KNIGHTS STATE TENNIS day one Individuals

In singles, Sunny Gandhari took the court first and took on a tough opponent from Winnetonka defeating him 6-0, 6-1. That set up a tough second. round against Parkway Central. Sunny played well but lost 6-1, 6-2.  In the back draw, Sunny needed a win to return on Friday and squared off against a familiar and tough player from Thomas Jefferson Independent.  With both players exchanging a dozen or more strokes on every point, Sunny turned on the offense and picked up the pace to come from behind an early deficit to win 6-4, 6-0.  This places him in the back draw tomorrow at 8:00.

In the doubles, Richey and Bobby King handled the first round easily against Helias Catholic, 6-0 6-0 (missing a golden set by one point).  In an unfortunate early-round draw for both teams, Richey and Bobby faced a terrific and undefeated doubles team from Ladue in St.Louis.  The Knights played some solid tennis in the first set but came up short, 2-6.  They regained the momentum and had Ladue at 5-2 in the second, but the momentum shifted and the Knights found themselves facing a serious 5-6 deficit.  In an intense match, the Knights broke serve to push the second set to a  6-6 tiebreaker.  This would be the last shift of momentum, however.  The boys 'let 'er rip' in the set tiebreaker and rolled to a 7-3 tiebreak win.  They kept it rolling in the match tiebreaker and jumped to a 4-0.  Using strong serves and a smothering net game Richey and Bobby took finished off the Ladue pair for a 2-6, 7-6 (7-3)  (10-3) win.  This puts the Knights into the semifinals at 8:00 at the Cooper Center in Springfield tomorrow.  Congratulations guys.  Let er rip tomorrow.