The Trenton Bulldogs found varying degrees of success on Friday, participating in the Class 1, District 15 individual tennis to tournament. While THS failed to pick up a individual championship, a pair of second-place finishes will advance singles competitor Gabe Swann and the doubles team of Nick Shields and Jacob Davis to the sectional tournament on Monday. Top two finishers in both singles and doubles advance to the sectional round.
Trenton brought two singles entries and two doubles entries to districts, and started the day with a perfect record of 4-0. Wyatt Neal of THS beat DiFalco of Excelsior Springs 6-3, 6-3; Swann beat Funk of Cameron 6-1, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreak); while both doubles teams (Shields/Davis and Ockenfels/Houghton) advanced with first round byes.
In the quarterfinal round, Trenton went 3-1, with the only setback coming from Neal, falling to Lopez of Richmond in singles play 5-7, 1-6. In singles, Swann moved into the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Fitzpatrick of Carrollton. Neal’s loss ended his day at 1-1, but reaching the quarterfinals was an improvement for Wyatt from a year ago.
Shields and Davis opened their day with a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Bremer and Anderson of Cameron, while Ockenfels and Houghton won in straight sets over Maasdam and Rosenbach of Chillicothe.
In the semifinals, Swann continued to roll, guaranteeing himself a trip to sectionals, with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Malloy of Chillicothe. In a dramatic rally from a poor start, Shields and Davis lost their first set against Anderson and Henington of Chillicothe love-6, returned the favor with a 6-love win in Set #2, then won a 7-2 tiebreaker in the final set to beat the Hornet duo, 7-6.
The teams of Ockenfels and Houghton lost in the semifinals to Forstner and Rogers of Excelsior Springs 6-3, 7-5.
Swann lost the singles title match to Manuel Lopez of Richmond 6-3, 6-2, while Shields and Davis lost to Forstner and Rogers 6-4, 6-3. However, Ockenfels and Houghton took down Anderson and Henington in the third place match, 8-6. In singles play in Section 8, Swann and Lopez will be joined by Bishop LeBlond’s John Lierz and Bostyn Horn of St. Joseph Benton.
