ST. GEORGE — As anticipated, the 4A boys state tennis tournament is a tight race, with the top four teams all within three points of each other after the first day.
The Region 10 champion Dixie Flyers advanced players to the semifinals in all five brackets, thereby earning 25 total points. In a three-way tie at 22 points apiece are Crimson Cliffs, Desert Hills and Ridgeline, each having advanced to the semis in four brackets.
A new weighted scoring system implemented this year awards more points for each successive round, so individual players or doubles teams will earn four points if they win their semifinal match Saturday, then five more if they win their final.
That makes a repeat of last year’s three-way tie for first place mathematically unlikely. In the 2022 4A tournament, Crimson Cliffs, Ridgeline and Green Canyon finished in a 11-11-11 tie and shared the state championship.
The tournament is being staged at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park. Following is a bracket-by-bracket look at who’s playing on Saturday (semifinals begin at 9 a.m.):
1st singles
In No. 1 singles, top-seeded Max Miner of Crimson Cliffs will face No. 4 seed Luke Jolley of Dixie in one semifinal, while No. 2 Jaden Wittwer of Desert Hills will play No. 3 Dillon Johnson of Ridgeline in the other.
2nd singles
In second singles, No. 1 seed Adam Miner of Crimson Cliffs will play No. 4 Jackson Holman of Desert Hills in the semifinals, while No. 2 Thatcher Ellis of Ridgeline and No. 3 Caleb Kroll of Dixie face each other for a finals berth from the other half of the bracket.
3rd singles
In No. 3 singles, top seed Gavin Bishop of Dixie will battle No. 4 Nathan Bentley of Crimson for one finals spot, while No. 2 Davis Low of Ridgeline and No. 3 Brexan Wittwer of Desert Hills vie for the other.
1st doubles
In first doubles, one of the semifinals will feature No. 1 seeded Austin Beckstrom and Ari Fackrell of Dixie vs. No. 5 Taggart McCullough and Kayson Reeder of Ridgeline. In the other semi, No. 3 Braden Koch and Bryce Jensen of Snow Canyon will take on No. 7 Jeffrey Purcell and William Gardner of Desert Hills. Purcell and Gardner upset second-seeded Crimson Cliffs duo of Tanner Fraser and Josh Fraser in the quarterfinals on Friday, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Koch and Jensen’s quarterfinal match also went three sets, as they defeated Cedar’s Caleb Selb and Calvin Beck, 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-1.
2nd doubles
In second doubles, No. 1 seeded Zach Crane and Carson Shakespeare of Green Canyon will face No. 4 Bryce Christiansen and Andrew Ord of Snow Canyon in one semifinal. The other semi will feature No. 2 Garrett Bishop and Michael Winward of Dixie against No. 6 Ty Durst and Chase Faldmo of Crimson Cliffs. Although Durst and Faldmo had dropped their first quarterfinal set 5-7 against Desert Hills’ Tyson Wilkins and McKay Soliai, they bounced back to win the next two, 6-3, 6-4 and claim the upset.
Finals
Once the semifinal matches have all been played, the winners will face each other for the respective championships in each bracket. To see the full brackets and team scores, visit the tournament’s page on the UHSAA website.
The 4A team championship and runner-up trophies will be awarded at the end of the competition.
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