photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence doubles player Asher Sikes serves in a tennis quad at Sports Pavilion Lawrence on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

Lawrence boys tennis started its season with a home quad at Sports Pavilion Lawrence on Wednesday and won 11 of 12 matches.

The Lions hosted Olathe West, Shawnee Mission South and Gardner Edgerton. Lawrence started with Olathe West and won all four matches. This was the first competition of the season for the Lions after Tuesday’s invite at Emporia was canceled.

“I really enjoyed the outcome — some of the process we still need to work on,” coach Chris Marshall said. “We still need to work on some of the efficiency in our match play.”

Jun Brewer — who played doubles last year but will play singles this year — won his No. 1 singles match against Olathe West’s Owen Taylor 8-0. In the No. 2 singles match, Lawrence’s Jack Bauch won 8-1 over Elliot Swanwick.

“I was really impressed with Jun and his play today,” Marshall said. “He’s come a long way.”

The top Lawrence doubles pair of Josh Lavin and Asher Sikes beat Justin Goetz and Austin Sturdivan 8-6. Xavier Klish and Julian Bricker defeated Cooper Crumbaker and Dylan Daniel 8-7 in the No. 2 doubles match.

Both doubles teams are new to each other this season, so both pairs are still working out their chemistry and how to play with each other. Lavin was a state qualifier doubles player last year, but Sikes is a new pairing after Sikes played singles last year.

“There’s a lot of good possibilities with what we have … the key is to try to push each other to be better each and every day,” Marshall said.

The Lions won three of four against Shawnee Mission South in the second round.

Brewer won 8-4 over Ryder Heaven in the No. 1 singles match, but Bauch lost 8-3 to Carson Mower in the other singles match. Mower was a state qualifier last year.

“He’s a great player, so it’s something to build upon,” Marshall said. “It gives us an idea of what we need to do.”

Lavin and Sikes won 8-5 over Aden Braden-Alva and Josh Enko, and Klish and Bricker beat Vance McClain and Brenden Swanson 8-7 for the second doubles match.

The Lions came back with a full sweep of Gardner Edgerton in the final round. Brewer beat Isaiah Lang 8-3, and Bauch won 8-0 in his singles match against Cole MacKinney.

Lavin and Sikes won 8-4 over Gardner Edgerton’s Gavin McGill and Milan Majstorovic, while the Lions’ sophomore doubles team of Cohen LaDuke and Wyatt Freed won 8-5 over Tommy Clark and Grant Kunz. Marshall said that the LaDuke and Freed doubles team came in and “did some good things” in their varsity match.

“It was a good day — it really gave me an idea of what we need to work on,” Marshall said.

The Lions have some experience among their varsity players, while the younger players are learning to play doubles the right way. There are a number of players on the team who are around the same level, which means practices have been competitive and can help push certain players to improve.

The Lions will be back at the Sports Pavilion on Monday for a quad meet with Free State, Olathe East and Shawnee Mission Northwest.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence doubles player Julian Bricker hits the ball during a tennis quad at Sports Pavilion Lawrence on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence singles player Jack Bauch finishes his serve in a quad at Sports Pavilion Lawrence on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.