Hillsboro’s Max Thiel returns volley during his opening match in No. 2 singles. Thiel went on to win the flite championship with a 3-0 mark for the day. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press. Click photo to enlarge.
The Hillsboro Gold tennis team finished third at the Trojan Invitational at the Sports Complex on Friday.
The HHS White team placed eighth in the eight-team field.
The tournament had been originally scheduled for April 5, but was postponed until Friday because of weather.
HHS Gold finished with 46 points to finish behind Conway Springs (58) and Smoky Valley (50), but ahead of Circle (45), Chapman (39), Hutchinson Trinity (27), Nickerson (12) and HHS White (3).
HHS Gold was led by Max Thiel, who won the No. 2 singles flight with 8-2 wins over Friedman of Smoky Valley and Lange of Conway Springs, then an 8-7 (7-5) win over Labenz of Hutch Trinity in the title match.
Clay Shewey placed third in No. 1 singles, defeating Galloway of Nickerson in the first round (8-1), losing to the eventual champion Lange of Conway Springs in the semis (6-8), then defeating Salsbury of Chapman in the consolation finals (8-0).
In No. 1 doubles, the HHS Gold team of Ben Heyen and Taylor Hagen placed fifth. They lost in the opening round to Bus and Coffman of Circle (5-8), then came back to beat Withrow and Duran of Hutch Trinity (8-7 [7-1]) and Rohling and Smith of Nickerson (8-5).
The No. 2 team of Matthew Brown and Mark Prieb defeated Dohrman and Davis of Nickerson (8-4) in the first round, then lost to Johnson and Trifiletti of Conway Springs (4-8) and Harstine and Towne of Circle (4-8) in the battle for third.
For HHS White, Joe Fisher placed seventh in No. 1 singles, Steve Brown was eight in No. 2 singles, Brandon McMillen and J. Michael Hiebert were eighth in No. 1 singles and Sam Bookless and Ben Reiswig were eighth in No. 2 doubles.
Coming—HHS was scheduled to compete at the Hesston Invitational on Tuesday, then will do battle at the Sterling Invitational on Thursday. Matches at Sterling begin at 2 p.m.
