Nevada netters double up Smith-Cotton H.S., 6-3

Pictured above: Nevada High School senior Braeden Hinton, waits on a pitch during an early-season contest with Warrensburg.

Matt Resnick | Daily Mail

The Nevada High School tennis team’s excellent start to the season continued Tuesday, as the Tiger netters rolled to a 6-3 victory over Smith Cotton H.S. on a frigid evening at the Nevada tennis courts.

The West Central Conference triumph improved Nevada to 2-0 overall, and 1-0 in WCC-play.

“It was a big win tonight,” said NHS coach Clayton Wheeler. “It’s a good feeling to start out conference-play with a win — especially since we have not beaten Smith-Cotton before.”

At No. 1 singles, Nevada’s Tanner Gotschall was upended by David Cho, 8-4. Nevada’s No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 — Sam Rea, Caleb Theis, and Jace Lanham won their singles matches by identical 8-5 margins. Nevada No. 4 Colson Fisher steamrolled Colton Mitchell, 8-1. In the No. 6 singles match, Nevada’s Gabe Barnes fell to Even Luebbert, 8-1.

In doubles matches, Nevada’s top duo Gotschall and Theis, were edged by Cho and Vladislav Husyev, 8-6. The Tigers No. 2 tandem Rea and Barnes, breezed over Jared Baker and Jack Geary, 8-3. And at No. 3 doubles, Nevada’s Fisher and Lanham took down Mitchell and Luebert, 8-1.

Meanwhile, in junior varsity doubles matches, Nevada’s No. 1 JV duo Holden Petitt and Gage Turner, were blanked by Colby Edgar and Michael Cho, 6-0.

At No. 2, Nevada’s Spencer Hawkins and Gage Rubin were turned back by Zachary Barnes and Andrew Matz, 6-2. Nevada’s No. 3 tandem Joe Hendrix and Ben Sudkamp were doubled up by Matthew Baldinger and Blake Perez, 6-3.

“Overall, I felt we played better than we did last week against Carl Junction,” noted Wheeler, of Nevada’s season-opening 5-4 non-conference road victory.

Wheeler said he is excited about his club’s early play, and hopes to see them reach their full potential in the near future.

“We have a very grueling schedule for the month of April, and we will just need to focus on the next opponent and take it one match at a time,” he said.

Up next

Nevada returns to the courts Thursday, for a non-conference road match-up with Carthage.

See a future edition of the Daily Mail for all the latest on Nevada Tiger tennis