The draws are out, and the brief mystery of the first-round opponents for the four Durango High School qualifiers for the CHSAA Class 4A Boys Tennis State Championships has been solved.
Durango’s No. 1 singles player, Ryder Searle, will open play Thursday at Pueblo City Park in Pueblo against Austin Hampton of Cheyenne Mountain. Searle locked up his spot at state with a clean 6-0, 6-0 sweep of his opponent from Vail in the regional final last weekend in Grand Junction.
Fred Edwards locked up a spot for DHS at No. 2 singles with a regional victory of his own, 7-5, 6-1 over Aspen. As a result, he’ll open the state tournament Thursday against Air Academy’s Stefan Orton-Urbina.
The other two state qualifiers for Durango make up the Demons’ No. 2 doubles squad. Alec Ensign and Drew Downs finished second at regionals and managed to hold on to their spot at state by rallying for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Steamboat Springs in a playback match.
Ensign and Downs will open their state tournament run against Blane Wuertz and Jake Thornally of Air Academy.
Play begins Thursday morning and will continue through the state finals Saturday.
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