Your guide to the KSHSAA boys tennis state championship
The first Kansas State High School Activities Association State Championship for the spring season begins on Friday. The best tennis players will compete to hoist the state title and etch their names in history.
Here is a look at some of the Topeka-area standouts, plus the schedule and locations.
Lawsen Lobatos-Dick and Dylan Willingham, Washburn Rural
The Washburn Rural doubles team set the regional tournament on fire last week. They took the Junction City Regional championship as they qualified for this week’s Class 6A State Tournament. Their most impressive victory came in the title match as they defeated Manhattan’s Michael Hwang and Jack Spiegel 6-0, 6-1.
Lobatos-Dick and Winningham hold a 25-4 record. They have the second most wins amongst doubles teams that have qualified. Derby’s Collin Bale and Garrett Haupt have a record of 26-10.
'It’s our time to step up': Topeka West tennis faces challenge of defending state title
Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew, Topeka West
McGee and Weybrew have been playing wonderfully together this season. They return to the Class 5A State Championship where they helped the Chargers win the title last season. McGee and Weybrew stormed through last week’s regional tournament. They reached the championship where they lost in a nail bitter to Blue Valley Southwest’s Saket Jagannath and Vidhu Reddy 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5).
The Topeka West duo should still hold a lot of confidence coming into this week. They are 33-6 which is the second best record in Class 5A. Arkansas City’s Oakley O’Donnell and Dawson O’Donnell are 35-0.
Dylan Dodge, Washburn Rural
Dodge enters the Class 6A State Tournament on the singles side of play. He secured second place in last week’s Junction City Regional. He defeated Manhattan’s Advith Natarajan 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to punch his ticket to the regional title match. Dodge would go on to lose to Maize’s Hayden Herrera 6-4, 6-1, but it was a solid week of work for the Washburn Rural tennis star.
Dodge did win the City Championship over Cair Paravel’s Drew Fay earlier in the season. Dodge comes into the finale tournament of the season with a record of 23-7.
Topeka Tennis: Why Cooper Woestendick 'will never forget' winning an Australian Open title
James Maag, Topeka West
The top singles player for the Chargers qualified for the Class 5A State Tournament after taking third place in the regional tournament. He defeated St. Thomas Aquinas’ Patrick Lacy 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to claim the bronze medal last week.
Maag is back in the state tournament field after helping the Chargers win the state championship last season, the first in Topeka West history. Maag holds a season record of 24-10.
Drew Fay, Cair Paravel
The sophomore defeated Marysville’s Kevin Wicks and Smoky Valley’s Keaton Leiker to advance to the regional title round. Fay ended up losing to Kansas City Christian’s Caleb Bartels, who is the defending state champion, 6-1, 6-0. Earlier in the season, Fay defeated Topeka West’s James Maag in the City Championship. He took second place in that tournament with Washburn Rural’s Dylan Dodge hoisting the title.
Boys tennis: See which Topeka-area players qualified for the state championship tournament
Locations for KSHSAA boys tennis state championship
Class 6A: Riverside Tennis Center, Wichita
Class 5A: Andover District Tennis Complex
Class 4A: Kossover Tennis Center, Topeka
Class 3-1A: Harmon Park Tennis Complex, Prairie Village
Date and time for state tennis
Friday, May 10: Introductions at 10 a.m.; matches begin at 10:30 a.m.
Saturday, May 11: Matches begin at 9 a.m.
Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Your guide to the KSHSAA boys tennis state championship
