The Tiger tennis team edged Nixa to win its second consecutive Central Ozark Conference championship Thursday in Joplin. Case Birlew led the way, winning the individual conference singles title. He’s just the second Republic player to ever win the conference singles championship, following up Michael Nacy‘s title last year.
The Tigers sneaked by Nixa by a single point in the team standings. The league championship turned on a showdown in the #3 doubles flight semifinals. In that one, ~Austin Massey~ and Logan Elder went head-to-head with a team from Nixa, winning 8-6. It provided a two-point swing in favor of Republic, and ended up providing the winning margin.
“It was a fantastic team effort by the guys,” says coach Dan Vales. “We were able to win 4 brackets, despite not being seeded #1 going into play today. We are back to back COC-Large champions–a fairly tremendous feat, given we lost our top three from last season. The new guys have stepped in a big way down the stretch.”
Singles Flight Results
Case Birlew won #1 singles.
Dylan Mackey finished second in #2 singles.
Hunter Creek won #3 singles.
Brett Carpenter won #4 singles.
Austin Massey finished 4th in #5 singles.
Logan Elder finished second in #6 singlges.
Following singles play, Nixa and Republic were tied with 19 points each.
Doubles Flight Results
Birlew/Creek finished 2nd in #1 doubles.
Massey/Elder finished 2nd in #3 doubles.