By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Central High Bulldogs downed the Kickapoo Chiefs 5-0 to claim this year’s Class 3 District 5 championship. The match, delayed by inclement weather, was held at the Cooper Tennis Complex on Wednesday, May 10.
“We had to battle and be patient through some stormy weather conditions, but even at that, our kids were very excited about playing Kickapoo in the district championship final,” said Central head coach Donita Cox. “As this was for our district title, they had an extra incentive to play well and do their best.”
“But besides competing our kids had a lot of fun today, not only among themselves but also with the Chiefs,” she said. “They’ve been competing against each other for the past few years, and besides being adversaries on the court, they’re also good friends which makes a match like today, as important as it was, also fun to watch.”
The Bulldogs jumped out in front of the Chiefs 3-0, after sweeping three straight doubles matches, to build what appeared and proved to be, an insurmountable lead.
In recapping doubles play: Central’s No. 1 doubles team comprised of Raghav Bansal and Pranav Mandava defeated Kickapoo’s Hart Hillman and Qiantong Bai 8-5; No 2’s- Central’s Joshua Kim and Wooyoung Park downed Kickapoo’s Jonathan Chou and Lucas Jordan 8-2 and No. 3’s- Central’s Cole Brodeur and Shyam Rama defeated Kickapoo’s Jackson Musil and Spencer Musil 8-3.
The Bulldogs grabbed two singles victories right away, following doubles play, to close out Kickapoo and pick up this year’s tournament title.
Collecting singles wins for the Bulldogs were Joshua Kim, with an 6-2, 6-0 victory over Hart Hillman and Raghav Bansal who downed Qiantong Bai 6-0, 6-0.
The victory, which took nearly three and a half hours to complete due to the rainy weather, was well received by the Bulldogs and their coach.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
“This was a big win for our kids against a very good and well coached Kickapoo team,” said coach Cox. “Coach Wilbur always does a great job with his kids.”
“But winning our district tournament is something we’ve worked hard to do all season,” she said. “Today our kids got it done and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Although dropping the match, which ended the season for the Chiefs in the win-or-go-home match, Kickapoo head coach Eric Wilbur said he couldn’t have been more pleased with the effort he saw from his kids.
“Both teams played at a level that was really entertaining tennis to watch. Both teams fought very hard, but today was Central’s day, they got the win and our district title, ” he said. “We knew we had a tough battle in front of us, but our kids played them tough and I’m very proud of all of their efforts.”
With the victory the Class 3 District 5 champion Bulldogs are now headed to next week’s quarterfinals.
“At (quaterfinals) we’ll be competing against the winner of District 6 at either the Cooper Complex or Gillenwaters here in Springfield,” said Cox. “With a win there, our kids would move on to compete in the state championship’s Final Four. So, for our team, our school and our community (quarterfinals) is going to be a big one.”
