Despite claiming first place in both the singles and doubles competition, the Glendale Falcons finished runner-up as a team on Wednesday at Cooper Sports Complex in the Springfield Tennis Invitational. Jenks High School from Oklahoma took first place with 40 points, followed by Glendale’s 37.
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Glendale freshman Reid Jarvis beat the top-seeded Bennett Hughes from Jenks in the singles championship match 8-3. Jarvis went 6-0 in Wednesday’s tournament (including a first-round buy) and the title match was his most-contested match of the day.
“It feels great,” said Jarvis. “Everyone I played was an upper classman, so it was good going into it and I felt like I had nothing to lose going into that final.
“I watched [Hughes] earlier and I picked some stuff up,” Jarvis continued. “I knew he had a big game. He had a big serve and a big forehand. I just kind of figured out what I needed to do, came up with a game plan and executed it well.”
Springfield Catholic’s Jason Nayer forfeited the third-place match to Kickapoo’s Garrett Howard due to an injury default.
Glendale’s No. 1 doubles team of Hayden Fulk and Spencer Weller also defeated Jenks in the doubles title match. They beat Daniel Archer and Grayson Garmaker 8-4. Jenks’ second double team of Reed Slick and Nick Elias took third place over Glendale’s Alec Jarvis and Ben Collins 8-2.
Reid Jarvis, Alec’s younger brother, is the top player for Glendale as a freshman. He’s battled pain in his lower back this season, but felt good enough to pull off the upset over Jenks in the title match.
“I kind of eased into it with my first early rounds and then my back felt good in the final there,” he said. “I tweaked it a little bit in my last tournament, but it felt great today. So I just cruised.”
Glendale has enjoyed success recently on the tennis courts lately after seeing Micah Klousia play the last four years. Klousia finished second in the state tournament the last two years. It may be too early to judge, but Jarvis could be the next very good player to swing the racket for the Falcons.
“Hopefully I can go into districts healthy with everything good, and we’ll see,” said Jarvis. “I think I have a good shot.”
Wednesday’s Springfield Invitational tournament featured 28 schools, but two clearly stood above the rest. Kickapoo’s A team came in third place behind Glendale with just 21 points. Springfield Catholic finished fourth with 20 points and Nixa came in fifth with 16.5.
