Nevada tennis team's season ends in Harrisonville

NHS sophomore Jaden Theis reaches for a volley during Class 1 District 12 doubles last week in Bolivar.

File photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

Although its top player isn’t done yet, the Nevada High School boys tennis team’s season came to an end in the Class 1 District 12 tournament Monday at Harrisonville.

The Tigers picked up a pair of wins — one in singles, one in doubles — but the Wildcats won the necessary five matches to advance to the next round to face Bolivar.

Just three days after beating Harrisonville’s Aden Dutter in straight sets to win the individual district championship, NHS junior no. 1 singles player Evan Rea easily handled Dutter again on Monday for a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

Meanwhile, junior Jamin Mosher and freshman Trey Streeter, as Nevada’s no. 3 doubles partners, beat Harrisonville’s Elijah Parris and Garett Peterman in a hard-fought tiebreaker 9-8 (7-3) for the Tigers’ lone other win.

On a day in which NHS head coach Clayton Wheeler stated his squad struggled with closing out sets despite early leads, Andrew La Near lost to Nathan Barnett 7-5, 7-6 (10-8) in no. 2 singles, Chosen Reichard lost to Nicholas Saffels 7-5, 6-2 in no. 3 singles, Jaden Theis lost to Braden Schrock 6-3, 6-2 in no. 4 singles, Rea and La Near lost to Dutter and Schrock 8-6 in no. 1 doubles, and Reichard and Theis lost to Barnett and Saffels 8-6 in no. 2 doubles.

Rea will square off against Mt. Vernon senior Chase Strong to open Class 1 Sectional 6 individual action at 1 p.m. Friday in Mt. Vernon. When the two played at a regular-season dual back in April, Rea beat Strong 8-0. The winner of that match (in addition to automatically qualifying for the state tournament) will get the winner of Dutter versus Mt. Vernon’s Isaac Barker.