How Reno County high school tennis players performed at their state tournaments

WINFIELD – Buhler freshman Davian Spies had to deal with some adversity at the Class 4A state tennis tournament Saturday in Winfield.

Spies went down 6-2 in the opening set of the singles championship match to the defending state champion Kale Groff from Independence, but all it took for Spies was to clean up his game and use his high tennis IQ to storm back into the match.

And after winning the second set 6-2, he came back being down 4-2 in the third set, tying the set 4-4 and taking the lead 5-4 after a pair of deuces and hard-fought rallies. Then, after a powerful swing with the game at 40-30, Spies put the game and set away to win his first state tennis singles championship at the T.H. Vaughan Tennis Center.

"The last set was my best tennis," Spies said. "Really special. I don't think I've fully taken it in yet. It's a great feeling. It's a win, a great win. (Groff a great player, don't get me wrong, but it's an awesome feeling."

With Spies being a freshman, the experience factor favored Groff. Spies' first set was one to forget, but Buhler head tennis coach Matt Babcock said the break-point conversations were productive and helped Spies get back in the match mentally.

"I was trying to calm Davian down and get him to believe that he could battle back and get back into it," Babcock said. "Yeah, he's pretty special not only because he hits the ball. He's special for how he thinks about tennis and battles mentally. That was a pretty impressive performance for a freshman to come back. He was down 2-4 in the third set, down a break against the defending state champ. It's a pretty impressive performance by both those guys, but Davian as a freshman is special. Pretty amazing performance."

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Spies defeated Augusta's Ignacio Compte 6-1, 6-1 in the second round of the state tournament after receiving a first-round bye following his regional title. Spies then beat Bishop Miege's Daniel Sullivan 6-0, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Bishop Miege's Daniel Sullivan 6-0, 6-0 and overcame a slow start to the second set to beat Wellington's Jax Cornejo 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals.

Buhler's Amos Harder and Brock Hilger took 10th place after falling to the consolation side of the bracket. Harder and Hilger won their opening match of the tournament over Bishop Miege's Joseph Schmidt and Chris Anderson. Harder and Hilger lost to Independence's Aiden Denney and Easton Morris in the ninth place match.

Buhler's other doubles squad of Elijah Biggs and Von Woleslagel won its opening-round match before losing the next two in the consolatio

As a team, Buhler finished fifth, two points behind a tie for third. Buhler's doubles team with sophomore Amos Harder and junior Brock Hilger. The pair finished in 10th. 

Trinity Catholic

Hutchinson-Trinity Catholic's boys tennis team faired well at the 3-1A state tennis tournament in Prairie Village. Connor Harcrow finished 12th in singles while Anthony Clennan and Garrett Hageman took fourth in doubles. 

Harcrow made the quarterfinals before falling to the back side of the bracket to finish in the top 12. Clennan and Hageman lost to the eventual state champion doubles team from Kansas City Christian James Vander Ark and Caleb Bartels.

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Hutchinson, Haven

Hutchinson's Brady Ollenburger went 1-2 at the 6A state tournament. Ollenburger won his first match over Wichita East's Bo Lu before Blue Valley North's Christopher Smith sent him to the left side of the bracket. 

Hutchinson's Carson Albert and Seth Allen went 0-2 on the weekend. The duo will look to return to state next season when they are seniors.

Haven's Ethan Mulligan and Cole Zongker also went 0-2 at the 3-1A state tournament but ended the year as the only doubles team from Haven to qualify for state.

Billy Watson is the sports reporter for The Hutchinson News and has been in Kansas since March 2021. To reach out about story ideas, you can send an email to wwatson@gannett.com or send a direct message on Twitter @hutchsports or @billywatson4l.