Boys 6A State Tennis: American Fork, Skyridge crown doubles champions
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- American Fork’s 2nd Doubles team of Colby Clinger and Adam Clarke celebrate winning the 6A state championship at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Colby Clinger (right) embraces teammate Adam Clarke after the pair won the 2nd Doubles 6A state title at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- American Fork’s 2nd Doubles team of Colby Clinger and Adam Clarke meet during a point in their 6A Boys Tennis State Tournament championship match at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Members of the American Fork boys tennis team celebrate with Adam Clarke (in red) after Clarke and Colby Clinger won the 2nd Doubles state championship at Liberty Park on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Caden Hasler serves the ball during his 1st Singles championship match in the 6A Boys State Tennis Tournament at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Caden Hasler makes a shot during his 1st Singles championship match in the 6A Boys Tennis State Tournament at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Skyridge’s 1st Doubles team of Elijah Cluff and Max Ericksen (in white) shakes hands with American Fork’s Luke Rich and Sam Jensen after winning a semifinal match in the 6A Boys Tennis State Tournament at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Caden Hasler returns a serve during his 6A Boys 1st Singles match at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Skyridge’s 2nd 1st Doubles team of (from left) Max Ericksen and Elijah Cluff talk strategy during their 6A Boys State Tennis championship match at Liberty Park on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- The American Fork boys tennis team holds the second place trophy at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Skyridge soccer fans watch through the fence during the 6A Boys Tennis state championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Skyridge 1st Doubles player Max Erickson crouches in preparation for a serve at the 6A Boys Tennis state championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Skyridge fans charge the court after Elijah Cluff and Max Erickson win the 1st Doubles title at the 6A Boys Tennis state championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
SALT LAKE CITY — Defending 6A Boys Tennis state champion American Fork may have finished as runner-up this year, but none of the Cavemen or the fans in attendance at Liberty Park on Saturday were complaining about the level of play they saw in the two day tournament.
Corner Canyon ran away with team title, sweeping the three singles matches and scoring 65 points, 25 points better than second-place American Fork (40).
“I’m proud of them,” AF coach Jason Herrud said. “Honestly, I think our team this year is as good or better than it was last year. It’s just the level of competition has risen. A lot of that is sometimes there are kids who don’t play high school tennis because they’re playing on the national circuit. But they’ve found a love of teammates and they’ve found a love of representing their schools. In year’s past, a lot of these kids would have bypassed the state championships. It’s awesome. You’ve got Division I tennis right here.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen as high of a level of tennis as we saw this year in Utah. Corner Canyon, they came and gave us big cheers last year. We’re going to give them big cheers this year because they’ve earned it.”
Meanwhile, Utah Valley teams earned their way to a pair of championships in the doubles competition. In 2nd Doubles, No. 1 seed Colby Clinger and Adam Clarke moved past No. 2 seed Nathan Kennedy and Josh Townsend of Corner Canyon 6-2, 6-3.
Clinger and Clarke, who became playing partners mid-season, didn’t drop a set on their way to the title.
“A big part of it was just being such tight friends,” Clarke said. “We’ve known each other and played tennis with each other for a long time. When we trust each other and when we’ve seen so much of each other’s game, we’re able to stick to our game plan and execute.”
Clinger was overcome with emotion and found plenty of family and friends to hug after their victory.
“It was a big year,” he said. “There were a lot of expectations going into this tournament. Adam and I actually haven’t played that Corner Canyon team before, so there were some nerves and this was our first year playing at state together. Adam is such a good partner. We didn’t start the year playing together. We didn’t think that was how the year would go. But we figured it out through a bunch of matches and just kept our energy up. We were making sure we were hitting the right spots. Taking the state championship is the best way I could ever think of ending my senior year.”
In 1st Doubles, No. 3 seed Elijah Cluff and Max Ericksen upset No. 2 Luke Rich and Sam Jensen of American Fork in one of the day’s best matches, earning a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 semifinal thriller to advance to the finals.
In the final match, Cluff and Ericksen got out in front early and were never headed, winning 6-3, 6-2 over No. 1 seed Jaxson Roberts and Beau Welker of Corner Canyon.
The 1st Singles title match was a good one, too, featuring two of the state’s best tennis players in Corner Canyon’s Alex Fuchs and American Fork’s Caden Hasler. Fuchs was one of California’s top players on the national circuit last season. He’s graduating early and has committed to Ohio State. Hasler, the defending 1st Singles state champion, will play at BYU.
On Saturday, the two elite players battled back and forth with Fuchs pulling off the 6-3, 6-4 victory.
“If you go to a college match and compare it with the level of tennis we saw today, there’s not much of a drop-off,” Herrud said. So it’s awesome.”
As for finishing as the runner-up, Herrud said, “That’s life and we gave it our all. We switched up our lineup around the middle of the season trying to give ourselves the best shot to be successful. Guys bought in. We came up short to Corner Canyon but there’s no shame in that. We played our butts off and they did, too. They came out on top and we saw some really good tennis. We’re never going to quit trying to take that top spot again.”
6A Boys State Tennis Results
Liberty Park, SLC
1st Singles
No. 1 Alex Fuchs, Corner Canyon def. No. 2 Caden Hasler, American Fork (6-3, 6-4)
2nd Singles
No. 1 Aidan Rideout, Corner Canyon def. No. 3 Kingsley Hoang, Bingham (6-2, 6-1)
3rd Singles
No. 1 Cole Jenkins, Corner Canyon def. No. 3 Nathan Bullard, Farmington (6-0, 6-5)
1st Doubles
No. 3 Elijah Cluff and Max Ericksen, Skyridge def. No. 1 Jaxson Roberts and Beau Walker, Corner Canyon (6-3, 6-2)
2nd Doubles
No. 1 Colby Clinger and Adam Clarke, American Fork def. No. 2 Nathan Kennedy and Josh Townsend, Corner Canyon (6-2, 6-3)
Final Team Standings
1. Corner Canyon 65
2. American Fork 40
3. Farmington 31
Skyridge 31
5. Lone Peak 24
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