6A state boys tennis: Four Falcon, one Lehi entrant reach semis

Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press

Four of five state qualifiers for the Skyridge boys tennis team and one Pioneer have advanced in the state tennis tournament and will be playing this morning in the semifinal round at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. The championship matches will follow as the event concludes today.

For Lehi, junior Peter Phillips was the team’s highest-ranking player entering the tournament at the No. 3 seed and he defeated No. 14 Cedar Valley and No. 6 Farmington to earn a semifinal berth against No. 2 Bingham.

One other Pioneer singles player and one doubles team were eliminated in the quarterfinals by higher-seeded opponents. The others lost in the Round of 16.

For the Falcons, they will be playing today in every bracket except No. 1 Singles. In that quarterfinal, Lone Peak’s Cash Dowdle at No. 4 prevailed over Skyridge freshman Mack Mandelaris at No. 5 to end his participation.

However, in No. 2 Singles, junior Crew Mandelaris at No. 2 defeated No. 15 Copper Hills and No. 7 Davis to continue in the competition. In Third Singles, No. 3 junior Cameron Higginbotham played through by topping No. 14 Cedar Valley and No. 6 Lehi.

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Also at No. 3, the First Doubles pairing of sophomore Michael Sperry and freshman JJ Lewis beat No. 14 Mountain Ridge and No. 6 Davis to reach the semifinal round.

In the No. 2 Doubles bracket, the No. 2 squad of senior Ben Schmidt and junior Jace Peck claimed victories over No. 15 Cedar Vallley and No. 7 Lehi to enter this morning’s match.

Check back later for the results of today’s concluding rounds.

Photos by Sam Penrod.