New State Tourney Invite to Start this Fall in Kearney
High school students across the state will have another opportunity to play in a statewide competition starting this fall during the boys tennis season. The invite will take place in early October in Kearney.
“The team state tournament is basically a series of mini-duals where two teams play each other in 5 matches (1 singles, 2 singles, 3 singles, 1 doubles, 2 doubles) and the team that wins the most matches in that dual advances in the bracket,” said Nolan DeWispelare, boys and girls tennis coach at Pius X in Lincoln. “Each position is weighted equally, so the 3 singles match is worth just as much as the 1 singles match.”
DeWispelare said coaches have been talking about this during the last couple years at a summer coaching clinic. It’s modeled after other state’s team state tournaments, putting more emphasis on the team format.
“The goal of this event is to put the main focus on the results of the team, rather than one or two players’ individual results,” he said. “We are also hoping this allows coaches to get more players involved in these competitions.”
The event will take place Saturday, Oct. 7 for Class B, and Monday, Oct. 9 for Class A teams. Based on results from the regular boys season, the top 16 teams in each class will be invited to compete by Monday, Oct. 2, 2023.
“The teams will be placed in a 16-team bracket based on their power point standing (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.) and then teams will play duals, with the winners advancing in the bracket until we crown our championship team,” said DeWispelare. “The teams that lose in the opening round will play a consolation match as well.”
DeWispelare added that this is not a NSAA sanctioned event, but hopes after a few years it will be. The Girls State Tourney will be held Saturday, May 11 for Class B, and Monday, May 13 for Class A teams.
Following is a list of committee members who helped create this tournament:
Kevin Heim- Lincoln Director, Woods Tennis Center
Ron Higdon- Lincoln Tennis Director, NSAA
Troy Saulsbury- Kearney Class A
Mariana Hurst- Papillion-LaVista Class A
Nolan DeWispelare- Pius X Class A
Jason Rodenberger- Millard South Class A
Jon Holtz- Elkhorn Class B
Lance Kush- Elkhorn North Class B
Matt Wiemers- McCook Class B
Darren Emerick- Scottsbluff Class B
For more information on this event, contact DeWispelare at Nolan-DeWispelare@cdolinc.net.
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