PROVO — With the first day of competition in the books, things couldn't be more tight in the 3A boys state tennis championships. Dixie, Juan Diego, Hurricane and Park City are all tied on top at six points with four other schools within two points.
It was a long day for all of the participants with rains coming almost immediately after warmups were complete for the initial matches.
Participants had to make do with just four indoor courts until the rains subsided around 3 p.m.
Fortunately for all involved, Bart Nelson was running the show. Nelson has been directing tennis tournament for the past 25 years, so he's been there before.
Matches went well into the night, but will be on schedule for the final four in each of the five competition brackets.
As expected, both of the Desert Hills doubles teams made it through to the semifinals, but the Thunder failed to earn even a single point in singles competition.
Juan Diego proved dominant in the singles competition with nationally-ranked Brendan Kempin dropping just two games in his four sets of first singles competition. Brenton Rayner matched Kempin's dominance in second singles winning 6-1, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the semis.
Other dominant performances were put forth by Park City's Kevin Colopy in first singles — winning both his matches 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the semis where he'll match up with Hurricane's Duncan Alger, who faced little resistance winning each of his four games in two matches by a 6-1 margin.
In third singles, Park City's Matt Groy had the most impressive first day — dropping just a single game in his two matches. He'll match up with Grantsville's Tyler Colson in the semis.
email: bgurney@desnews.com
3A tennis
Saturday's matchups
First Singles
Brendan Kempin (Juan Diego) vs. Zeno Kastelic (Dixie)
Kevin Colopy (Park City) vs. Duncan Alger (Hurricane)
Second Singles
Tevan Balian (Dixie) vs. Brenton Rayner (Juan Diego)
Stefan Dancy (Park City) vs. Jacob Witt (Wasatch)
Third Singles
Tyler Colson (Grantsville) vs. Matt Groy (Park City)
John Barnett (Judge Memorial) vs. Blake Newman (Ogden)
First Doubles
Mason Ford and Christian Davis (Desert Hills) vs. Brandon Reemsnyder and Luke Ropner (Judge Memorial)
Ricky Rahde and Jacob Delagarza (Hurricane) vs. Luke Heaton and Micah Alba (Dixie)
Second Doubles
Clay Hardy and Preston Parmenter (Desert Hills) vs. Nick Fuller and Nobu Onozaki (Juan Diego)
Shayden Hinton and Karter Beardall (Hurricane) vs. Nate Utley and Lakota Ivers (Snow Canyon)