With one State qualifier, boys tennis finished their team season in Districts on May 10.

Starting with the individual tournament,senior Arnav Purshottam was the Class 2, District 1 tennis champion, punching his ticket to the State tournament. Purshottam said he was really proud of himself for not dropping a single game in all three District matches.

“I was happy with the way I played at Districts and the ease I was able to win my matches,” Purshottam said. “It felt great winning Districts. I got second my freshman year and fourth my junior year, so I’m really happy that I was able to win it my senior year. Along with winning Districts, I was able to achieve my goal for this season and qualify to State.”

In the first round of team Districts, the Falcons defeated St. Pius X (Festus) 5-0 on May 9. However, they fell to Farmington 5-1 the next day, ending the team season. According to senior Ethan Holztman, he was paired up with a new doubles partner which was not to his advantage. “At team Districts, I played with someone who I had only played with once before in doubles, so we didn’t really have the best communication at the beginning of the match, but as it went along, we were able to work together,” Holtzman said.

Tennis coach Kevi Harwood said that she was really glad Purshottam finally made it and was proud of the entire team for how they played.

“Districts went well. Everyone won their first match. They worked hard in their next match, but all were out after that except Arnav,” Harwood said. “He worked hard for it. He is ready to play [but] he just needs to be consistent and use every tool in his repertoire.”

As this is his first time at State, Purshottam said he is planning on giving it his all as he has nothing to lose.

“There are going to be a lot of strong players in the State tournament, much different than the people I was playing at Districts. I need to keep the confidence I have, play aggressive, and give my best effort because I have nothing to lose at this point. My main goal was to make it to State, so now I’m just going to go all out and hopefully the result turns out the way I hope so,” Purshottam said.

The State tennis tournament took place on May 19 at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, MO, and Purshottam took seventh place.