Ark Valley News - Valley tennis brings home state medals

Joined by coaches Matt Klusener (left) and Dean Schulz (right), Colby Swift, Garrett Rogers and Hayden Brauer show the medals they won at the Class 5A state tennis tournament May 13 in Topeka.

Valley tennis brings home state medals
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: May 18, 2017

Improvement is part of high school athletics. One way to measure improvement is to compare performances from one year to another. By that standard, the three Valley Center High School tennis players who competed at state tennis showed marked improvement from a year ago.

Hayden Brauer and Colby Swift in doubles and Garrett Rogers in singles brought home medals from last weekend's Class 5A state tennis tournament in Topeka. Brauer and Swift placed eighth, while Rogers was ninth. Last year, Brauer and Swift were 12th, while Rogers was 1-2 and out of the medals. Valley Center has not had two boys state placers in the same year since 2009.

"Overall I was pleased with their effort, and they were satisfied with their results at the end of the day," coach Dean Schulz said.

Brauer and Swift (29-10) defeated Castinado/Schanefelt (Aquinas) 6-0, 6-1; lost to Anderson/McGreevy (Eisenhower) 6-3, 6-3; defeated Richey/Sullivan (Pittsburg) 9-2; defeated Foth/Michaelis (Salina Central) 9-2; defeated Latendresse/Gill (Seaman) 9-0; and lost to both Leiffer/Spradlin (St. James) and House/Klimiuk (Kapaun) by identical scores of 9-6.

"Hayden and Colby lost a close match with Eisenhower on Friday who finished fifth, then won two matches to make their way to Saturday," Schulz said. "They started strong on Saturday, but as should be the case, the competition got tougher and they struggled some with consistency."

By virtue of his second-place finish in the regional, Rogers (31-10) received a first-round bye at state. He lost to Parker Billings (Mill Valley) 6-4, 0-6, 7-10; defeated Cameron McGrath (Seaman) 9-1; defeated Devin McAfee (Pittsburg) 9-3; lost to Jayden Richardson (Andover) 9-5; defeated Adam Burke (St. James) 9-4 and beat William Hayes (Salina Central) 9-3.

"Garrett lost a very close match with Billings, who ended up just one place ahead of him by the end of the tournament," Schulz said. "His other loss was to Richardson from Andover on the first match of Saturday. He went 5-2 for the tournament and played very well."

Maize (30 points) edged Ark City and Bishop Carroll (28 each) for the team championship. They were followed by St. James 26, Eisenhower 23, Mill Valley 22, Topeka West 17, Valley Center 15, Andover 13, Salina South 9, Kapaun 9, Salina Central 8, Newton 7, Topeka Seaman 6, and Emporia and Pittsburg each with 1. De Soto, Blue Valley Southwest and St Thomas Aquinas failed to score.

The future is good for Valley Center tennis. Rogers, a junior, and Brauer and Swift, both sophomores, qualified for state two years in a row. In addition, the Hornets had a host of players who should be back next year.

"We are excited about what we can do next year if we spend the time over the summer and off-season to improve our skills," Schulz said.