BonnerSprings.com

The crowd trickled in just in time.

Zach Holder and Kyle Toland rolled through the first set of their Class 5A tennis regional quarterfinal match against St. Thomas Aquinas’ Nathan Shriver and Jonathon Wirtzathon, 6-3, but fell apart during a 6-1 loss in the second set.

Now the Bonner Springs seniors were on the brink of victory with a 5-4 lead in the decisive third set.

With more than a dozen classmates clinging to the fence, watching and cheering them on, Holder and Toland played a nearly flawless final game. They put the match away using a series of nice returns and, finally, an Aquinas double fault, to cap the victory, 6-4.

Punch the ticket. Holder and Toland were state-bound for the first time in their careers.

“They have all kinds of flaws in their game and they know what they are, but in spite of that they find ways to work around that and win,” BSHS coach Bill Scott said. “I couldn’t be happier for them.”

Holder and Toland ultimately finished fourth at regionals, but they advanced to play another week.

The state tournament will take place May 9-10 at Wulz Riverside Tennis Center in Wichita.

Their semifinal match against Lansing’s Ezra Carpenter and Mo Meyer was intense and featured a pair of tiebreakers, but Holder and Toland ultimately lost 7-6 (13-11), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2.

“They fight for everything,” Scott said. “When they’re behind, they come back. In the first set they went to a 13-11 tiebreaker, and there were all kinds of points where we could’ve won it, and then they came back the next set and won a tiebreaker. They could’ve been in the finals. They were that close.”

Fatigue set in during the long semifinal match, and Holder and Toland were given barely 15 minutes to rest before playing in the consolation finals because a storm was looming in the distance. Lansing’s Eric Hansen and Daniel Miskowic then beat them 6-3, 6-1 in the third-place match.

Scott said that the state berth was the latest example of Holder and Toland beating the odds.

“They won two tournaments, and I didn’t count on that,” he said. “They went to state, and I didn’t think that would happen. I’m so happy for them because they’re the classic overachievers.

“We had two goals for them this year: to win the Leavenworth Tournament, because we hadn’t lost there in No. 1 doubles since 1999, and the other goal was to go to state. They accomplished both.”

Scott admitted that the state tournament would be tough for Holder and Toland because as a fourth-place finisher at regionals they will have to play another regional champion in the first round.

Scott said his hope is that they can continue to battle tough like they have all season and earn medalist honors with a top 10 finish. It might be a long shot, but hey, they’ve beaten the odds before.

“It’s just another one of those times where nobody expects them to win, and maybe they come through and win,” he said. “They’ve done that now in two tournaments.”

STATE TO CAP BUSY WEEK

Holder and Toland’s trip to state will mark the conclusion of an extremely busy week for the seniors. They graduate tonight, and then will attend Project Graduation. Scott said he would pull them out of that around 1 a.m. so they can go home and sleep for a few hours before departing for Wichita at 7 a.m. Friday.

“Who knows what condition they’ll be in physically?” Scott said with a laugh.

Regardless of their condition, Scott said Holder and Toland would have a great experience at state.

“They treat them like royalty (at state),” he said. “They’re treated like all the champs. They’ll have a blast.”

REGIONALS A SUCCESS

BSHS played host to regionals for the second straight year, and Scott said his staff received plenty of praise from visiting parents and coaches for how well organized it was.

“I had some Aquinas and Bishop Miege parents come up and say how much they enjoyed it and how well they thought it was run, and they’ve been here two years in a row,” Scott said.

Scott also proudly noted that the BSHS regional was the only one in the state that completed all of its matches on Thursday before a heavy storm rolled across Kansas.

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