five break points and eventually went up 5-4. After breaking Nolan’s serve in the final game, Gentile and Drumright had their state title at 23-1.
 
“It was definitely different because my brother and me have played many sports together,” said Drumright, also a catcher on Collegiate’s baseball team. “I had to build that connection with Charlie, and we played pickleball together, played basketball together during the winter. Those little things made this better.”
 

 
Gentile, who also qualified for state with Collegiate’s golf team, expressed an interest in playing doubles this spring immediately after winning his state singles title. Norman obliged, and the dividends paid off for the Spartans on Saturday.
 
“The itch is definitely scratched,” Gentile said. “I enjoyed playing doubles with Maddox this year. It was a really good time. There’s a whole new strategy to it, especially with serving.
 
“Knowing when you should step forward and try to poach and when you should run back and be ready for a big ball coming in, those are things that I had to learn this year. Playing 20-25 matches with Maddox, I really learned all that.”
 
Gentile and Drumright’s semifinal opponents, Central Plains’ Peyton Dody and Alden Metro, put together their own comeback to earn third place. They defeated Wichita Trinity’s Blane Farley and Owen Holdeman 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
 

Khicha’s semifinal foe, Sterling’s Jace Darnauer, took third in singles after Central Plains’ Camden Stiles retired two games into the second set.
 
Central Plains finished second in the team competition with 28 points, while Sterling was third with 24.
 
Collegiate, meanwhile, reached the coveted score of 60 after winning with 58 points a year ago. The last team to score 60 at state was a Spartan squad that included singles champion Matt Wright, singles runner-up Chase Koch, doubles champions Zach Hawley and Jamie Rheem, and doubles runners-up Preston Jones and Mike O’Shaughnessy.
 
They were coached by Norman’s predecessor and KSHSAA Hall of Fame member Dave Hawley.
 
“We were seeded the same last year,” Norman said. “We were 1-2, 1-2 and went 1-2, 1-3. It’s not easy to do. It doesn’t matter what the seedings are.
 
“You’ve got guys out here who are putting it on the line and you’ve still got to get out there with a lot of pressure and deal with those situations. It was just so much fun to see these guys rise to the occasion. It capped off a great season for us.”
 

 
CLASS 3-1A STATE TENNIS
 
At Harmon Park Tennis Complex, Prairie Village
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Wichita Collegiate 60, Central Plains 28, Sterling 24, Cair Paravel 13, Conway Springs 12, Wichita Trinity 11, Hoisington 10, Ellinwood 9, Meade 8, Haven 7, WaKeeney-Trego 7, Smoky Valley 6, Kansas City Christian 6, Chaparral 5, Neodesha 5, Wichita Classical 4, Marysville 4, Ellsworth 2, Phillipsburg 2, Hutchinson Trinity 2, Larned 1, Bishop Seabury 0, Cimarron 0, Perry-Lecompton 0.
 
SINGLES
 
Championship – Amir Khicha, Wichita Collegiate def. G Farha, Wichita Collegiate, 6-0, 6-0. Third place – Jace Darnauer, Sterling def. Camden Stiles, Central Plains, 5-7, 1-1 (retired). Fifth place – Drew Fay, Cair Paravel def. Jasper Pawlowski, Hoisington, 8-0. Seventh place – Samuel Lynn, Meade def. Devin Boice, Haven, 8-5. Ninth place – Isaac Seitz, Kansas City Christian def. Jackson Delong, Neodesha, 9-8 (9-7). 11^th place – Lathem Kizzar, Sterling def. Jonah Arnold, Cair Paravel, 8-4.
 
DOUBLES
 
Championship – Charlie Gentile/Maddox Drumright, Wichita Collegiate def. Vihaan Ganganala/James Nolan, Wichita Collegiate, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Third place – Peyton Dody/Alden Metro, Central Plains def. Blane Farley/Owen Holdeman, Wichita Trinity, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Fifth place – Joseph Beck/Eli Benge, Conway Springs def. Ty Hammeke/Ethan Schloctermeier, Ellinwood, 8-5. Seventh place – Ben Bierstedt/Trace DeShon, Sterling def. Mason Yingling/Camdyn Flavin, WaKeeney-Trego, 8-5. Ninth place – Jack Bieker/Pierce Keller, Smoky Valley def. Richard Hayes/Scott Lamatsch, Central Plains, 8-1. 11^th place – Ian Lynch/Bomani Busch, Marysville def. Jack Walker/Jesus Reyes, Chaparral, 8-2.