It’s difficult to repeat as champions, as Missouri Military Academy tennis already knew.

MMA vs Hannibal Photo Gallery

On Thursday in the Class 2 District 4 tournament championship match at home against Hannibal, it was an even bigger challenge for the Colonels. MMA won its first Class 2 district title match 5-1 despite moving to the singles round without No. 2 Patricio Bravo Knobloch due to sickness that cropped up in doubles. 

Head coach Brad Smith admitted it was “nerve-wracking” as MMA had a quality opponent in front of them in the most important match of the year and had to shuffle the lineup, but his players stepped up just how they needed to. 

“Everyone had to scoot up one position,” Smith said. “(Samuel) Way, who plays No. 3, was up to 2, then my 4 went up to 3 and so on and so on. We beat Hannibal pretty handily the first time (7-2), but the scores were close in the match. Hannibal’s No. 2 player is a state qualifier, so Way took on a big challenge today and came out on top.”

The junior Way has been on all three district title teams along with No. 1 Gorka Yarte and No. 5 Nathan Dempsey. He won his match 6-3, 6-2 against Parker Terrill — who is the other individual singles state qualifier along with the senior Yarte — after being down 0-3 in the first set. Way said he is glad the team was able to adjust in its first season in Class 2.

“It feels good because I never thought we’d be in Class 2, winning another district title,” Way said. “This is our third so we’re hoping to make it a fourth.”

Yarte won his singles match 6-3, 6-4 and the junior Dempsey took his match 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker), 6-3 while doubles saw Yarte and junior Francisco De La Maza win 8-4 and Dempsey and senior Ernesto De La Maza win 8-6. Way and the sick sophomore Bravo Knobloch came back from a 2-7 deficit to just fall short 8-6 in doubles. 

“We were all pumping each other up during our matches,” Way said. “My coach was walking around pumping everyone up, and our motivation really spiked especially when the president [Brigadier General Richard V. Geraci, USA (Ret)] came in. That was really helpful.”

Smith said he isn’t sure when and if MMA earned three district titles in a row but recalls the school having really good teams in the 1990s, including a state second-place team in 1992. Last year’s Colonels earned fourth in the Class 1 state Final Four and wants to do better this year.

The Class 2 competition has already been bigger, for school size and quality of tennis, as Smith said MMA faced schools it either hasn’t seen much or never before. The Colonels had St. Louis area schools like three Ft. Zumwalt East, North and South and Holt as district foes following the increase two years ago in tennis classes to three.

“Definitely the new classes were challenging because our district put us into St. Louis territory,” Smith said. “We’ve had to play St. Louis schools and Hannibal, and Hannibal is a much bigger school than we are. They are much better than we’re used to playing in Class 1, outside of the state tournament. It’s been a wonderful challenge, and the boys have had good competition all year thanks to it.”

MMA plays Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) in the state tournament on Monday in Cape Girardeau in a showdown between schools who have won three straight district titles, with one trip to the state Final Four on the line. 

“We definitely have a lot to work on for just intelligence and IQ for playing doubles,” Smith said. “We need to take at least two of those matches. That’s a very good tennis school, so we’re mentally preparing there. I’d put my kids against anybody in singles.”