After a great day of competition in the opening rounds of sectionals, all seven varsity members of CVCA's tennis team competed in the semifinals on Thursday. In their first round, the first seeded team of Lincoln Gates/Andrew Van Hala defeated their teammates Owen Lee/Jack Gomez to make the finals. Gates/Van Hala then faced the second seeded team from Perry, who defeated the third seeds, CVCA's Joshua McIlroy/Hudson Bazemore. Gates/Van Hala emerged victorious against the very capable Perry team in a convincing  6-2 6-2 win, making them sectional champs! This is Andrew Van Hala's first sectional championship, and it makes Lincoln Gates a three-time sectional champion in doubles! Lincoln is just the third player in CVCA boys tennis history to capture three or more sectional championships! In the all CVCA third/fourth place match, McIlroy/Bazemore defeated Lee/Gomez to take the final two seeds into the district tournament.

In singles, fourth seeded sophomore Benjamin Dressel battled hard, but lost in three sets to the first seeded player from Coventry. Though fighting through injury and fatigue, he played an extraordinarily brave match in the third/fourth place match to defeat the third seeded Triway player 7-6 6-4 and claim third place in sectionals.

All seven varsity Royals will compete in the district tournament on Friday, 5/22 at Springside Racquet Club, starting at 9am.