ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY STAFF
In their first shot at singles play this season, Michael Hagen and Jared Hefley fueled the Hillsboro High School tennis team to a third-place finish in the seven-team Trojan Invitational Thursday at the Sports Complex.
Hagen finished second in No. 1 singles, beating Kevin Arnhold of Hutch Trinity 8-0 and Jon Hecker of Circle 8-1 before losing to Christopher Schaubmayr of Chapman 2-8.
Coach Lonnie Isaac was pleased with Hagen?s play and said Schaubmayr, a foreign exchange student, should be a contender for the Class 4A state title.
Hefley, meanwhile, finished third in No. 2 singles, defeating Sean Dennard of Chapman 8-1, losing to Justin Laymon of Circle 7-8, then coming back to beat Nick Finecy, Hutch Trinity, 8-0.
The Trojans? No. 1 doubles team of Brandon Ratzlaff and Nick Unruh went 1-2 on the day, beating Breeden/LeClair of Greensburg 8-4 before falling 2-8 to Gerber/Lynn of Conway Springs and 6-8 to Dill/ Murphy of Chapman.
Caleb Dirks and Zach Unruh, the No. 2 doubles team, defeated Gumble/Harris of Hutch Trinity 8-4, then lost to Griffin/Sandbo, Smoky Valley, 3-8, and Dalbom/Hallocy, Conway Springs, 1-8.
To fill out the brackets for a full eight teams, Isaac played Adam Driggers in the No. 1 singles flite and Kaleb Borg and Jordan Woelk in No. 1 doubles.
Driggers lost to Dennis Matzen of Conway Springs 1-8 and Zane Wedel of Greensburg 6-8, then defeated Clancy O?Connor of Smoky Valley 8-3.
Borg/Woelk lost all three of their matches: 0-8 to Gerber/Lynn Conway Springs; 1-8 to Breeden/ LeClair, Greensburg, and 7-8 to Stucklik/Emerson, Circle.
Smoky Valley?Playing in perhaps their toughest tournament of the regular season, the Trojans finished in eighth place in the eight-team Smoky Valley Invitational April 4.
?They had some of the top 4A teams there, and a lot of state qualifiers in that group,? Isaac said.
The No. 1 doubles team of Michael Hagen and Jared Hefley earned the only Trojan wins on the day, finishing fifth among 15 doubles teams with a 3-1 record.
All the doubles and singles teams each played in one 16-team bracket rather than playing in two flites.
Hagen and Hefley defeated Regnier/Deal of Concordia 8-2, lost a tight match to Lunt/Dutoit of Pratt 7-8 after leading 7-4 at one point, defeated Alfaro/Jantz of Hesston 8-4, and defeated Boyd/Gaccions of Abilene 2-8.
The Trojans? other doubles team of Nick Unruh and Zach Unruh lost to Francisco/Jost of Collegiate 0-8 and to Yoder/Sullivan of Nickerson 4-8.
In singles play, Brandon Ratzlaff lost to Travis Emerson of Nickerson 2-8 and Eric Paxton of Collegiate 6-8. Adam Driggers lost to Brian Harvey of Pratt 0-8 and David Jones of Abilene 2-8.
On Thursday, the Trojans travel to a meet at Towanda. Matches begin at 3 p.m. by S
Hagen leads HHS to third-place finish at home meet
