Lancers capture team crown at Class 6A state boys tennis

BY: Mark Dewar, Sports Editor

Fotopoulos

A little bit of depth can go a long, long way.

How far? This far. Fueled by top-four finishes by all three of its entrants at the Class 6A boys state tennis tournament at Goddard High School, the Shawnee Mission East boys secured the team title Saturday with a 38-32 win over runner-up Blue Valley North.

The title proved the second in three years for SM East. The Lancers won state in 2006 before relinquishing the trophy back to Topeka’s Washburn Rural, which took home four of the five titles contested from 2003 to 2007.

It was, in fact, a sporting Kevin Hedberg, Washburn Rural’s coach, who on Friday assured veteran SM East coach Sue Chipman that, indeed, these Lancers had done it.

SM East’s No. 2 doubles team, freshmen Sam Amrein and Ross Guignon, had just come from behind to polish off Washburn Rural’s Jason Lespe and Bronson Brassel 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinal round Friday mid-afternoon. Shortly thereafter Hedberg crunched a few numbers and then made the trip over to share the news with Chipman.

“I kind of thought we were in a good situation,” Chipman said, “but I hadn’t done the math.”

While Blue Valley North captured the singles and doubles championships for a combined 32 points, SM East headed into the semifinal round assured its two doubles entrants would square off there. That guaranteed the Lancers at least one team in the championship match and thus an automatic 14 points.

So even if the two other semifinal entrants dropped both their final two matches, the Lancers could receive no worse than 10 points from each, assuring the Prairie Village contingent of 34 team points and a singular clutch on the trophy.

As it went, the Lancers No. 1 doubles team Jack Peterson, a senior, and P.J. Guignon, a sophomore, dispatched of Amrein and Ross Guignon 6-1, 6-1 in Saturday’s semifinal round before falling to BV North’s Eric Sock and Hank Lee 6-1, 6-2 in the championship match.

Amrein and Ross Guignon rebounded from the loss to their Lancers mates with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Goddard’s Ramon Nola and Matt Van Horn in the third-place match.

Meanwhile junior Chris Fotopoulos chipped away at the cause from the singles side. A fourth-place finisher in state singles a year ago, Fotopoulos gained a 6-3, 6-3 win over Blue Valley West’s Max Helgeson in the third-place match after falling to SM North junior Kevin Moore 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinal round.

Blue Valley North’s undefeated freshman and eventual singles champ Jack Sock, 17-0, went on to knock off Moore, 12-3, in the title match, 6-1, 6-2.

“I didn’t play my best,” Moore said of his final-round loss. “I wasn’t pounding the ball very well, but I gave my best and he was playing real well. There wasn’t much I could do other than take a few more chances. He took his chances, played well and bested me.”

Saturday’s win capped a solid season for SM East, one that saw the Lancers enter state fresh off the Sunflower League and regional crowns. Both were contested at Harmon Park in Prairie Village in the shadow of the SM East campus.

Other Lancers season highlights included a share of first place with SM Northwest at the SM District Tournament, as well as team honors at the St. Thomas Aquinas Tournament.

Peterson and P.J. Guignon finished the season at 17-5, while Amrein and Ross Guignon wound up 13-3. Fotopoulos ended at 20-5.

This latest state championship didn’t do a thing to hurt Mother’s Day weekend morale around the Chipman house, either. Chipman is a mother and grandmother in addition to her role as a busy Lancers boys and girls tennis coach.

Most of all, she walks away from the season pleased with the heart and effort her subjects DISP throughout the campaign.

“It’s really rewarding for the kids,” Chipman said. “They put in so much time and effort. Part of it is keeping them settled and focused, but my part is tweaking. They get themselves there through a lot of hard work.

“We don’t have practices on Saturdays and Sundays, but they did a lot of that,” she added. “Jack Peterson, our senior, was a driving force behind getting our kids practicing and deserves a lot of credit for that.”

At the Class 5A tournament at the Riverside Tennis Center in Wichita, Bishop Miege junior Rafael Maasberg took ninth place in singles. Senior Will Stalder and junior Joe Schultz took 10th in doubles for the Stags, who finished tied for 10th with Wichita’s Bishop Carroll with six points.

In Class 3-2-1 at Wichita State, sophomore Bryan Thomas placed fourth in singles for the Eagles, who managed third as a team with 27 points. Senior Joel Petterson took eighth in singles. In doubles, junior Kyle Reighard and sophomore Seth Swank took sixth, and senior David Kidd and freshman Seth Swank got eighth.

Kansas City Christian senior Evan Trammel and junior Bradley Brooks garnered ninth for the Panthers in doubles. KC Christian finished tied for eighth with four points.

For more state tennis results, visit the prep sports scoreboard at www.sunpublications.com.