Republic’s tennis team remained undefeated with a narrow 5-4 victory over Nixa on Monday, improving to 3-0 for the season. The Tigers’ emphasis on doubles play paid dividends as they captured two of three doubles matches to set the tone.
“We probably play more doubles in practice and emphasize its importance more than most other programs,” coach David Smashey said. “Tonight I think it was the difference in the match.”
Lucas Riffe and Gavin Collyott won at No. 1 doubles 8-3, while Andrew McCord and Nico Lugli secured an 8-3 victory at No. 3 doubles. Nathan Henry and Cooper Choate fell at No. 2 doubles, 2-8.
In singles play, Riffe won his No. 1 match 8-5, and Collyott dominated at No. 2 with an 8-1 win. Lugli completed the scoring for Republic with an 8-0 shutout at No. 6 singles.
Henry battled to a narrow 7-9 defeat at No. 3 singles in one of the most competitive matches of the evening.
“I was really happy for the most part with how we competed,” Smashey said. “Nixa has really competitive kids and we had to match their intensity. I thought Nathan Henry played a really good match. He and his opponent were dead even and battled from start to finish. He wasn’t able to win the match, but when he plays like that in the middle of our lineup, he changes our team.”
The final two matches to finish were Collyott’s and Lugli’s, with both Tigers closing out their opponents decisively.
Republic faces a challenging stretch ahead, with matches against Joplin, Catholic, Bolivar, Ozark, and Branson scheduled over the next week.
“It’ll be an interesting challenge,” Smashey said.
The junior varsity team fell to Nixa 6-10.
