The Trenton Bulldogs final tune-up for postseason tennis action brought a doubles championship for Kade Ockenfels and Creed Houghton, at Friday’s Benton Invitiational at Noyes Courts in St. Joseph.
Ockenfels and Houghton, playing in the Flight 2 doubles tournament, swept their way to a 3-0 record in winning a title, defeating Benton’s team of Josten Hailey and Wyatt Phillips in the quarterfinals, 10-1, taking a hard-fought 10-7 win over Bishop LeBlond’s Andy Davis and Andy Burns in the semifinals, and rolling to a 10-4 win over Savannah’s Jake Kennedy and Baten Krumme in the final.
Other champions from the day’s events were Savannah’s Tage Young in Flight 1 singles, Bishop LeBlond’s John Lierz and Teddy Sommers in Flight 1 doubles, Maryville’s Corby Roush in Flight 2 singles, and Savannah’s Kris Rudel and Kyle Johnson in Flight 3 doubles.
The Chillicothe Flight 1 doubles team of Dalton Rosenbach and Tyler Maasdam finished second, with the Hornets Nick Malloy second in Flight 2 singles.
Trenton finished in 4th place in the final team standings.
Trenton’s #1 doubles team of Nick Shields and Jacob Davis finished in third place, winning their opening round match in a 10-2 romp over Payton Redemer and Austin Turner of Benton, falling to the eventual champions from LeBlond (Lierz and Sommers) in the semifinal, in a 7-3 tiebreak, after the teams had split 20 games right down the middle (10-10). Shields and Davis bounced back well in the third place match, taking down Raven Hansaker and Aiden Ervin of Savannah 10-5.
Trenton’s #1 singles entry, Wyatt Neal, went 0-3 in his matches, falling to Benton’s Bostyn Horn 2-10, LeBlond’s Gian Lombardino 2-10, and Tage Young of Savannah love-10.
In #2 singles, Trenton’s Gabe Swann finished fourth, shutting out Benton’s Spencer Hendrix in the opening round 10-love, falling to Caleb Lombardino of LeBlond in the semifinals 8-10, and Josh Hegeman of Savannah in the third place match 7-10.
In #3 doubles, Trenton’s entry of Weston Otto and Jeremy Elliott went 1-2, opening with a 10-6 win over Calan Taylor and Jared Silvey of Benton, before falling 3-10 to Elliot Rocha and Nick Schultz of LeBlond, and 2-10 to Kris Rudel and Kyle Johnson of Savannah.
Trenton’s successful spring on the tennis court has earned the Bulldogs a #2 seed in the Class 1, District 15 tournament, and a first-round bye. In first-round action at 4 o’clock on Monday afternoon, the #3 seed Chillicothe Hornets host the Cameron Dragons, with that winner traveling to Trenton for a semifinal date with the Bulldogs on Tuesday afternoon (4 o’clock).
The Richmond Spartans, seeded #5, travel to Carrollton on Monday for a first-round dual with the #4 seeded Trojans. The winner will play at #1 seed Excelsior Springs on Tuesday at 4 o’clock.
The Class 1, District 15 championship match will be Wednesday afternoon at 4 o’clock.
