Lucas Riffe became the first Republic boys tennis player to win a singles match at the state tournament. Riffe topped Aristen Malone of Francis Howell Central 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) on Thursday morning to advance to the Class 3 state quarterfinals.
After breezing through the first set, Riffe fell behind 2-4 early in the second. He held serve in a deuce game to make it 3-4, then broke Malone to get back on serve at 4-4.
Each player held serve to make the score 5-5. That’s when Riffe gutted out the key game of the match. He overcame a double-fault and two other unforced errors, fought off two game points for Malone, and eventually held serve to take a 6-5 lead.
After Malone held serve to force a tiebreaker, Riffe fell behind again. He trailed 2-4, then had to battle off two set points for Malone, first at 5-6, then at 6-7. He won the last three points of the tiebreak to secure the victory.
Riffe is just the second player in Republic history to qualify for state singles play. Cody Erickson was the first, but he was eliminated after two matches, including a third-set tiebreaker loss in his second round.
The win by Riffe sets up a quarterfinal match against the top-seeded player in the tournament, David Bell, a senior who attends Pembroke Hill.
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