By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys tennis team came up just short of a title sweep in Thursday's city tournament, dropping its final match in a tiebreaker.
Topeka West senior twin brothers Ian Cusick (left) and Miles Cusick were all smiles Thursday en route to their third straight city No. 1 doubles championship. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
City tennis standouts Carter Cool of Topeka West (left) and Mason Casebeer of Washburn Rural congratulate each other after Cool won his second No. 1 city singles title with an 8-5 decision. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West's tennis team captured its third straight city team title (outright or shared) Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. The Chargers won the 2023 title by a 30-26 margin over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But after winning the 2021 city title by a single point over Washburn Rural and sharing the championship with the Junior Blues in 2022, the Chargers left no doubt on Thursday, sweeping the No. 1 and 2 city singles titles and taking the No. 1 doubles crown en route to a 30-26 victory over Rural at Kossover Tennis Center.
"We played better,'' West coach Kurt Davids said about the Chargers' performance. "We've talked a lot about first-round matches and early matches and then finishing strong.
"We're still moving up in the right direction. We've got another chance at league on Tuesday and we'll keep working.''
Senior Carter Cool captured the second city No. 1 singles title of his career with a hard-earned 8-5 win over Washburn Rural senior Mason Casebeer while senior twin brothers Ian and Miles Cusick won their third city title in No. 1 doubles in as many tries with an 8-0 win over Washburn Rural senior Kiefer Von Lintel and freshman Dylan Willingham.
Cool had another tough match with Casebeer in Thursday's final after taking a tiebreaker win over his friendly city rival in the recent Topeka West Invitational.
"I'd say that this finals match has been my closest and my hardest all year,'' Cool said. "I knew that coming into today and it played out like I thought it would be, too.''
Cool had been forced to rally from a big deficit to beat Casebeer in the West meet, but played Casebeer on pretty much even terms Thursday before closing out the win.
"I didn't want to get down,'' Cool said. "My coach talked to me before the match and we were like, 'We don't want to have a comeback again, we'd like to just stay ahead.' But even though I got a little down it was a lot closer than the first match was.''
The Cusick twins have had a little bit of an up and down campaign this spring but showed notice Thursday that they may be rounding into the form that produced a Class 5A state doubles championship a season ago.
"I think we played probably some of the best doubles we've played so far this season,'' Miles Cusick said. "Leading up to the state tournament we just need to focus on the little things, no unforced errors. For me it's making my volleys, making my returns.
"I think when we do those things and we do them well it's 10 times easier for us to win matches.''
Ian Cusick agreed that the city meet was a step forward to where he and his brother need to be in postseason.
"These are some of the meets that are the most important and I think we're coming together at the right time,'' Ian said.
Topeka West junior James Maag earned his first city title in the No. 2 singles division, taking an 8-1 win over Rural junior Lawson Labatos in the final.
Washburn Rural's No. 2 doubles team of junior Dylan Dodge and freshman Keegan Knudtson prevented a West title sweep, earning a hard-earned 8-7 (7-4 tiebreaker) decision over Topeka West juniors Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew.
Shawnee Heights finished third in the team race with 17 points, getting a third-place finish from Jake Emmons in No. 1 singles and from Miles Robison in No. 2 singles.
Emmons took an 8-3 win over Seaman's Gavin Dutton while Robison took an 8-2 win over Seaman's Ethan Winters.
Fourth-place Hayden got a third-place finish in No. 1 doubles from Gus Glotzbach and Joseph Luke (8-1 over Seaman) and in No. 2 doubles from Eli Wahlmeier and Daxton Ham (8-3 over Shawnee Heights).
Hayden, Topeka High and Washburn Rural will compete in the Centennial League tournament on Monday at Kossover while Seaman, Shawnee Heights and Topeka West will compete in the United Kansas Conference tournament Tuesday at Kossover.
TOPEKA CITY TENNIS
Team scores
Topeka West 30, Washburn Rural 26, Shawnee Heights 17, Hayden 15, Seaman 14, Topeka High 9, Highland Park 5.
Individual results
Singles
No. 1 -- Championship: Cool, Topeka West, def. Casebeer, Washburn Rural, 8-5.. Third place: Emmons, Shawnee Heights, def. Dutton, Seaman, 8-3.
No. 2 -- Championship: Maag, Topeka West, def. Labatos, Washburn Rural, 8-1. Third place: Robison, Shawnee Heights, def Winters, Seaman, 8-2.
Doubles
No. 1 -- Championship: I. Cusick/M. Cusick, Topeka West, def. Von Lintell/Willingham, Washburnn Rural, 8-0. Third place: Glotzbach/Luke, Hayden, def. Thompson/Anderson, Seaman, 8-1.
No. 2 -- Championship: Dodge/Knudtson, Washburn Rural, def. McGee/Weybrew, Topeka West, 8-7 (7-4). Third place: Waahlmeier/Ham, Hayden, def. Bell/Longstaff, Shawnee Heights, 8-3.
