Andover, Collegiate win Kansas high school boys tennis state titles
The Wichita area had plenty of success this past weekend at the Kansas high school boys tennis state tournaments.
Here’s a full run-down of the KSHSAA postseason action:
Doubles gold spurs Andover to second 5A team title in history
The second team state championship in Andover history was won this past Saturday in Salina, but really it was secured the previous weekend at the regional tournament.
Known as the “region of death,” Andover was the only program to send three of its entries to the Class 5A state tournament. That proved vital in racking up 33 points to run away with the team title, led by the victory of sophomore Andrew Chan and senior Isaac Homan in the doubles field.
“It just goes to show hard hard our guys worked all offseason and all season for this,” Andover coach Mark Cross said. “Almost all of my guys were doubling up and practicing with us and then taking lessons before or after school. They put in a lot of work and it paid off.”
After a third-place finish at a prestigious tournament in Kansas City on April 22, Chan and Homan didn’t lose for the final month of the season following the confidence boost. The Andover duo survived the toughest regional the previous week and did so again at the state tournament, taking down the Kapaun Mt. Carmel duo of junior John Korfhage and senior Trey Lacy in the finals, 6-3, 6-4.
“They do such a good job of pumping each other up and communicating,” Cross said. “This was their first year playing together, but they knew they were going to be a really good doubles team. They asked me to play together before the start of the season. I asked them after state, ‘Did you really think at the beginning of the season that you would win state?’ And they both said, ‘Yeah, we knew.’ They were confident of the hard work that they had put in.”
Andover was boosted to the team title also by the play of junior Lad Oborny (seventh) in singles and seniors Pierce Anderson and John Rather (sixth) in doubles.
Bishop Carroll collected the second-place trophy in the team standings with 23 points, as both entries reached the semifinals. Freshman Brandon Steven knocked off the depending state champion, Blue Valley Southwest’s Sanjay Rajkumar, to take third in singles, while the duo of freshman Braeden Dugan and junior Gabe Weber took fourth in doubles.
Andover Central took third in the team race with 21 points, bolstered by a third-place finish by the doubles team of sophomore Elias Kachelmeier and senior Jaxon Post and the sixth-place finish in singles by sophomore Henry Walker.
Other local medalists in singles included Arkansas City senior Dawson O’Donnell (second), Eisenhower senior Kyle King (eighth), Newton senior Emilio Ormaza-Cantos (10th) and Valley Center senior Hudson Lawrence (11th). Other area medalists in doubles featured Valley Center juniors Braxton Nicholson and Gabriel Shaffer (eighth).
Wichita Collegiate wins 3-1A title with near-perfect team score
In a program that has won more state titles than any other boys tennis team in state history, Collegiate has produced some memorable teams over the last four decades.
The Spartans might need to refresh some of their all-time rankings after this past weekend when the team won its 28th state championship in Topeka with nearly a perfect score of 58 points at the Class 3-1A tournament. Collegiate featured the champions in the singles and doubles field, while producing the runner-up in singles and the third-place finisher in doubles.
“We knew coming into the season that it was going to be a pretty special team,” Collegiate coach Simon Norman said. “We had three guys who could have won singles in addition to the doubles champions. As a team, I have no doubt we would have won in 4A or 5A. It’s probably one of the deepest teams that I’ve ever had and it was such a fun season because they’re all such great guys and great teammates.”
The depth begins with the Drumright brothers, Carter, a senior, and Maddox, a sophomore, who successfully defended their doubles title in dominating fashion. The duo finished the season with a perfect 25-0 record and won 84% of games this season.
Their only challenge of the season came in the final against Cair Paravel’s Eric Buchenau and Drew Fay, who forced a third set after winning a tiebreaker in the second set. The Drumright brothers responded by winning the third set, 6-0.
“It’s so fun to watch them out there with their chemistry and their athleticism,” Norman said. “They’re both so positive and supportive of each other. And what’s crazy is that tennis is their third sport. They both play baseball and basketball, so to be this good at tennis when it’s their third sport is just crazy. I had a lot of college coaches in Topeka who couldn’t believe that.”
The toughest decision Norman had to make all season was filling out his lineup card for the regional tournament. Junior Charlie Gentile, freshman Amir Khicha and freshman G Farha were all capable of being the No. 1 player for any other team in the class. But at Collegiate, one of them had to shift to doubles.
Gentile and Khicha remained in singles and traded wins with each other to close out the season: the freshman winning the regional title in a third set, then Gentile claiming the state title in a third set. Farha teamed with fellow freshman Vihaan Ganganala to take third in doubles.
“When you’ve got two guys like Charlie and Amir at that level, it’s just on the day,” Norman said. “Charlie played amazing in the first set and was just smacking the ball around and hardly missed, then Amir weathered the storm and came back and played a really solid second set. It came down to one set for the title and it was just on the day.”
Behind three medalists in senior Levi Mies (seventh in singles), seniors Layne Whitney and Isaac Winter (fourth in doubles) and juniors Joseph Beck and Eli Benge (10th in doubles), Conway Springs placed second in the team competition with 24 points. Three points behind in third place was Classical, powered by high finishes from both singles players in senior Isaac Yourdon (third) and senior Noah Doom (sixth).
Other local medalists in the singles field included Trinity senior Alex Hobson (ninth). Other area medalists in the doubles bracket featured Smoky Valley seniors Ezekiel Baker and Gabriel Baker (fifth), Trinity senior Preston Sebits and junior Blane Farley (sixth) and Smoky Valley junior Jack Bieker and sophomore Pierce Keller (11th).
Buhler, Winfield and Hesston all win gold medals at 4A state
Buhler’s Davian Spies and Parsons’ Wyatt Shultz have produced fireworks in the past two state tournaments, so it was fitting for the two to meet once again to decide the Class 4A singles title in Winfield.
Shultz handed Spies the only loss at the state tournament in his career in 2023, then Spies came back to win a three-set thriller last spring in the state finals. This past Saturday, Spies defeated Shultz in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0, to end his career as a 3-time state champion.
“I’ve heard about Davian since he was in the sixth grade,” Buhler coach Matt Babcock said. “And he is very talented, but he’s also easily the hardest working player that I’ve ever coached. He absolutely loves the sport and is very passionate about tennis. We knew Shultz would probably be his toughest competition again in 4A and Davian has just worked so hard over the summer and this spring and it showed at the state tournament.”
Thanks to a third-place finish in doubles by senior Von Woleslagel and junior Reuben Harder, Buhler finished with 28 team points, just one off from defending its state title from last season.
The Crusaders finished in third place due to a rare tie atop the standings, as Winfield claimed a share of its first team state title in program history on its home courts at T.H. Vaughan Tennis Center. The Vikings matched the 29 points also scored by Parsons, as the two sides shared the first-place trophy.
Winfield was led by the doubles team of seniors Jackson Davis and Adam Everett, who finished runner-up after a thrilling, three-set match decided by a tiebreaker against the Hesston duo of Asher Deutschendorf and Braiden Liechty in the final. Both singles entries came away with a medal for Winfield as well in junior Joshua Moore (sixth) and junior Copeland Quiett (ninth).
Other area medalists in the singles field included Hesston sophomore Janmejay Patwardhan (fifth), Wellington junior Maverick Peterson (eighth), El Dorado junior Reece Knight (11th) and McPherson freshman Cooper Bohme (12th).
Other local medalists in doubles included McPherson seniors Bryson Archer and Alex Berger (fifth) and El Dorado sophomores Lane Eck and Theron Mays (11th).
Maize picks up a pair of medals at 6A state
It’s not often a Wichita-area program comes close to a team trophy at the 6A state tournament, but Maize did just that with 16 points to finish fourth place in the team standings in Junction City.
The Eagles were led by the sixth-place finish by senior Hayden Herrera in the singles field. Herrera lost in the quarterfinals, then won two straight consolation matches to hold seed.
Meanwhile, Maize’s doubles team of seniors Alec Grill and Wyatt Nicol broke seed and notched a ninth-place finish. They won four consolation matches to end their season on a win.
The only other local medalist was East senior Beau Adamson, who entered ranked No. 21 in the field but came away with a 12th-place finish.
Kansas Class 6A tennis state tournament results
Team scores—1. Blue Valley West 55; 2. Shawnee Mission East 39; 3. Blue Valley Northwest 23; 4. Maize 16; 5. Olathe South 13; 5. Manhattan 13; 7. Shawnee Mission South 12; 7. Olathe Northwest 12; 9. Washburn Rural 8; 10. Mill Valley 7; 11. Lawrence 6; 12. Lawrence Free State 5; 12. Topeka 5; 14. Olathe East 4; 15. Wichita East 3; 16. Blue Valley 2; 16. Garden City 2; 18. Derby 1; 18. Dodge City 1; 18. Gardner Edgerton 1; 18. Liberal 1.
Singles—1. Anish Poojari, so., BV West, def. Jonah Stolte, jr., BV West, 6-3, 6-0; 3. Luke Pennington, sr., BV Northwest, def. Nolan Fosha, so., Olathe South, 0-6, 6-3, 6-0; 5. Brody Feldman, so., SM East, def. Hayden Herrera, sr., Maize, 8-1; 7. James Hoke, fr., Manhattan, def. Dalton Parde, fr., Mill Valley, 8-6; 9. Jun Brewer, sr., Lawrence, def. Aidan Lashley, so., SM East, 8-3; 11. Advith Natarajan, sr., Manhattan, def. Beau Adamson, sr., Wichita East, 8-6.
Doubles—1. Aarya Anjankar, jr., Francisco Landeras, sr., BV West, def. Jake Hanson, sr., Christopher Long, so., SM East, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0; 3. Ryder Heaven, jr., Carson Mower, so., SM South, def. Krrish Sanjanwala, sr., Srinivasa Vel, jr., BV Northwest, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; 5. Aiden Bush, so., Christian Clough, so., SM East, def. Ishaan Musti, so., Ethan Kumar, sr., BV West, 8-1; 7. Dylan Willingham, jr., Cale Deutscher, jr., Washburn Rural, def. Bryan Branstrom, jr., Aidan Messerly, jr., Olathe Northwest, 8-4; 9. Alec Grill, sr., Wyatt Nichol, sr., Maize, def. William Stewart, sr., Mitchell Terhune, fr., Olathe Northwest, 8-6; 11. Jackson Hyer, sr., Jackson Janeway, sr., Olathe East, def. Alexander Raymond, sr., Christian Sink, jr., Topeka, 8-4.
Kansas Class 5A tennis state tournament results
Team scores—1. Andover 33; 2. Bishop Carroll 23; 3. Andover Central 21; 4. St. James 20; 4. Blue Valley Southwest 20; 6. St. Thomas Aquinas 17; 7. Maize South 16; 8. Arkansas City 14; 8. Kapaun Mt. Carmel 14; 10. Newton 11; 10. Valley Center 11; 12. Kansas City Piper 8; 13. Goddard Eisenhower 7; 14. Topeka Seaman 5; 15. Lansing 3; 16. Hays 2; 17. Shawnee Heights 1; 17. Topeka West 1.
Singles—1. Evan Goates, jr., Maize South, def. Dawson O’Donnell, sr., Arkansas City, 6-1, 6-2; 3. Brandon Steven, fr., Bishop Carroll, def. Sanjay Rajkumar, sr., BV Southwest, 6-0, 6-3; 5. Elijah Donaldson, sr., St. James, def. Henry Walker, so., Andover Central, 8-1; 7. Lad Oborny, jr., Andover, def. Kyle King, sr., Goddard Eisenhower, injury default; 9. Patrick Lacy, sr., Aquinas, def. Eilio Ormaza-Cantos, sr., Newton, 8-2; 11. Hudson Lawrence, sr., Valley Center, def. Brett Seal, sr., Aquinas, 8-1.
Doubles—1. Andrew Chan, so., Isaac Homan, sr., Andover, def. John Korfhage, jr., Trey Lacy, sr., Kapaun, 6-3, 6-4; 3. Jaxon Post, sr., Elias Kachelmeier, so., Andover Central, def. Gabe Weber, jr., Braeden Dugan, fr., Carroll, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4; 5. Luke Niesen, so., Sam Niesen, sr., St. James, def. John Rather, sr., Pierce Anderson, sr., Andover, 8-2; 7. John Vogel, jr., Baird Greenamyre, jr., KC Piper, def. Braxton Nicholson, jr., Gabriel Shaffer, jr., Valley Center, 8-6; 9. Will Felski, jr., Will Nash, so., Aquinas, def. Saket Jagannath, jr., Vidhu Reddy, so., BV Southwest, 8-6; 11. Jacob Cook, sr., Nidhish Padmanaban, fr., BV Southwest, def. Ike Christopher, sr., Jacob Dennis, sr., Lansing, 8-1.
Kansas Class 4A tennis state tournament results
Team scores—1. Parsons 29; 1. Winfield 29; 3. Buhler 28; 4. Hesston 26; 5. Independence 21; 6. McPherson 17; 7. Bishop Miege 13; 8. Clay Center 12; 8. Topeka Hayden 12; 10. Chanute 9; 10. Fort Scott 9; 11. El Dorado 8; 12. Wellington 7; 13. Scott City 3; 14. Circle 2; 15. Concordia 1; 15. Iola 1.
Singles—1. Davian Spies, sr., Buhler, def. Wyatt Shultz, jr., Parsons, 6-2, 6-0; 3. Luca Marrello, so., Bishop Miege, def. Keith Sanders, sr., Independence, 6-3, 6-3; 5. Janmejay Patwardhan, so., Hesston, def. Joshua Moore, jr., Winfield, 8-5; 7. Jaxen DeMott, sr., Fort Scott, def. Maverick Peterson, jr., Wellington, 8-3; 9. Copeland Quiett, jr., Winfield, def. Eli Pfizenmaier, so., Clay Center, 8-4; 11. Reece Knight, jr., El Dorado, def. Cooper Bohme, fr., McPherson, 8-5.
Doubles—1. Asher Deutschendorf, sr., Braiden Liechty, jr., Hesston, def. Jackson Davis, sr., Adam Everett, sr., Winfield, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2); 3. Von Woleslagel, sr., Reuben Harder, jr., Buhler, def. Chase Blaser, sr., Evan George, sr., Topeka Hayden, 6-2, 6-4; 5. Bryson Archer, sr., Alexander Berger, sr., McPherson, def. Ethan Burnett, sr., Ayden Cummings, jr., Chanute, 9-7; 7. Cole Kennett, jr., Conner Barcus, sr., Parsons, def. Davion Holman, sr., Mason Morris, sr., Parsons, 8-0; 9. Matthew McLenon, jr., Zachary Scott, sr., Independence, def. Anthony Davies, sr., John Alton, sr., Clay Center, 8-5; 11. Theron Mays, so., Lane Eck, so., El Dorado, def. Brody Strine, sr., Brody Stoecklein, so., Scott City, 8-2.
Kansas Class 3-1A tennis state tournament results
Team scores—1. Wichita Collegiate 58; 2. Conway Springs 24; 3. Wichita Classical 21; 4. Central Plains 19; 4. Topeka Cair Paravel 19; 6. Sterling 17; 7. Wichita Trinity 15; 8. Hoisington 14; 8. Smoky Valley 14; 10. Ellinwood 6; 11. Meade 4; 11. Phillipsburg 4; 13. Kansas City Christian 3; 14. Bishop Seabury 2; 14. Lyons 2; 14. Neodesha 2; 17. Haven 1; 17. Marysville 1; 17. Perry-Lecompton 1; 17. Salina Sacred Heart 1.
Singles—1. Charlie Gentile, jr., Collegiate, def. Khicha, fr., Collegiate, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; 3. Isaac Yourdon, sr., Classical, def. Camden Stiles, so., Central Plains, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 5. Jace Darnauer, so., Sterling, def. Noah Doom, sr., Classical, 8-2; 7. Levi Mies, sr., Conway Springs, def. Jasper Pawlowski, fr., Hoisington, 8-2; 9. Alex Hobson, sr., Trinity, def. Cole Fay, fr., Cair Paravel, 8-1; 11. Samuel Lynn, jr., Meade, def. Brody Rossman, so., Hoisington, 8-6.
Doubles—1. Carter Drumright, sr., Maddox Drumright, so., Collegiate, def. Eric Buchenau, jr., Drew Fay, jr., Cair Paravel, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-0; 3. G Farha, fr., Vihaan Ganganala, fr., Collegiate, def. Layne Whitney, sr., Isaac Winter, sr., Conway Springs, 6-1, 6-3; 5. Gabriel Baker, sr., Ezekiel Baker, sr., Smoky Valley, def. Preston Sebits, sr., Blane Farley, jr., Trinity, 9-8 (10-8); 7. Paxton Dody, sr., Peyton Dody, jr., Central Plains, def. Ben Bierstedt, so., Zac Wohler, so., Sterling, 8-6; 9. Ty Hammeke, jr., Ethan Schlochtermeier, jr., Ellinwood, def. Joseph Beck, jr., Eli Benge, jr., Conway Springs, 8-5; 11. Jack Bieker, jr., Pierce Keller, so., Smoky Valley, def. Leyton Mooney, so., Gabriel Pawloski, fr., Hoisington, 8-6.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 5:02 AM.
.jpg)