Manhattan ? For the third time in four years, Lawrence High’s Scott Elwell finished fifth at the Class 6A boys tennis state tournament.

The LHS senior didn’t get that elusive title, but he’s OK with fifth. After all, state was brutal.

“I was hoping to get to the final,” he said. “But it’s not like I can really be disappointed.”

Elwell lost Friday to Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Brett Binkley, the defending state champ and one of four singles players out of the Kansas City region who advanced to the final four matches. Binkley finished third, behind a pair of Blue Valley West brothers, state-champion Travis and runner-up Brian Helgeson.

When the defending champ doesn’t even make the final, that says a lot about the participants.

Elwell, who was fifth as a freshman and junior and fourth as a sophomore, said it was incredible how much tougher the tournament became the last few years.

“I felt like my game has gotten a lot better from a couple of years ago,” he said. “I’m playing far better than I was last year.”

So fifth isn’t shameful?

“No, it’s not,” LHS coach Dick Wedel said. “You look at who’s in the finals, and it’s all from the Kansas City region. That shows you where the power is right now.”

Elwell, the Lions’ only qualifier, pushed LHS to eighth overall. Topeka Washburn Rural won the team title, edging Blue Valley West, 31-30.

Elwell won both his matches Saturday, beating both of Washburn Rural’s singles players. After a rain delay in the morning, he beat Drew Hanson, 9-6, though Elwell started slow.

“I was getting pretty frustrated in that first match,” Elwell said. “I played him earlier in the year and didn’t have too much trouble with him. But I was missing shots from the baseline and missing serves. I was going for too much early.”

Hanson had success with lobs and keeping the ball deep on Elwell, who thrives on trading powerful groundstrokes with opponents. It was a strategy that paid off for Hanson until Elwell took control.

Up 2-0, Hanson kept using a high, deep lob. Elwell countered by catching the lob when it bounced up, instead of waiting for it on the way down, catching Hanson off guard.

“You have to get it on the short hop, instead of really trying to crush it,” Wedel said. “He’s been practicing that, but it’s certainly not an easy shot.”

He smoked Rural’s other singles player, Ben Wiechman, 9-3, for fifth place.

Free State needed that kind of aggressiveness.

The Firebirds’ senior doubles team of Eyad Safadi and Matt Schwabauer lost their only match of the day, 9-7, to Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Adam Kremers and Peter Varnum.

The school’s first doubles team to qualify since Matt Axcell and Sam Borge finished fourth in 2000, came up one match short of winning a medal. Safadi and Schwabauer fell behind early, 5-1, and got close, but couldn’t seal it.

“They’re a top-10 team,” Renberger said. “But when you finish back where you should, that’s a little bit disappointing. They beat some good teams throughout the year, so they know they’re one of the best.”