All seven Niwot boys tennis' lines headed to individual state championships

After suffering a second-round loss to Kent Denver in the state dual tournament, the Niwot boys tennis team still has an opportunity to secure some hardware in the Class 4A individual state championships.

Niwot hosted regionals on Oct. 6 and six of its seven lines took first, meaning they will be the No. 1 seeds from Region 5 at the "individuals" state tournament. The Cougars' No. 2 doubles team of junior Kyle Davidson and senior Ryan Gray took third place and will enter as an alternate. Head coach Aimee Hites was pleased that her No. 3 doubles (sophomores Oliver Jones and Tyler Chivukula) and No. 4 doubles (junior Lauritz Stranzenbach and sophomore Rex Wallington) found success at regionals.

"It was nice for three and four doubles to get some big wins there," Hites said. "They've had a lot of tight matches all year and they haven't necessarily gone our way, so that was nice that they were able to win the region and get going. It's nice to go in as a one-seed into State versus a two (seed) because it means you're automatically going to play a two-seed from another region (in the) first round."

Pueblo City Park is set to host the three-day championships, with the first round on Oct. 13. Hites said her team will make the drive down I-25 the day prior.

Regardless of the results, Niwot has a few underclassmen in key positions who should get some valuable experience. Freshman Charlie Kirtland will be thrown into the fire at No. 3 singles and in No. 1 doubles, Freshman Oskar Hansen and sophomore Sebastian Moy are also on the younger side, although Moy reached the No. 2 doubles quarterfinals last year.

"Both those lines (No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles) have a good chance of playing on Saturday for sure, if not winning," Hites said. "We'll just see how the draws come out, but it'll be good."

All eyes, though, will be on senior Luke Weber (No. 1 singles) and junior LiChen Liao (No. 2 singles), who are also expected to have a deep run.

"Luke and LiChen have the experience going down there," Hites said. "They've been there, done it."

The new-look state championships, which features separate dual and individual tournaments, has been an adjustment for every team in the state, but Hites believes Niwot has been able to "reset" and is fully focused on this next opportunity.