DENVER | Two doubles teams from Cherokee Trail played well enough at the Denver Tennis Park in Class 5A Region 1 play to earn a trip back to the same venue a week later.
The Cougars’ No. 3 doubles team of junior Trevor Bennett and freshman Alex Blazado along with the No. 4 duo of juniors Elijah Yu and Shivam Yadiyadra made championship finals Thursday in the regional hosted by powerhouse Cherry Creek and came away with the chance to compete in the Oct. 15-17 5A individual state tournament.
Coach Eric Olsen-Dufour’s Cherokee Trail team had two singles players and three doubles teams make it last season, but has a slightly smaller contingent this time around and all will make their state tournament debuts.
Bennett and Blazado — who played together for the entire season — played a gutty championship semifinal Wednesday and prevailed 6-3, 7-5 over ThunderRidge’s Bo Bills and Tyler Flemons, which earned them the chance to play top-seeded Andrew Young and Sunand Bhandaram in the final.
The Bruins’ duo earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory, but Bennett and Blazado did not face a playback as Bills and Flemons won the third-place match.
Yu and Yadiyadra went in as the No. 3 seed and pulled a 6-0, 6-3 upset of the second-seeded duo of Lucas Gayeski and Henry Waldnmyer in the semifinals, which exempted them from a playback as well despite a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Cherry Creek’s Jack Bruft and Arihant Gupta, as Gayeski and Waldnmyer on the third-place match.
Senior No. 1 singles player Clark Deeleuw, a state qualifier last year, lost to Arvada West’s Joey Baichi 6-2, 6-0 in the third-place match, which he needed to win so he could force a playback with runner-up Owen Edwards of ThunderRidge.
Draws for the 5A individual state tournament will be issued Oct. 12 by the Colorado High School Activities Association.
Update: Due to a previously scheduled trip, Yu and Yadiyadra will be unable to compete in the state tournament, with their spot going to the team from ThunderRidge, which was the alternate.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
