​Eagles continue late-season surge in district semifinal win over Chrisman

by Michael Smith


The Grain Valley boys tennis team played its best in the past two weeks.

That what head coach Randy Draper said he thought coming into Tuesday’s Class 2 District 8 semifinal matchup against William Chrisman.

After all, Grain Valley came into the contest on a 3-game winning streak, which included a 9-0 win against the Bears. Chrisman put up a stronger fight this time around, but the Eagles continued their last season momentum and converted it into a 5-1 victory at home.

Grain Valley now will play against Platte County in the district championship game at 4 p.m. today at Platte County High School. The Eagles lost to the Pirates earlier in the season 8-1.

“Our team is a lot different than at the beginning of the year,” Draper said. “It’s because we have been playing a lot of matches. You don’t have a choice; you have to be a lot better.”

Senior Ben Drinkwater match at No. 1 singles ended the contest as he took down Brandon Keltner 6-0, 7-5. He teamed with junior Trace Compton in No. 1 doubles and won 8-3.

Despite winning both of his matches, Drinkwater was critical of his own performance.

“I wish for my own personal goals, that I would have carried over how I played in the first set into the second,” Drinkwater said. “He figured out how to play me in that second set, so it was a lot closer. I always have goals. I am happy and unhappy at the same time.”

While he was not completely satisfied with his singles match, he said he felt good about his chemistry with Compton as they dominated their match.

“We played well. We have been on a hot streak for the past couple of weeks,” he said. “We are ready for Platte. We are ready to see if we can clinch a district championship.”

Junior John Cassidy is another Eagle who has been playing well as of late. On Tuesday, he dominated. He beat Jeremy Campos at No. 4 singles and 6-2, 6-1 and he joined senior Carter Williams at No. 2 doubles in a 8-1 rout over Keltner and Giuseppe D’angelo.

“Last time we played against this team, we won 9-7 in a close match in doubles,” Cassidy said.
“This time it was 8-1. We pulled it together today and came in clutch."

“We started out doing what we did last time to beat them and we did that from the get-go. We really focused on keeping the ball in play. Last week we struggled with double faults.”

Williams won the Eagles other match at No. 2 doubles as he topped John Eppert 7-5, 6-1.

The Eagles have been playing well as of late, but they will have a tall mountain to climb against Platte County. Drinkwater said the Pirates have an elite player at No. 1 singles so it may take a strong effort from some of players at the bottom of the lineup for Grain Valley to pull off the upset.

​“It’s going to take everyone best,” Drinkwater said. “We have to win two and three doubles and three through six doubles. Those guys have to come through clutch.”