Bulldogs Win Team Title

The Trenton High School boys tennis team continued to dominate the competition, tying for first place at the Kirksville Under The Lights Tournament, which was held on Thursday and Friday.
Trenton nearly swept doubles play on Thursday, going 3-0 against both Chillicothe and Kirksville before running a 1-2 record against Grain Valley. When action turned to singles play on Friday, Trenton went 4-2 against Chillicothe, 3-3 against Kirksville and 3-3 against Grain Valley.
Thursday’s doubles play saw the Trenton duo of Nick Shields and Creed Houghton go undefeated. The team netted 8-0 victories over their Chillicothe and Grain Valley foes and they collected an 8-4 win over Kirksville’s top doubles team in the middle. The 3-0 showing with a combined score of 24-4 earned Shields and Houghton first-place medals for doubles play.
Gabe Swann and Jeremy Elliott were 2-1 on the day, winning 8-2 against Chillicothe and 8-3 against Kirksville before falling 9-8 on a 7-4 tiebreaker against Grain Valley.
Isaac Harris and Weston Otto earned wins of 8-5 over Chillicothe and 8-6 over Kirksville before falling 8-3 to Grain Valley.
In singles play on Friday, Shields and Swann were both undefeated at 3-0. Shields won 8-4 over Chillicothe, 8-6 over Kirksville and 8-4 over Grain Valley while Swann won 8-0 over Chillicothe, 8-6, over Kirksville and 8-2 over Grain Valley.
Swann’s 24-8 margin of victory in his three matches combined gave him the first-place singles medal. Swann’s 3-0 finish at the tournament also pushed him past 50 singles wins for his career.
Behind Swann and Shields, Elliott was 2-1, getting an 8-0 win over Chillicothe and an 8-5 win over Grain Valley. Elliott’s lone loss was a 9-7 loss to Kirksville.
Houghton and Harris were each 1-2, Houghton defeating Kirksville 9-8 with a 7-5 tiebreaker and falling 8-6 to both Chillicothe and Grain Valley and Harris scoring an 8-2 win over Chillicothe to go with an 8-6 loss to Kirksville and an 8-3 loss to Grain Valley.
Otto fell 8-6 to Chillicothe, 8-2 to Kirksville and 8-2 to Grain Valley.
“This was the windiest tournament I have ever coached in and it was messing up every team’s shots in this two-day tournament,” Trenton Coach David Sager said. “My players played the best they could in the weather conditions and ended up tying for first place as a team and also with Nick Shields, Gabe Swann and Creed Houghton taking home individual hardware in the process.
“This tournament was a good middle of the season test for our team and really showed that we have to be mentally ready to play in any conditions that come our way against other quality programs in Grain Valley, Kirksville and Chillicothe. Great job to the boys in this tournament.”
Trenton returns to regular dual action today (Tuesday), heading south to face Chillicothe. First serves are scheduled for 4 o’clock.