5A Boys Tennis: Finals, Third-Place Matches Slated for Saturday
In No. 1 singles, defending champion Alec Rodriguez-Fields of Regis Jesuit will play senior Jace Nakamura of Valor Christian in a rematch of a 2024 semifinal — Nakamura eventually finished third. Rodriguez-Fields, a junior, was a 6-1, 6-2 winner of Lakewood sophomore Milo Fischer in one Friday semifnals, while Nakamura defeated Arapahoe senior Cale Brush 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the other.
In No. 2 singles, Grandview sophomore Kaahan Wani will play Regis Jesuit senior Clay Dickey. Wani won a tight 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 semifinal over Pine Creek freshman Advait Jadha in the semifinals, while Dickey defeated Cherry Creek senior Jack Loehr 6-3, 6-2, the defending champion who beat Wani in last year’s semifinals before Wani placed third.
In No. 3 singles, the other Grandview sophomore Wani — Krish — will play Regis Jesuit senior Adam Rydel. Wani defeated Valor Christian senior Drew Summers 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, while Rydel was a 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 victor over Cherry Creek junior Devan Shah. Like Kaahan Wani, Krish Wani was third last year. Rydel was a runner-up at No. doubles and Shah was a champion at No. 3 doubles.
In No. 1 doubles, the final will pit the Cherry Creek pair of Tyson Hardy and Sam Migliaccio against the Regis Jesuit tandem of Will Larkin and Koops Lord. The Cherry Creek team beat Diego Pardina and Davis Samuelson of Fossil Ridge 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in a Friday semifinal, while the Regis Jesuit duo won 7-5, 6-0, 7-5 over Carter Benton and Steve Li of Grandview. Migliaccio was a state champion at No. 3 doubles last year.
In No. 2 doubles, the state championship finalists are the Regis Jesuit team of Edward Samuelson and Reis Cherveny and the Cherry Creek duo of Kapil Bhandaram and Adam Eikelberner. Regis Jesuit beat Grandview’s Corbin Thompson and Nathan McIsaac 6-4, 6-3 in one semifinal, while Cherry Creek topped the Fossil Ridge pair of Vedant Manakeshwar and Will Schuster 6-2, 6-4. Samuelson was a runner-up at No. 3 doubles in 2024.
In No. 3 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Liam Raleigh and Spencer Hutchins will play Regis Jesuit’s Beckett Martorella and Finn Carolan. Cherry Creek beat the Mountain Vista pair of Blake Cedlie and Taylor Knowles 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals, while Regis Jesuit’s semifinal win was 6-2, 6-4 over Valor Christian’s Reid Stemberger and Deacon Brown.
And in No. 4 doubles, Regis Jesuit’s Connor and Daniel Hickey will play Cherry Creek’s Sunand Bhandaram and Ryan Raleigh. Hickey/Hickey beat Valor Christian’s Colter Kindsfater and Nick Daughtery 6-0, 6-1 in one semifinal, while in the other the Cherry Creek team beat Arapahoe’s Charlie Eggen and Jack Olney 6-2, 6-0.
In the third-place matches, at No. 1 singles, Fairview junior Luke Treleaven defeated Lakewood’s Fischer 7-6, 6-2 to advance to the third-place match against Grandview senior Justin Son, who topped Arapahoe’s Brush 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. In No. 2 singles, Cherry Creek’s Loehr will play for third after senior Luis Acosta of Chaparral retired in one playback semifinal and will play Pine Creek’s Jadha, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over senior Swagat Behera of Cherokee Trail, for third. In No. 3 singles, Summers of Valor Christian and Shah of Cherry Creek bounced back with playback semifinal wins — Summers by 6-2, 6-3 over Keaton Thomas of Fossil Ridge, Shah by 6-2, 6-1 over Itay Kazatcker of Fairview — and will play for third.
In No. 1 doubles, Benton/Li of Grandview won a playback semifinal 6-2, 6-0 over Owen Kates and Axel Moche of Arapahoe and will play for third against Denver South’s Colin Arbour and Lincoln Pederson, who play the Fossil Ridge semifinalists 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. In No. 2 doubles, both Thompson/McIsaac of Grandview (6-3, 6-3 over Jack Simon and Riley Elder of Valor Christian) and the Manakeshwar/Schuster team of Fossil Ridge (6-3, 6-3 over Theodore Bridger and Thomas Mack of Poudre) bounced back in the playback semifinals and will play ford third. At No. 3 doubles, both the Mountain Vista team of Ceglie/Knowles and the Valor Christian duo of Stemberger/Brown bounced back and will play for third after defeating Denver South’s Cash Martin and Tyler Santisi (7-5, 3-6, 6-4) and Ralston Valley’s Alex Hays and Jackson Roesner (6-2, 6-0), respectively. And at No. 4 doubles, both Valor Christian’s Kindsfater/Daugherty (6-1, 6-1 over Fairview’s Om Vegesna and Srikar Kurakula) and Arapahoe’s Eggen/Olney (6-4, 3-6, 6-1 over Heritage’s John Bowman and Hank Harms) won playback semis to reach the third-place match.
