Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Carter Bryce is representing the Eagles at the state singles tourney. The Thatcher senior entered the meet with an 8-0 seeding record.
Individual singles and doubles tourneys began Friday
By Raymundo Frasquillo
THATCHER – The top-ranked Thatcher Eagles (14-0 seeding, 23.2341 rating) host the No. 8 Gilbert Christian Knights (8-3, 10.1881) for the quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 3.
The Eagles ousted the No. 16 Saint David Tigers (9-3, 3.0749) 6-0 while the Knights eliminated the No. 9 Phoenix Veritas Prep Falcons (9-3, 8.3035) 5-3 during the first round on April 26.
The other Section I qualifier, No. 12 Safford (9-4, 7.5429) was eliminated by Section VI and No. 5 Anthem Prep Eagles (9-0, 13.2650) 5-1.
State Tourney
The Top 16 ranked teams and section champions qualified and met in the first round on April 26 at the higher seed. The quarterfinals are at the higher seed on May 3; the semifinals on May 5 and the finals on May 6 are both at the Glendale Paseo Racquet Center, 6268 West Thunderbird Road.
Other quarterfinalist round pairings include Anthem Prep at No. 4 Scottsdale Prep (11-1, 16.6215), No. 6 Waddell American Leadership – West Foothills (8-1, 12.0751) at No. 3 Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian (13-1, 18.6777), and No. 7 Chandler Prep (10-2, 10.8682) at No. 2 Phoenix Country Day School (10-0, 21.4005).
Also eliminated in the first round were No. 15 Glendale Prep (8-3, 4.7220), 5-0 by Phoenix Country Day; No. 14 Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (8-5, 5.2985), 5-0 by Pusch Ridge; No. 13 Tucson’s The Gregory School (9-1, 6.3185), 6-1 by Scottsdale Prep; No. 11 Gilbert Classical (7-4, 7.6206), 5-4 by American Leadership – West Foothills; No. 10 Tucson Tanque Verde (8-4, 8.0534), 5-1 by Chandler Prep; and No. 9 Phoenix Veritas Prep (9-3. 8.3035), 5-3 by Gilbert Christian.
Individual State Tourneys
A total of 20 Section I student-athlete boys will be competing in the state individual tourneys, four in singles and 16 in doubles.
The Individual first round began Friday, April 28 at the Glendale Paseo Racquet Center, 6268 West Thunderbird Road. The quarterfinals and semifinals are on Saturday, April 29, and the finals are on May 1.
Six Eagles, senior Carter Bryce (8-0), junior Brock Smith (8-5) along with the No. 5 senior duo of Hunter Sellers – Austin Haynie (9-3) and the No. 7 junior duo of Blake Kartchner – Gene Huish (13-0) will be participating in the individual tourneys.
The singles tourney round one started at 10 a.m. and round two at 4 p.m. on April 28; the quarterfinals begin at 1 p.m. and semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 29, and the finals are at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 1.
Doubles had an 11:30 a.m. round one start and 4 p.m. round two starts on April 28; quarterfinals are at 1 p.m. and semifinals at 4 p.m. on April 29, and the final is at 5 p.m. on May 1.
Other Section I entrants include Pima senior Leland Thompson (10-4) and Safford sophomore Bo Bowman (9-4) as well as the 9-4 Safford junior duo of Brayden Bowman – Thomas Biggs, the 9-5 Morenci senior duo of Jarel Diaz – Joshua Biggs, the 8-4 Safford duo of sophomore Camden Montierth – junior Kody Gluyas, the 6-6 Willcox sophomore duo of Nathaniel Aguilar – Keanu Ramil, the 6-7 Pima senior duo of Dillon McCray – Cooper Reed, and the 5-6 Duncan senior duo of Logan Basteen – Bryant Rapier.
Final State Rankings
The final Division III state rankings as of noon on April 19 had four teams from Section VII in the Top 16; three from Section IV; two apiece from Section I, Section II, Section III, and Section V; and one from Section VI.
The teams were Section I Thatcher (14-0 seeding, 23.2341 rating) No. 1, Section VII Phoenix Country Day School (10-0, 21.4005) No. 2, Section II Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian (13-1, 18.6777) No. 3, Section V Scottsdale Prep (11-1, 16.6215) No. 4, Section VI Anthem Prep (9-0, 13.2650) No. 5, Section VII Waddell American Leadership – West Foothills (8-1, 12.0751) No. 6, Section IV Chandler Prep (10-2, 10.8682) No. 7, and Section IV Gilbert Christian (8-3, 10.1881) No. 8.
Section V Phoenix Veritas Prep (9-3. 8.3035) No. 9, Section II Tucson Tanque Verde (8-4, 8.0534) No. 10, Section IV Gilbert Classical (7-4, 7.6206) was No. 11, Section I Safford (9-4, 7.5429) No. 12, Section III Tucson’s The Gregory School (9-1, 6.3185) No. 13, Section VII Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (8-5, 5.2985) No. 14, Section VII Glendale Prep (8-3, 4.7220) No. 15, and Section III Saint David (9-3, 3.0749) No. 16.
The other state rankings for Section I members were Morenci (9-5, 2.7024) No. 18, Willcox (8-5, 1.8457) No. 20, Pima (4-10, minus 7.0993) No. 32, Duncan (3-8, minus 10.3828) No. 37, and Benson (0-12, minus 19.6317) No. 44.
