Lucas Riffe punched his ticket to the state tournament for the second straight year, reaching the Class 3 District 5 singles final before leg cramps forced him to retire against Kickapoo’s Joseph Coder on Thursday at Republic.
Riffe, the No. 2 seed, had swept through the bracket without dropping a set before cramping ended his run in the championship match.
Riffe opened the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ozark’s Carter Mayfield, then dismissed Kickapoo’s Cody Chaffin 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the final.
As district runner-up, Riffe qualifies for the state individual tournament. He also qualified a year ago as a freshman, reaching state in doubles alongside Gavin Collyott.
Nathan Henry dropped a tight first-round match to Ozark’s Tjardo Riess, 7-5, 7-5, and was eliminated. Both doubles teams for Republic were also
eliminated in the first round.
Get every story delivered.
Tiger Wire — Republic sports news, free every morning.