Pine Creek, Doherty players appreciate experience of 5A boys tennis tournament

DENVER – Pine Creek junior Jackson Zenner took a long minute to think about the progress he has made on the tennis court in the last year.

A year ago, he was a JV player watching those around him get their shot at advancing to the Class 5A boys tennis state tournament. He wanted to get there.

From the time the 2020 ended, he hit the court as much as possible. He worked on his craft, improving his forehand and backhand shots and just becoming an overall better tennis player. That effort got him a win at the state tournament and the desire to keep up that work ethic heading into next year.

“My goal is to win the whole thing next year,” Zenner said. “I’m playing really good players, but my work ethic is there. I was a JV player last year and this year I won a state match at No. 2 singles. If I work as hard as I did last year, I’ll be good next year.”

He got his win over Monarch’s Luke Jensen, who qualified for the state tournament by winning the Region 5 No. 2 singles title last week. Zenner got the first set 7-6 then dropped the second 6-4 before cruising to a 6-1 win in the third set to advance to the quarterfinals.

That’s where he ran into Cherry Creek’s Matt Batmunkh who rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win. Zenner is still alive, and his fate could be determined tomorrow. Should Batmunkh advance to the No. 2 singles final, Zenner will be placed in the playback bracket and have a chance to battle for a medal come Saturday.

But he can’t help but think about what he did last offseason and how he can use the same approach to improve on his placement next year.

“I played every day for like two hours,” Zenner said. “The only day I took off might’ve been Christmas Day.”
 

Doherty’s Vaughn Bigss suffered a similar fate in No. 1 singles. As one of the first matches on for the day, Bigss found himself in a quick hole and ended up losing to Monarch’s Conner Smith 6-3, 6-2.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to compete at state for the first time,” Bigss said. “To finish high school that way means a lot and I have to thank everyone who helped me along the way: my coaches, my dad. They’re all great people.”

Pine Creek added a doubles win later in the day as Parker Kancir and Eric Forester battled to a three-set win over Monarch’s Garret Winkelbauer and Clay Hafner. They lost to Ralston Valley’s RIley Steputis and Calder Hardin 7-5, 6-2 in the second round.

Liberty had two doubles teams in the tournament but both fell in the first round. Ryan Hansen and Trevor Stolk lost to Fairview’s Rafa Volkamer Pastor and Ben Mei Dan 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles. Sam White and Llayton Shaffer lost to Denver East’s Max Johnson and Laird Whitelaw 6-0, 6-3 in No. 4 doubles.