The Trenton Bulldogs have won a third consecutive district championship in boys tennis, backing up last week’s success with an individual singles championship, and sending both doubles entries to sectionals, after a very successful trip to Excelsior Springs on Monday.
The day for Trenton started with byes for singles player Gabe Swann and a pair of byes for the doubles teams of Nick Shields and Creed Houghton, and Jeremy Elliott and Isaac Harris. Trenton’s Weston Otto was in first round singles action, falling to Lohman of Excelsior Springs 6-4, 6-2.
The Bulldogs began to build momentum in the quarterfinal round, although, in doubles play, the team of Elliott and Harris had to rally from an early deficit, losing the first set to Anderson and Chastain of Cameron 6-4. Elliott and Harris roared back to take the final two sets and the win (6-3, 6-2). Shields and Houghton blitzed the Richmond team of Didier and Claypole, 6-love, 6-1. Gabe Swann rolled to a 6-love, 6-2 win over Nelson of Chillicothe.
In the semifinals, Swann continued his dominance with a 6-love, 6-love shutout of Helmich of Cameron, with Shields and Houghton shutting out Crowe and Johnson of Chillicothe 6-love, 6-love. Elliott and Harris pulled out a hard-fought first set against Davis and Davis of Carrollton 7-5, before cruising in the second set 6-1.
In the singles championship, Swann met Tyler Maasdam of Chillicothe, winning 6-1, 6-3. In the doubles final, TWO Trenton squads went toe-to-toe, with Shields and Houghton winning 6-1, 6-1 over Elliott and Harris.
In an improvement over an outstanding 2018 run, Trenton in sectionals, will send five players through to the next round, compared to the four of one year ago. In the action at Excelsior Springs, Shields, on his way to the singles gold, won his 100th career varsity match as a Bulldog.
On Thursday afternoon, the Bulldogs claimed the Class 1, District 15 team championship with a head-to-head victory over the rival Chillicothe Hornets 5-1, the Bulldogs third consecutive district crown. The win improved Trenton’s season record to 13-0, dropping the Hornets to 6-7.
Trenton’s wins against Chillicothe came from Shields (over Maasdam) 6-2, 6-love (#1 singles), Gabe Swann (over Noah Crowe) 6-0, 6-1 (#2 singles), and Jeremy Elliott (over Seth Batye) 6-3, 6-3 (#4 singles).
In doubles, Chillicothe’s #3 entry of Batye and Sampsel beat Trenton’s Harris and Otto 8-6, with the Bulldogs clinching the district title with dominant victories from Shields and Houghton and Swann and Elliott, both by 8-2 final scores.
Photo credit – David Sager / Trenton HS Tennis / Excelsior Springs, MO
