Tennis ends season at State

Will Ivester, Sports Editor

May 21, 2024

The Manhattan High tennis finished their season at State over the weekend, The team took ninth with junior Advith Natarajan taking 13th in singles, sophomores Mason Gish and Zac Morgan taking 13th in doubles, and senior Michael Hwang and junior Jack Spiegel taking 12th in doubles.

Natarajan went 2-2 beating Washburn Rural 6-4, 6-3 in the first match then losing 0-6, 0-6 to Blue Valley West. He beat Garden City 8-1 and finished his season losing 3-8 to Shawnee Mission West.

“It went well. It was a really good experience. It was my first time competing,” Natarajan said. “I won my first match, which was a big win versus Washburn.”

Gish and Morgan also went 2-2 winning their first match 3-6, 7-5 and 13-11 in the tiebreaker against Derby. They lost their second match 1-6, 4-6 to Blue Valley and then won against Liberal 8-1 and finished the season losing 3-8 to Derby.

Hwang and Spiegel were the only players from Manhattan who qualified for day two of State. “State went pretty good,” Spiegel said. “I didn’t really have high expectations going in. But coming out I am pretty proud of how we did as a team, especially with my doubles partner, Michael.”

They started off with a win over Lawrence High 6-4,4-6. Then they lost to Blue Valley North 0-6,1-6. After their loss they won two straight games against Maize and Blue Valley 8-0, 9-7 then they finished the season with a loss against Washburn. Hwang and Spiegel went 3-2 at the tournament.

“Playing with Jack was what they call the cherry on top. I’ve longed to play with him from the start and I’ve wanted to play since the beginning of the season. He’s really calm and easy to play with.” Hwang said. “I’d been friends with him before the season so it was great to play with him, and very epic to go to State with him.”

About the Contributors

Will Ivester, Sports Editor

Sophomore Will Ivester is this year’s sports editor for the MHS Student Media. Ivester has been a member since freshman year. He found out about the Publications class before his freshman year and decided he might want to do sports journalism as a career. “I really like sports because they ard entertaining,” Ivester said. “I like soccer because I play with my friends.” Ivester is a one-sport athlete focusing on soccer, where he is a right back. “I love playing right back because I get to truck people,” he said. “My most memorable moment in soccer was when I rammed into a kid at full speed and got a yellow card.” Ivester’s hobbies beyond soccer include video games.

Hunter Flagg, Online EIC

Hunter Flagg is a freshman staff writer who joined journalism this year after moving from New York, not too far from the city. If Flagg can find the time outside of class, he likes to be with friends as he likes people in general. “I like writing and videography and stuff like that,” Flagg said. “Haven’t been able to do that because of school.” Flagg joined journalism with hopes of creating entertaining articles and having fun. “I like all aspects of journalism, mainly videography,” Flagg said. “It allows me to bask in a job well done.” Flagg also has hopes of changing the yearbook for the better. Flagg believes the yearbook can get a bit cringy at times and he wants to stop that from happening. “I thought the yearbook sounded cool to me,” he said. Flagg wants to be a sports correspondent to write more entertaining life filled articles. “No offense to people in politics, but I don’t feel like the students care about it that much,” Flagg said. “I want to write about sports, current events and things that have an impact on student’s lives.” After high school, Flagg wants to join the military with no interest in continuing Journalism. Flagg says to anyone wanting to join journalism to “do it.” By Thurston Rogers Staff Writer

The Mentor

The Mentor

Tennis ends season at State

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