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5A state tennis tournament: The Fort Collins players who qualified, plus schedule and format

chris abshire, fort collins coloradoan
·3 min read
Rocky Mountain No. 1 singles player Bridger Galyardt hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021.
Rocky Mountain No. 1 singles player Bridger Galyardt hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021.

Fifteen lines and 25 players from Fort Collins schools qualified for this year's Colorado Class 5A high school state boys tennis tournament.

Regional tournaments were held last week across the state and city teams placed a slew of qualifiers in the three-day tournament held Oct. 13-15.

Playbacks are again back this year, though there is one major change to the format. Instead of the individual tournament results determining team championships, there is a separate team dual tournament.

Fossil Ridge is the only area team left in that format, as the fourth-seeded SaberCats play two-time defending state champion and No. 1 seed Cherry Creek in the semifinals Tuesday night.

Here is a look at all of our individual qualifiers, plus what the format and schedule will look like at the state tournament.

State qualifiers

Fossil Ridge doubles player Jack Houldsworth hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Houldsworth qualified on the No. 2 doubles line this season with partner Alex Van Thuyne.
Fossil Ridge doubles player Jack Houldsworth hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Houldsworth qualified on the No. 2 doubles line this season with partner Alex Van Thuyne.

5A Region 3 (North Lake Park in Loveland)

Fossil Ridge added to its unbeaten regular season and Front Range League title by qualifying all seven lines for state last week, winning five of those lines.

Here are the Fossil Ridge players headed to the 5A state tennis tournament:

  • No. 1 singles: Tyler Van Tassell (2nd)

  • No. 2 singles: Andrew Roerty (1st)

  • No. 3 singles: Bennett Johnson (2nd)

  • No. 1 doubles: Grant Samuelson and Jeffrey Yao (1st)

  • No. 2 doubles: Alex Van Thuyne and Jack Houldsworth (1st)

  • No. 3 doubles: Nick Doing and Christian Miller (1st)

  • No. 4 doubles: Zane Webb and Gavin Payne (1st)

Fun fact: Samuelson, a senior, has a legitimate shot at a second state title in as many weeks. He was part of Fossil Ridge's Class 5A boys golf team championship last week.

Rocky Mountain No. 1 singles player Bridger Galyardt reacts to a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Galyardt qualified on the No. 1 singles line again this season.
Rocky Mountain No. 1 singles player Bridger Galyardt reacts to a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Galyardt qualified on the No. 1 singles line again this season.

5A Region 7: (North Lake Park in Loveland)

Rocky Mountain has been strong all season, with its only two team losses coming to top-five Arapahoe and Fossil Ridge. The Lobos continued that momentum in regionals, qualifying five lines for state (with an alternate) while winning four of them.

Here are the Rocky Mountain players headed to the 5A state tennis tournament:

  • No. 1 singles: Bridger Galyardt (1st)

  • No. 3 singles: Baily Livengood (2nd)

  • No. 2 doubles: Drake Solley and Levi Teck (1st)

  • No. 3 doubles: Ian Van de Lindt and Levi Harris (1st)

  • No. 4 doubles: Luke Winger and Cooper Campbell (1st)

The duo of Lukkas Vanderwoude and Peter Rademacher is an alternate in No. 1 doubles.

Fort Collins boys tennis player Grubby Hay-Arthur hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Hay-Arthur qualified again this season on the No. 3 doubles line with partner Vic Hubbard.
Fort Collins boys tennis player Grubby Hay-Arthur hits a shot during the Class 5A state tournament at Gates Tennis Center on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Hay-Arthur qualified again this season on the No. 3 doubles line with partner Vic Hubbard.

5A Region 8 (Mountain Vista/ThunderRidge)

Fort Collins also qualified several players in Class 5A, overcoming a tough regional to send three positions (and an alternate) to state while winning a line.

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Here are the Fort Collins players headed to the 5A state tennis tournament:

  • No. 1 doubles: Maxwell Moran and Jackson Sullivan (2nd)

  • No. 2 doubles: Grubby Hay-Arthur and Vic Hubbard (1st)

  • No. 3 doubles: Bennett Metz and Christopher Darbie (2nd)

Jake Bronson is an alternate on the No. 1 singles line.

Class 5A state tennis schedule, format

The 5A individual state tournament runs from Thursday, Oct. 13, to Saturday, Oct. 15, at City Park in Denver.

Just like last year (after a COVID year off), playbacks will take place at state, meaning one loss will not knock a player out of the running to place.

The format and schedule is the same as usual: A 16-position bracket for each line begins Thursday with first-round action, followed by quarterfinals.

More:5A individual state tournament brackets

Semifinals and playbacks will make for a busy Friday, while all finals and playback finals are on Saturday. Action begins at 9 a.m. each day, weather-permitting.

The team dual finals will be on Tuesday, Oct. 18, and will also be held at City Park in Denver.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado 5A boys state tennis tournament: Fort Collins qualifiers