The incredible WarDog Tennis team has been working hard all throughout their season, and were able to showcase their skills at regionals to qualify for the state tournament. State was held in Pueblo, Colorado this past weekend, October 12th and 13th. After around three weeks of final training between regionals and state, and a lengthy six hour drive, our Bulldogs arrived at the tournament to give it their all. Six of our very own played in the tournament, including Owen Bickham, Ethan Tregilgas, Joseph Kirschenmann, Caleb Blanck, Andrew Kirschenmann, and Canaan Ross.
This year, we had two first time state qualifiers, Joseph Kirschenmann and Owen Bickham. Joseph is a sophomore at Palisade, and has been playing with his doubles partner for the past two years, senior Ethan Tregilgas. “I think it went well, I’m really happy I made it to state.” Said Kirschenmann. “Last year I got third place at regionals, so it was fun to be able to qualify this year.” Another member of the team, Andrew Kirschenmann is Joseph’s brother and mentor. “He did alright at state.” said Joseph Kirshenmann. “I was proud of how he played and it was fun to be able to watch him and look up to him throughout our highschool seasons together so far.”
Unfortunately, even though our Bulldogs fought as hard as they could, they didn’t end up winning any matches. Kirschenmann and Tregilgas played against the Mullen High School Mustangs, which is a private and very competitive school in Denver. “It’s really hard to do super well at state because the teams there are very competitive. Especially schools like Mullen because they live in Denver so they have more competition.” Kirschenmann states. “Even though we did lose pretty badly, it was still super fun. Our team is pretty close, so I think state was a fun experience for all of us regardless.”
The Boys’ Tennis season rapidly approached its end, with only the banquet left. Good job this season Bulldogs, and we’ll catch you in the spring for the next match, with the Girls WarDog team. Go Bulldogs!
