By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For at least a decade the Thomas Jefferson boys tennis team has played for a district championship every season.
That doesn’t mean it’s an expectation for the Cavaliers, though.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” head coach Tom Brumfield said. “You’ve still got to work and achieve to get it. No one’s just going to let you have it. These guys put in a lot of work during the summer and the offseason. They didn’t just wait around and think we were going to win it so that makes a big difference.”
Thomas Jefferson made it three in a row – and at least eight of nine overall – with a convincing 5-0 win against Webb City Wednesday in the Class 2 District 7 championship.
Sophomore Tyler Brouhard’s 6-0, 6-1 win against Webb City senior Jackson Dill in No. 3 singles gave the top-seeded Cavaliers a 4-0 lead and made it a race to the finish with three other singles matches in progress.
Junior Ian Ding, the team’s No. 1 singles player, sealed the win with a 6-0, 6-0 win over senior Trenton Hayes.
“It’s pretty great,” Ding said. “We’ve been preparing all year for this and it’s real exciting to finally bring home another one.”
After more than a decade in Class 1, Wednesday marked the team’s first district championship at the Class 2 level.
“It’s good to see we can still compete with the guys at the higher level,” Ding said. “We were just ready to prove we’re capable of playing at this level as well.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
“It’s nice to actually finish the season and have success,” Brumfield said. “You don’t know what expectations you have sometimes because it’s been two years, kind of a layoff. You’re not sure what you’re going to have laid out in front of you sometimes. It’s great to finish and to finish well.”
The Cavaliers won all three doubles matches to put the Cardinals in a big hole.
Senior Noah Hamlett and Brouhard won 8-0 against Hayes and senior Cale Stephens. In No. 2 doubles, Ding and junior Hari Nagarajan won 8-2 against seniors Jackson Dill and Drake Miller. Freshmen Prithwi Nagarajan and Lele Qian won 8-0 against seniors Caiden Johnson and Tyler Wade in the third match.
“We set that as our goal,” Brumfield said. “I’ve been around this long enough, I tell them the stage is set with doubles, that’s where it’s won a lot of times is with doubles. If you can get off to a good start in doubles that puts a lot of pressure on the other team.”
Thomas Jefferson, which improved to 13-0, blanked Belton 5-0 in the semifinals and previously beat Webb City 9-0 in April. The second-seeded Cardinals won 5-0 against Carl Junction in the other semifinal match.
It had been at least a decade since Webb City last played for a district championship.
“This season has been a really important season for our school and for our kids,” head coach Stephany Kelley said.
“Most of my kids are kids who played baseball and found tennis somewhere along the way,” she said. “I think I only have a few boys who have played more than a year or two. We really weren’t sure what to expect but at some point these kids decided to believe in themselves and what they’ve done on the court this season is something special.”
Kelley said she told her players they had nothing to lose in a matchup against a juggernaut like Thomas Jefferson.
“They’re just a force,” she said. “There’s no two ways about it. They’re solid from top to bottom and they played a heck of a day of tennis as well.”
Hayes and Stephens will head to state for the Cardinals after placing second in doubles at the individual district tournament. So will Thomas Jefferson’s Hamlett and Brouhard, who took the individual doubles title. And Ding won the singles crown.
“We’re playing really well right now,” Ding said. “Hopefully we can continue this streak into sectionals and possibly even state.”
Brumfield said his team is playing its best tennis now.
“We’ve played some tougher competition lately and that’s going to give us some momentum and it’s given us a little more confidence, too,” he said.”
