Niwot boys tennis to face Grand Junction in first round of state tournament

Only one season removed from winning it all in 2020, the Niwot High School boys tennis team is back in the Class 4A state tournament with high aspirations.

Niwot, which finished third in State last year, finished the regular season 9-4 (8-0 4A Region 5). The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) announced on Sept. 23 that Niwot will enter this season's new-look championship as the No. 8 seed. Head coach Aimee Hites' Cougars just barely earned themselves a first round home meet with No. 9-seed Grand Junction coming to campus for a 2 p.m. match on Sept. 28.

There's no notable recent history between Niwot and the 8-1 (5-0 5A/4A Southwestern) Tigers, who finished outside the top-10 in last year's state meet. Hites said that with a few players sick, she gave her team a day off from practice on Friday (Sept. 23) and they will resume work on Monday (Sept. 26).

Despite a Sept. 12 win at No. 5-seeded Mullen on their resume, the Cougars were given a poorer seed than expected, but Hites hopes her team can use that as motivation. The downside to being the No. 8 seed is if they beat Grand Junction, there's a good chance that No. 1 Kent Denver awaits them next on Oct. 1. The Kent Denver Sun Devils face No. 16 University in round one.

Still, Hites is confident that the Cougars can square up with whoever is on the other side of the net.

"I'm optimistic," Hites said. "This team is definitely capable of upsetting anybody in the state. Just give us a tough draw and we're going to step up."

Hites' belief stems from a roster that already boasts two state championship players in the singles slots: No. 1 singles senior Luke Weber won the No. 3 singles in 2020, and junior LiChen Liao is looking to complement his No. 2 doubles crown at No. 2 singles this year. Plus, No. 3 singles player Charlie Kirtland has performed well in a difficult role as a freshman.

Weber has perhaps been most impressed with Niwot's No. 1 doubles team of freshman Oskar Hansen and sophomore Sebastian Moy.

"Our one-doubles is crazy this year," Weber said. "They've definitely impressed me just because of how young they are, Oscar and Sebastian. They're doing a fantastic job holding together our doubles lines. I'm blown away with how they get on the court and they compete every day against anybody. They're never out of a match. They compete with Cherry Creek, they compete with Valor (Christian), they compete with Kent (Denver), they compete with all these schools who have all these solid kids all the way through (their) 11 spots."

Behind Hansen and Moy, junior Kyle Davidson and senior Ryan Gray finished the year 3-5 at No. 2 doubles, sophomores Tyler Chivukula and Ollie Jones were 2-5 in the No. 3 doubles and junior Lauritz Stranzenbach and sophomore Rex Wallington ended 4-4 at No. 4 doubles.

Perhaps more importantly, Hites said the Cougars "could not have played a tougher schedule." The hope now is that their experience facing some of the state's top programs will help them in the state tournament.

"I told them each match we played, 'Even if we don't win, we're playing the teams that we were getting beat (by) earlier, tighter and tighter and tighter,'" Hites said. "It doesn't help us to play matches where we easily win 7-0. So these matches, like the CA's (Colorado Academy) and the Kents and the Mullens, those teams are the ones that help us a lot."

In the new CHSAA postseason format, individual titles (No. 1 singles through No. 4 doubles) will be decided separately from the state match. The 4A individual championships are set for Oct. 13-15 in Pueblo.