photo by: Contributed Photo

Free State High's doubles team of Jake Hedges, left, and George Thornton, won a regional title on Friday, May 6, 2022, just a few days after winning a Sunflower League title. The duo, along with singles players Britton Snyder and Felipe Reinas-Salas, will compete at 6A state next week.

The Free State High doubles team of Jake Hedges and George Thornton swept the competition Friday to win a regional title and advance to the state tournament.

In all, four Firebirds punched their tickets to next week’s Class 6A state tournament by finishing in the top six at regionals.

The top-seeded FSHS duo of Hedges and Thornton rolled to an easy first-round win over a team from Olathe North — 6-0, 6-1 — and followed that up by beating Free State teammates Jared Loos and Minh Vu, 6-2 and 6-4, in Round 2.

Hedges and Thornton then dispatched the regional’s fourth-seeded Blue Valley team in straight sets in the semifinals (6-2, 7-5) before beating No. 2 seed Delvin Ko and David Han of Blue Valley West, in straight sets in the championship match — 7-6 in a tiebreaker and 7-5 in the final set.

That gave them a perfect 8-0 record in sets played on Friday and marked the second title of the week for Hedges and Thornton, who also won a Sunflower League title on Monday.

“They carried that momentum into (the) regional tournament and played well,” FSHS coach Aaron Clark said Friday. “It was an impressive feat. They’ve competed well all year and set themselves up for a solid postseason.”

The accomplishment marked the second consecutive regional doubles title for Thornton. With their confidence soaring and their chemistry in a good spot, Clark said he expected the Thornton and Hedges — the Firebirds’ top doubles team — to “compete for a strong finish at next week’s state tournament.”

That will take place Friday and Saturday at Olathe’s College Boulevard Activity Center. Times and pairings will be released at a later time.

Joining the regional champs will be Free State singles players Britton Snyder and Felipe Reina-Salas. After losing in Friday’s quarterfinals of the double-elimination tournament, the two battled through the back side of the bracket and wound up facing each other for fifth place. Snyder got the best of his teammate, 6-4 and 6-2, but the two Firebirds knew they were both headed to state no matter who won before the first point was served.

“This is the second time in one week where they had to battle each other towards the end of the day,” Clark said Friday. “They have played and competed so much this year that they know each other’s game pretty well and it makes for a fun match to watch.”

With the extra win, Snyder finished the day with a 3-1 record. He won six of the eight sets he played.

Reina-Salas, meanwhile, finished the day with a 2-2 record, winning four of the eight sets he played.

On the strength of those results, which yielded 13 points, the Firebirds finished in third place in the team standings on Friday, behind Blue Valley West (20.5) and Blue Valley (19.5).

Lawrence High did not score any team points. Cuyler Dunn, in 13th place, was the Lions’ top singles finisher, and the LHS doubles team of Sam Micka and Ayden Amman finished 15th in doubles action.