photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Logan Daniels gets set for a return shot during the Topeka West quadrangular on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka.

One local singles player and two doubles pairings will participate in the high school state boys tennis championships beginning Friday.

At the 6A level, Free State senior Jake Hedges and the doubles partnership of Lawrence High senior Logan Daniels and junior Josh Lavin will head to Wichita-Riverside Tennis Complex to take part in state competition hosted by Wichita North.

Hedges advanced out of last Friday’s regional competition at the College Boulevard Activity Center, hosted by Gardner Edgerton, as the fifth-place finisher. He beat Olathe West’s Owen Taylor 6-1, 6-1, but lost 6-3, 6-3 to Olathe South’s Nolan Fosha.

That sent him to the second portion of the bracket and put him on a collision course with fellow Firebird Felipe Reina-Salas. The two clashed in a three-set match as Hedges rallied to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, and earn his qualification. He then overcame another deficit to claim fifth place ahead of Blue Valley’s Collin Jefferies.

Hedges will enter the state tournament with a record of 18-7, and having won 11 of 12 matches in one particularly strong stretch through April. He is seeded No. 10 and will face 23rd-seeded Jefferies in a rematch to open the tournament, and the winner will take on No. 7 Luca Ospino of Blue Valley Northwest.

Hedges and Reina-Salas came in seventh place in the state doubles bracket last year in Topeka.

Lavin and Daniels (10-6) had only played one match together this year prior to April 16. They made it out of CBAC as the sixth and final qualifying pairing.

They started their run at CBAC with an intracity clash and beat Owen Thompson and Drew Harrison of Free State, but lost to Joaquin Acosta and Nicholas Lavid of Blue Valley (the eventual third-place finishers). Daniels and Lavin secured their qualification in the second bracket by defeating Carter Heble and Austin Sturdivan of Olathe West 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, though they dropped the fifth-place match to another pairing from Blue Valley.

Lavin and Daniels are seeded No. 23 and will take on No. 10 Michael Hwang and Jack Spiegel of Manhattan, with the victorious pairing advancing to face No. 7 Connor Engram and Nathan Lokko of Blue Valley North.

In 3-1A action, Sebastian Borjas and Cole Shumaker of Bishop Seabury will be competing at Prairie Village-Harmon Park Tennis Complex for the state tournament hosted by Kansas City Christian.

Borjas and Shumaker finished in fourth place at the Marysville regional. They beat Marysville’s Nick Frese and Garrett Haverkamp before losing to two separate pairings from Lindsborg-Smoky Valley. They had only lost one other match all season until then and now have a record of 13-3.

Borjas and Shumaker also entered state as fourth-place qualifiers last year and went 1-2.

This year, they are the No. 15 seed and have drawn No. 18 Joseph Luke and Chase Blaser from Topeka-Hayden. The winners will face one of 3-1A’s top pairings, No. 2 Charlie Graham and Isaac Yourdon of Wichita-Classical.