Liberty boys second in state in tennis doubles

Before their first match in the Missouri Class 2 boys tennis state tournament, the Liberty doubles team of Michael Wiskirchen and James Lee admitted they were fairly nervous.

Considering the way they played last Friday and Saturday, it hardly showed.

The twosome finished second in the doubles tournament at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, rolling through their first three matches to make the final.

They joined a large contingent of successful Kansas City area doubles teams at the tournament.

“I don’t know if doubles are necessarily Kansas City’s thing,” Wiskirchen said. “But it’s definitely our thing.”

The duo fell in the final to the Columbia Rock Bridge team of Blake Buchert and Aaron Skinner 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Park Hill qualified two singles players, Mike Merchant and Sam Barth, but both were eliminated before the medal round. Paul Nurse of Kearney also reached the tournament in singles but lost in the consolation round.

That was the same for the doubles teams of Preston Coughlin and Shauheen Mahoutchian of Oak Park and Eric Dailey and Richard Dailey of Excelsior Springs. Both teams won a match in bracket play but were later eliminated.

Excelsior Springs also participated in the team event Thursday. The Tigers came away with the fourth place finish for the second straight season. They lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Pembroke Hill 5-0.

submitted by COLE YOUNG - 2009-06-02 15:18:02

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