Platte County junior Gavin Nichols hits a shot during a dual last season. ROSS MARTIN/PC Preps Extra

Platte County goes into season with high expectations — for good reason

For 1st time in program history, Pirates bring back multiple individual state qualifiers as part of experienced group ready to finally push way to program’s 1st team playoff appearance.

Platte County coach Zach Keith doesn’t want to shy away from the expectations, but after back-to-back seasons heavier on individual success, he knows this year’s talented roster must earn any achievements.

“On paper, this is the best boys team we’ve ever had,” he said. “If you came and watched us do drills in practice, you’d be very impressed. We look the part. We look good. But in the words of Mike Tyson, ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.'”

The schedule will again allow Platte County to take plenty of punches — similar to each of the past two years. The Pirates have twice reached the Class 2 District 8 championship in each of the two seasons since the state went to three tiers for the sport starting in 2021, but both times wound up with a tight loss that ended their season short of the first playoff berth in program history.

Now, Platte County brings back four of the top six from last year’s 9-7 squad that won a second straight Suburban Conference Blue Division Championships. For the first time ever, the returners include more than one returning qualifier for the Class 2 Missouri State Tennis Championships individual tournament.

Platte County junior Gavin Nichols again anchors the lineup, ready for his second full season at No. 1 in singles — a role he took over midway through his freshman year. The Pirates also have senior No. 2 Jack Forrest back along with senior Nathan Vanek (No. 4 as a junior) and sophomore Jack Bralley (No. 5 as a freshman) looking to move up.

Add in senior Mason McBratney, who combines experience and athleticism with an unorthodox style of play that could create matchup problems for opponents.

Those five players alone make Platte County a threat to compete for another conference title — this time in the White Division — plus the district grouping, which will be released later this spring. The Pirates will take no chances and have Willard again coming in for a dual and as an opponent in the Platte County Invitational in addition to a trip to Branson for a tournament and duals with Branson and Carthage.

“We play a tough schedule against predominantly larger schools so that we’ll be battle-tested and prepared to handle the competition we’ll need to beat late in the season,” Keith said. “These matches will give us an opportunity to grow mentally tougher and obviously physically tougher as well. If we use the opportunities to grow, we will be very good by May.”

Platte County will have to replace graduated two-year contributor Austin Vanek and No. 6 standout Shane Duggan from last year. Additionally, Nathan Macaluso played some doubles throughout the season at the varsity level.

An inexperienced No. 1 for the first part of his junior season, Austin Vanek settled into the No. 3 spot in 2022 and provided a consistent presence and eventually earned a state berth as part of a doubles team with his younger brother. Duggan went 22-4 at No. 6 singles in his lone year on varsity.

With five players likely locked into singles spots, Keith expects senior Jaron Cook and juniors Daniel Bunge, Aaron Vaughan and Quentin Miller to compete for time in the back end of the lineup. Cook is battling injuries but has a lot of junior varsity experience, as does Miller, while Vaughan moved to Platte City last summer and has previous varsity experience at his prior school.

“We’ve got multiple guys competing for both varsity singles and doubles playing time,” Keith said. “So far none have emerged as the clear favorite.”

Regardless, doubles teams will likely be the biggest aspect for Platte County to sort out.

The Vaneks played No. 2 in the latter half of the season and made an upset run to the Class 2 District 8 championship match to secure just the second doubles state berth in program history and first since Ethan Savage and Aaron Stout advanced in 2010 when the Pirates were still in Class 1. The Vaneks went 0-2 at state.

The only singles state qualifier in program history, Nichols captured his second straight Class 2 District 8 title last season. He medaled seventh as a freshman but went 1-2 last year with a difficult and unique draw that saw him advance to the quarterfinals again A district champion in singles for a second straight year.

However, a loss to Willard No. 2 Alex Crawford put Nichols into the consolation side of the bracket where he actually matched up with Willard No. 1 and District 7 champion Caden Lingenfelser, who uniquely lost a tight two-set match in the opening round to eventual third-place finisher Ayush Negi of Parkway Central.

Lingenfelser eliminated Nichols and went on to come all the way back to place fifth, while Crawford came in fourth. Nichols lost nine singles matches as a sophomore — all to state qualifiers and six to eventual state medalists.

Nichols and Forrest eventually became Platte County’s No. 1 doubles team in 2022 but would likely be single entrants in the individual district tournament. Bralley and Duggan played No. 3 behind the Vaneks last year, meaning the second and third teams will look different this year for the Pirates.

Regardless, Platte County will likely be competing for the White Division title with Grain Valley, which beat the Pirates twice last year by a score of 5-4. The second came in the District 8 championship match, a year after Kearney beat Platte County by the same score in the final to avenge a regular season loss and earn the 2021 playoff berth.

Both could be back in District 8 this year, although Grain Valley was in District 7 for the 2021 season.

“We have high expectations for this team, and we believe that a conference championship and a team district championship are possible,” Keith said. “We are coaching this team to prepare for those big moments on the court.”

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