The best tennis season in Republic history came to a close Friday at the state tournament, when Michael Nacy and Brad Hendrix were eliminated from the doubles bracket after two losses.
Nacy and Hendrix had anchored the top of Republic’s singles lineup all season, but hadn’t played much together as a doubles team until the district tournament began. That didn’t stop them from sweeping through the district and defeating Ozark in the sectionals to advance to state. But a difficult draw led to an early exit on Friday.
In the opening match, Republic played a team from Parkway West, the defending state doubles champion. Dillon Youngberg, who won last year’s championship with a different partner, teamed with Kenji Yanaba to beat Nacy and Hendrix 6-1 6-2 in the opening match.
In Republic’s second match of the day, Hendrix and Nacy lost to Rock Bridge’s Kavin Anand and Luke Bouchard 6-3, 6-1.
“(It was a) tough day for the guys,” says coach Dan Vales. “They never seemed to get a rhythm hitting on the indoor surface.
I’m proud of what those two have accomplished at our program. They’ll be the standard future guys will be judged against.”
When Nacy and Hendrix entered the program, the Tigers were 0-13. This year, they were unbeaten in the regular season except for one match when two of their players were missing. They set a school record for team wins along with a host of other records.