The Red team, featuring the top six Trojan players, scored 43 points to finish behind Conway Springs (58), Smoky Valley (46) and Chapman (45) and ahead of Nickerson (38), Hutchinson Trinity (24) and Hillsboro White (10). Circle did not participate as originally planned.
Clay Shewey claimed fourth place in No. 1 singles for the Red team while Nolan Dirks placed seventh.
Shewey received a bye in the first round, then lost to Andrew Labenz of Trinity 5-8 and Alan Lange of Conway Springs 3-8.
Dirks lost to eventual champion Brett Salsbury of Chapman 1-8 and Conner Chambers of Smoky Valley 1-8 before receiving a bye in the seventh-place match.
In No. 1 doubles, Ben Heyen and Taylor Hagen of the Red team placed third. They defeated Luederding and Keating of Chapman 8-0 in the first round, lost to eventual champions Pauly and Stratton-Lange of Conway Springs 1-8, then defeated Osner and Steffen of Conway Springs 8-5.
In No. 2 singles, Jarod Hamm placed fourth for the Red team. He defeated Trenton Kern of Chapman 8-3, then lost to eventual champion Alan Tajchman of Chapman 3-8 and to Paul Masterson of Smoky Valley 7-8 (1).
For the White team, Brandon McMillen lost to Tajchman 1-8 and Kern 6-8 before defeating Caleb Ross of Chapman 8-5.
In No. 2 doubles, Joe Fisher and Ben Gottsch of the Red team defeated Thibault and Salas of Trinity 8-4, lost to eventual champions Dohrman and Davis of Nickerson 5-8, then lost to Trifiletti and Johnson of Conway Springs 4-8 to place fourth.
For the White team, Jonathan King and Dimitri McClelland lost to Dohrman and Davis 2-8, and Thibault and Salas 3-8, before defeating Hillsboro?s Samuel Bookless and Jonathan King 5-8 for seventh.
Bookless and King, filling a vacancy in the bracket, lost previously to Trifiletti and Johnson 0-8 and Linder and Thacker of Chapman 3-8.
?Overall, the guys continued to compete hard and improve,? coach Stuart Holmes said. ?The Hillsboro Red team was just one win away from tying or earning the second-place plaque.
?A highlight would certainly include Taylor and Ben placing third, as they played some nice tennis during the day.?
Smoky Valley?Hillsboro finished sixth out of eight schools at the Smoky Valley Tennis Day Invitational April 1.
Hesston won the tournament with 46 points, followed by Smoky Valley with 39, Abilene 29, Wichita Collegiate 19, Concordia 18, Hillsboro 13, Nickerson 4 and Pratt 0.
Clay Shewey placed fourth and Jarod Hamm 10th in singles for Hillsboro. Both went 2-2 for the day. In his semifinals match, Shewey was ahead of eventual champion Chase Dippel through five games before Dippel rallied for an 8-5 final.
In doubles, Ben Heyen and Nolan Dirks tied for 11th at 1-2 and Mathew Brown and Mark Prieb placed 13th at 2-2.
?Overall, the guys played better and there was improvement since the first meet,? said coach Stuart Holmes.
Coming?Hillsboro is scheduled to compete at Circle on Thursday.
