MADISON — The Aquinas High School boys tennis team advanced one singles player and one doubles team out of the WIAA Division 1 Madison Memorial Sectional on Thursday, and those players will compete in the individual state tournament in Madison on June 5-7.
Senior Anderson Fortney (30-3) placed second at No. 1 singles, and juniors Jaedan Silcox and Tegan Schott were fourth at No. 1 doubles to earn spots in the state bracket.
The top four finishers at No. 1 singles and doubles and the champions at No. 2 singles and doubles qualify for state competition.
Fortney placed third in the Division 2 singles bracket as a sophomore and again as a junior. He also qualified as a freshman.
The Blugolds oved up to Division 1 this spring, and Fortney qualified for the championship match with a couple of straight-set victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals. He ran into Middleton junior Alexander Bo (20-2) — last year’s third-place Division 1 singles performer — in the finals, and Alexander beat Fortney 6-1, 6-4.
Silcox and Schott won once and lost twice on Thursday. A 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal victory was followed by a 6-2, 6-2 semifinal loss. Silcox and Schott lost the third-place match to Madison Memorial’s Patrick Yu and Alex Klaas 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Senior Mitchell Fortney (31-2) gave the Blugolds a second-place finish at No. 2 singles, and Onalaska senior Aayush Daithankar (19-11) placed third at No. 4 singles.
The Aquinas team of Patrick Gundersen and Ezra Barna was third at No. 2 doubles with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 victory in the placement match, and the Onalaska team of Bradley Baker and Elliot Glebke was fourth at No. 3 doubles.
The Blugolds placed fourth as a team with 25 points, and the Hilltoppers were fifth with 18. Holmen and Central tied for 11th place with four points each.
DIVISION 2
Altoona Sectional
EAU CLAIRE — West Salem senior Kyle Hehli (23-2) became a four-time state qualifier by sweeping through his competition, and Logan senior Finnian Clark and freshman Mitchell Jarrett finished with two wins in three matches to qualify in doubles.
Hehli beat his quarterfinal opponent 6-0, 6-0 before getting a little stiffer challenge from Amery’s Blake Anderson in the semifinals. Hehli won that match 6-2, 6-1 and followed it up with a 6-0, 6-0 championship win over Altoona’s Trenton Navarre.
Hehli is a three-time individual qualifier and finished fifth as a sophomore and fourth as a junior in Division 2 singles. He also teamed up with his brother Jack to win a doubles championship in 2022.
Clark and Jarrett won two of three matches and were sent to the third-place matchup with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 semifinal loss to Altoona’s Tegan Bennett and Jaxton Semrow. They recovered, however, to hand Viroqua’s Levi King and Owen King a 6-4, 6-4 loss in the third-place match.
West Salem senior Jesse Miller (12-11) nearly joined Hehli in Madison, but a 6-4, 6-4 championship loss to Altoona’s Carter Drescher ended his run in No. 2 singles. Senior Jack Noelke (19-7) was also second at No. 3 singles.
West Salem scored 24 points to place third among teams. Logan was eighth with 13 in a meet won by Altoona (50).
