DAWN | The new format for deciding the Class 5A boys’ tennis team state championship is in play, and two Aurora teams are among the top 16 teams in the mix.
Previously, the 5A state championship was decided by the cumulative points accumulated by the singles and doubles teams in their respective brackets during the individual state tournament, but the points could only be collected by the teams that had passed through the regional to qualify for the state.
The new college-style format sees full teams compete in head-to-head double matches and fight their way through a bracket until the team that wins the final duel on the 18th October at City Park in Denver hoists the 5A State Championship trophy.
Regis Jesuit and Grandview will represent Aurora in the tournament, which was put together by a committee of the Colorado High School Activities Association, which used a combination of UTR ranking, league strength, overall record, competitive strength, head-to-head competition. and common opponents to determine qualifications and seeds.
Full 5A Team State Tournament Rankings, Bracket, and Schedule, here
Coach Laura Jones’ Raiders were seeded No. 3 and coach Jeff Ryan’s Wolves were seeded No. 8, earning both a home game in the first round on September 28 .
Regis Jesuit finished 10-0 in doubles matches (including eight wins in Continental League competition) and won both the Western Slope Invitational and the Ralston Valley Invitational. One of the Raiders’ double wins came in Boulder on September 19, where they beat the Panthers 5-2. The teams will face off again in the state tournament at 3:30 p.m. on the courts at Colorado Athletic Club-Inverness, the home courts of Regis Jesuit this season.
In the regular season win over Boulder, the Raiders swept all four doubles games – KC Eckenhausen and Liam McDonnell at No. 1, Aidan Sobolevsky and Carl Siegel at No. 2, Joe Dorais and Tyler Ryan at No. 3 and Devin McCausland and Adam Rydel at No. 4 – while singles player No. 3 Brady Jenkins won in straight sets. Freshman No. 1 singles player William Dickey lost 11-9 in a third-set tiebreaker to Daniel Benjamin of the Panthers.
The winner of this match will advance to the quarter-finals on October 1 against the winner of No. 11 Mountain Vista and No. 6 Ralston Valley.
Grandview have improved a lot this season thanks to a strong base of returning players – including Alex Eckley and Caleb Hodges, who qualified for last season’s state tournament in doubles – plus the addition of young talent as well than the arrival of a foreign student. to No. 1 in singles at senior Eduard Tsaturyan. Tsaturyan played in seven matches and won them all, including a matchup with reigning 5A State Champion No. 1 in singles Aram Izmirian.
Wolves have a double record of 6-2 with one more to play (at Legend on September 26 in a rescheduled match) and will host ninth-seeded Monarch in a double first-round match at 3:30 p.m. The Coyotes – who played in the same Greeley West Invitational as Wolves on September 2 – own a double game record of 8-0.
The Grandview-Monarch winner advances to the quarterfinals with a likely matchup against top seed Cherry Creek — which has won 44 all-time state tag team championships — who is paired with No. 16 Heritage in the first round. The Wolves were very competitive with the Bruins in a Centennial League doubleheader before losing 6-1.
The regular men’s tennis season ends on September 29 and teams will be split into eight regional 5A brackets based on final league standings. Two players from each of seven positions at each regional advance to the 5A Individual State Tournament, which is scheduled for Oct. 13-15 at City Park in Denver.
Courtney Oakes is sports writer for Sentinel Colorado. Join it at [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports