SPRINGFIELD, Mo. • The first day of the individual portion of the 83rd Missouri state tennis tournament Friday began in cold overcast conditions. The sun came out for several hours to produce a near-perfect setting, but then the clouds rolled in.
When officials sighted lightning early in the afternoon, play on all 16 outdoor courts at the Cooper Tennis Complex was halted. A hard rain and thunderstorm followed, forcing all of the matches to be finished on the Cooper Complex's 12 indoor courts.
There were no major surprises in the first day, although there were several competitive matches. Two of the more exciting came in doubles.
• Lafayette's Mick Lyons and Jake Goodman defeated Kirkwood's Drew Morris and Tanner Morris for the second time in six days Friday. The Lyons-Goodman pairing broke Tanner Morris' serve at 3-2. Kirkwood was up 0-30 on Goodman's serve and had several chances to get back on serve. But the Lancers prevailed to go up 5-2 and then broke Drew Morris for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win. Last Saturday, Lyons and Goodman won the clinching match in the team quarterfinals to lock up the Lancers' second trip to the state team tournament, where Lafayette finished second. Both the Lafayette-Kirkwood doubles duels went three sets.
Goodman is a tournament-tested player. Last year, he teamed with Adam King to win the consolation championship in Class 2 doubles.
Clayton's Jake Lee and Joe Dulle had a thrilling 7-5, 7-6 win over Pembroke Hill's Christian Nagy and James Helzberg in one of the matches that began outdoors and finished inside.
• Coming off a second-place finish in the state team competition Thursday, Westminster Christian has a pair of doubles teams still alive in Class 1.
Timmy Miller and Stephen Lillenberg had a pair of straight-sets wins Friday. They beat Joseph Richmeyer and Jon Wilson of Kansas City St. Pius 6-0, 6-2 in the first round and then defeated Marc Ohlhausen and Charles Healey of Liberty North 7-6, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Senior Cameron Smith and freshman Bailey Merkle also had a pair of straight-sets wins. They beat Jonathan Hambacker and Matt Sirois of Salem 6-0, 6-1 in the first round and Bhavesh Katbamna and Christopher Bueler of Hannibal 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Westminster's Smith is a returning state doubles medalist. He teamed with Nick O'Neal to finish sixth last year. One of the wins last year came in the consolation semifinals against Miller and his partner, John Hunsicker.
• MICDS senior Charlie Curtis and Barstow junior Chris Frye are pitted against each other in one of the Class 1 semifinal matches Saturday morning. Frye finished second at state last year, Curtis third. They both lost to eventual champion Teddy Fitzgibbons of Pembroke Hill. Curtis lost 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals, and Frye lost 6-2, 6-0 in the championship.
Curtis is the only Class 1 singles player who has a chance to be an undefeated state champion. Excelsior Springs senior Eric Dailey was the only other player in Class 1 to not lose this season. He entered the state tournament with a 32-0 record, the most wins of any player. Dailey picked up his 33rd consecutive victory with a win against Sam Ranzatta of Lutheran South in the first round, but fell to Clayton freshman Mac Rechan 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Rechan is 4-0 thus far in state play. The freshman scored two wins Thursday in the team tournament and added two more Friday. All have been in straight sets. Rechan is 22-2 for the season, with his losses coming against Mick Lyons of Lafayette and Curtis. He could get another shot at Curtis on Saturday for the state championship if both prevail in the semifinals.
• Springfield Glendale's Paul Nahon was the only one in the field of 16 in Class 2 singles with a perfect record. A senior headed to Richmond University, Nahon appears to be in top form in his defense of the Class 2 championship. Friday, he rang up straight-set victories against St. Louis-area standouts Dylan Steffens of Rockwood Summit and Michael Davis of Parkway Central.
Francis Howell North seniors Ben Hess and Dan Brodnick are having an amazing end to their high school careers. They won all 21 of their matches entering state and won their first-round match in Springfield over Josh Papes and Carlton Poindexter of McCluer North, 7-5, 6-4. They more than met their match in the quarterfinals, though, winning just one game against Lyons and Goodman of Lafayette.
