From staff reports

sports@joplinglobe.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. —Dominant with their serves and their play at the net, Thomas Jefferson seniors Will Humphreys and Joe Newman overpowered their final opponents and claimed the MSHSAA Class 1 doubles tennis state championship on Saturday.

Humphreys-Newman rolled past Cody Greenlaw-Morgan Saunders of Chillicothe 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinal round and Dakin Sloss-Orion Wilkinson of Clayton 6-1, 6-3 in the championship round, capping a 14-1 season.

“We did not get our serve broken at all in the semifinal or final match,” Humphreys said. “We decided we’d change it up as much as possible, be as close at the net as we could and make sure we made our volley. We played well.”

“Both of us served well, and we were closing on the net and putting the points away early,” Newman said. “We were ending points early and keeping them guessing on returns.

“I absolutely felt we were the favorite to win. There were good teams there. It was not a walk by any means, but we got it done.

“They were really solid from the very beginning,” Cavaliers head coach Diego Camacho said. “I said (Friday) I was thinking the tougher team on the draw was the team they played in the quarterfinals (Charlie Curtis-Will McAllister of MICDS), and that’s what happened. They were the toughest team.”

“The second-round match was the toughest of the tournament,” Newman said. “Those guys were a good team ... it was a struggle but we got it done. Now we’re state champions.”

For Newman, it was his first state championship and fourth state medal in doubles. In the previous three years with partner Matthew Taylor, they placed fifth in 2005, second in 2006 and fifth last year.

Humphreys was state doubles champion a year ago with Mark Silva. The same team took third in state in 2005, and Humphreys was ninth in singles in 2006.

So, which is better — four state medals with one championship or three state medals with two firsts?

“Neither one is too bad,” Humphreys said with a laugh. “For somebody to place all four years is great, and winning twice is great. For us to win our senior year, that’s the ultimate thing. You always want to go out on top.”

Two other Thomas Jefferson entries lost Saturday in the consolation semifinals, one victory short of a medal.

Spenser Newman fell two points short of a medal, dropping a 10-8 tiebreaker decision to Jay Gillespie of Pembroke Hill. They split the first two sets by 6-3 scores, then played a decisive tiebreaker instead of a third set.