Heritage brought more than enough firepower to the Class 5A state high school tennis championships to do well this year.
And do well they did.
After bringing 10 players to the state courts Oct. 15-17 at Gates Tennis Center in Denver, Heritage finished in fifth place with 18 points, tied with Rocky Mountain. Helping the Eagles do this was third place finishes from both their No. 2 doubles and No. 3 doubles teams.
In No. 2 doubles, Jamieson Reinhard and Deric Gallagher represented Heritage. After a win over their counterparts from Arvada West in the opening round and a three-set win over Boulder, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, the Eagles duo lost in the semifinals to the eventual second-place team from Regis.
Reinhard and Gallagher bounced back to make the third-place game and split sets against Fairview. The Eagles eventually won the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 for third place.
In No. 3 doubles, Heritage’s Woody Oliver and Matt Kramer gave up nothing in their third-place bout. Like Reinhard and Gallagher, the No. 3 duo also made their way to the semifinals, after a first-round win over Monarch and a quarterfinals win over Rocky Mountain. Oliver and Kramer lost the semifinals game to the eventual state champions Dylan Gust and Matt Colapinto of Regis in two sets.
In the third-place match, Heritage lost the first set in a 4-point tie breaker to Fairview. They later split sets with a 6-0 win in the second. Oliver and Kramer capped off a long day with another 4-point tie breaker in their favor to win the match in three, 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-6(4).
In other brackets, Heritage’s Mile Cole and Brian Zook made it to the quarterfinals of the No. 4 doubles tournament but were beaten out by Fairview. They were unable to place.
The Eagles’ Dillon McNamara and J.B. Bair qualified for the No. 1 doubles show. They also made the quarterfinals but were defeated there by the eventual champions Mark Miller and Alex Gnaegy of Regis. The duo had a spot in the playbacks but were unable to place.
Brennan Graham in No. 1 singles and Willie Payne in No. 2 singles, both juniors, also qualified for state but were unable to climb out of the first round.
Arapahoe
The Warriors brought a full boat to the state courts this season and as a team finished with one point to tie in 16th place with Air Academy and Arvada West. Picking up the point for Arapahoe was No. 3 doubles pair Van Becker and Jeff Craig. Becker and Craig made a quarterfinals appearance after a two-set win, including a 4-point tie breaker 7-6(4), 6-3 over Grand Junction in the first round. The duo lost in the quarterfinals in two sets to the eventual fourth-place winners from Fairview.
Also qualifying for the Warriors, but unable to pick up points, were senior Cole Conley in No. 1 singles, senior Ky Kocur in No. 2 singles, Cameron Weber in No. 3 singles, brothers Matt Friedrich and Paul Friedrich in No. 1 doubles, Spencer Leisy and Matt Nadel in No. 2 doubles and Matt Sabey and Luca Zafferani in No. 4 doubles.
Littleton
The Lions were also represented at the state nets, this year by a singles player and a doubles team. Junior Ben Cohen made it to the No. 3 singles bracket but lost in the first round to eventual fourth-placer Ben Halrorson of Cherry Creek.
Peter Blei and Kevin Dibala also qualified for the Lions in the No. 3 doubles race, but the duo was also finished after a loss to their counterparts from Chatfield in the first round.