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McCook tennis boys headed to Class B state meet
The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) has done away with district meet qualification for Class B boys tennis.
That means that each of the 25 schools competing in Class B can send entries in the two singles and two doubles divisions to the state meet that starts a two-day run Thursday, Oct. 13, in Lincoln. First-round matches are slated to begin at 8 a.m. at the Nebraska Tennis Center, located on the northeast edge of Lincoln.
While McCook High School might not be among the top teams at this year's state meet, the Bison are looking for success in the form of wins, and hopefully getting competitors to advance to the Friday morning, Oct. 14 semifinals.
The Bison will be represented at state by Connor Palic in No. 1 singles, Cody Jankovits in No. 2 singles, the No. 1 doubles team of Tristan Thomas and Drew Bredvick, plus the No. 2 doubles team of Mack Alspaugh and Lucas Post.
McCook state seeds
Palic, a senior with a 9-9 season record, is seeded 11th in No. 1 singles. Palic will face Guillermo Ortiz of South Sioux City (senior, 1-7) in first-round action Thursday at the Nebraska Tennis Center. The winner will meet sixth seed David Deemer of College View Academy (senior, 11-3) in second-round action Thursday.
Bison head coach Matt Wiemers said Palic has been playing pretty well, and he is hoping for the senior to make a bid to reach the semifinals.
Jankovits (junior, 11-6) drew the eighth seed in No. 2 singles. Cody will meet Timothy Harris of Lexington in the first round. Jankovits beat Harris, 8-0, at last week's Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference meet.
"If Cody doesn't overlook him, he won't have any problems there," Wiemers said.
The Jankovits-Harris winner will most likely face ninth-seed Quinten Harshberger of Grand Island Central Catholic in the second round, with top see Nikita Fomichev of Elkhorn South probably waiting in the quarterfinals.
Thomas and Bredvick are seeded ninth in No. 1 doubles, with Trey Martin and Michael Byrne of Ralston (3-6) as their first-round foe. The winner will then meet the eighth seed team from Hastings (16-18) in the quarterfinals.
Coach Wiemers said the Ralston duo has a couple of good wins this season.
"It's going to be a tough match, but I think Tristan and Drew are playing pretty well. They played well at conference," Wiemers said.
Alspaugh and Post drew a first-round bye as the eighth seed in No. 2 doubles. They will meet the Lincoln Christian-Ralston winner in the quarterfinals.
Mixed emotions about districts
Wiemers said he has mixed emotions about the demise of district tournament qualifying. He likes the current setup, that every player in the state gets the chance to compete at state. He said the Lincoln facility has plenty of courts to finish all the state meet matches in two days.
But he also said the district meets "weeded out" weaker opponents, and now the early-round state meet matches are basically the same matches many teams would face at districts.
The Bison team planned to depart for Lincoln Wednesday afternoon, and Coach Wiemers is hoping to get a practice session in for his players Wednesday evening at the Nebraska Tennis Center.