DENVER — Peak to Peak boys tennis rolled into Tuesday’s Class 4A team state semifinal match with relative ease, dropping opponents like flies. But the undefeated Pumas had yet to face a team like Colorado Academy.
During their meeting at Colorado Academy, the No. 3 Pumas saw their team-centric run come to an end with a 7-0 loss to the No. 2 Mustangs, who will now move on to play top-seeded Kent Denver in the state championship.
Pumas head coach Matt Palmer said he hopes the experience will help sharpen his boys ahead of the individual state tournament, which is set to take place from Thursday to Saturday at Pueblo City Park.
“We’ve played some good teams, but they’re at the next level,” Palmer said of CA. “It was an eye-opening experience for them, but this is the kind of match that will help prepare them for state on Thursday.”
That’s not to say the Pumas didn’t put up a good fight, especially at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
Following a shaky first set that saw him lose 6-1, junior No. 2 singles man Shreyas Sundaresan battled all the way back in the second to make Oliver Neely play a tiebreak.
“I just got really caught off guard by how he played. It was really weird,” Sundaresan said. “I expected him to just slap everything, but it was a high, loopy ball. I got nervous and lost my head, and after the first set I had some time to reset. After that, I started kind of settling in, playing how I usually play. I’m usually really aggressive. I like to slap side to side.”
He won the second set with a 7-5 score, then lost the tiebreak 11-9. He said the rare setback helped open his eyes to what kind of competition he’ll see later this week. He was 10-0 before it.
“Now I know what to expect,” Sundaresan said. “I’m going to go in with a plan next time. I know what I’m up against now. I know relative to him how the other teams are going to fare after they play Kent, and I’ll have a solid game plan going in.”
At 3 singles, freshman Cody Palmer gave Colorado Academy senior Craig Stapleton a serious run for his money, making sure he earned every single point in a second set that saw Stapleton eventually win 7-6 (7-1). He claimed the first by a much smoother score of 6-2.
“I felt like I was playing myself and the opponent, so it was like one-vs.-two,” Cody said. “I just changed that and adrenaline. I was down 2-5, I think. I saved six match points. I kind of was like, if he wins, he’s going to win off of his shot, not my shot. I just tried to clear my mind.”
Despite the loss, Cody said he was proud of the way he held his own against an older opponent and looks forward to what the rest of his high school career will bring. His father echoed that statement, noting that the team’s earlier 4-3 victory over D’Evelyn — which lost in the semis to Kent Denver — was a huge step forward for the program.
Most of the boys will enter the individual state tournament as the No. 3 or No. 4 seeds in their respective lines.
“We’re really good at staying present in the moment,” Matt Palmer said. “We’ve had really good team camaraderie throughout the year. Our talent level maybe is slightly higher, but not that much higher. I think we’ve just battled a little bit more in the closest matches to win tiebreakers and close matches and make it so we were undefeated.”
Playing on
The team tennis tournament getting closer and closer to its acme, but that doesn’t mean that local athletes are done playing yet. Thirty-four boys from the BoCoPreps coverage area qualified for the 5A and 4A individual state tournaments, which will begin Thursday at Denver Tennis Park and Pueblo City Park, respectively.
In 5A, Fairview’s Luke Treleaven and Monarch’s Isaac Anderson lead the way at No. 1 singles, while Dawson’s Cole Cohen, Frederick’s Josiah Brittenham and Peak to Peak’s Vivaan Bhardwaj hold the same honor for the top line in 4A.
Here’s everyone who qualified.
Class 5A
No. 1 singles: Luke Treleaven, Fairview; Isaac Anderson, Monarch
No. 2 singles: Ajay Chandran, Monarch; Adhrit Sundaresan, Fairview
No. 3 singles: Troy Games, Monarch; Itay Kazatcker, Fairview; Kirby Pierce, Broomfield
No. 1 doubles: Ben Thomas/Eli Greene, Centaurus
No. 2 doubles: Rafa Cortes/Colin Ryan, Fairview; Dallin Shelley/Tanner Keegan, Broomfield
No. 3 doubles: Neal Blackwelder/Sam Vigmostad, Centaurus; Grant Garabed/Quinn Ruder, Fairview; Oliver Kopel/Jackson Beasley, Monarch
No. 4 doubles: Om Vegesna/Srikar Kurakula, Fairview; Owen Gryboski/Memphis Mackley, Broomfield
Class 4A
No. 1 singles: Cole Cohen, Dawson; Josiah Brittenham, Frederick; Vivaan Bhardwaj, Peak to Peak
No. 2 singles: Shreyas Sundaresan, Peak to Peak; Oskar Hansen, Niwot
No. 3 singles: Nick Steinkamp, Dawson; Cody Palmer, Peak to Peak
No. 1 doubles: Dmitri Zaronias/Noah Swartz, Peak to Peak; Colin McLeod/Bassam ElHoury, Dawson; Cooper Herchert/Rex Baxter, Silver Creek
No. 2 doubles: Claude Leonard/Zhuming Haratsaris, Niwot; Adi Gaur/Anders Todd, Peak to Peak; Leo Barrett/Mason Otten, Silver Creek
No. 3 doubles: Gryffin Lawrence/Rylan Hayes, Niwot; Marcos Lopez Flaus/Damian Gorsevski, Peak to Peak; Zach Hoppes/Matthew Tran, Prospect Ridge; Chayse Rawsky/Sam Price, Dawson
No. 4 doubles: Walker Karp/Ashwin Kothari, Dawson; Lex Lomanov/Rahul Agarwal, Niwot
View a list of Prep sports and high school teams we cover.