Red Raiders Shibles, Francis Advance to MIAA Semifinals

HYANNIS – Barnstable High School’s Tyler Shibles and Max Francis both advanced to the MIAA South Sectional Individual Tennis semifinals yesterday after respective quarterfinals victories held at Barnstable High.
But it wasn’t quite that easy.

Barnstable High sophomore Max Francis advanced to the MIAA South Sectional Quartfinals on May 23 along with top-seeded Red Raider teammate Tyler Shibles yesterday.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos

Shibles, the South’s top seed, defeated Mashpee High School’s Gunnar Mahoney in round 16 of the tournament, 6-4, 6-3, and then went on to defeat Old Rochester Regional High School’s Owen Sughrue, 6-0, 6-1.
Francis, only a sophomore and seeded number three, defeated Bridgewater-Raynham’s Keegan O’Connor, 6-4, 6-2 in round 16 and then went on to beat Duxbury’s Ethan Hall, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Both Red Raiders will now advance to the MIAA South Sectional Semifinals on May 23 at Newton North High School.
St. John Paul II’s Cooper Tomchik was in the hunt as well, having defeated Wareham’s Evan Russell in round 16, but he was defeated by Sughrue in round 16, 6-0, 6-1, and was eliminated from South Sectional contention.
Bishop Feehan’s Jack Lahtiff defeated Marshfield’s Steve Smith (6-2, 6-4), Duxbury’s Steve Simon (6-2, 6-0) and Sacred Heart’s Giacomo Quagini (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) to advance to the May 23 quarterfinals along with Shibles and Francis.
Silver Lake’s Julian Tim Kharyat defeated Plymouth North’s Dan Tocco, 6-0, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals along with Shibles, Francis and Lahtiff.
Lahtiff will face Shibles and Francis will face Kharyat on May 23. There is a distinct possibility that both Francis and Shibles could square off against each other in the South Sectional championship.
The top-seeded Barnstable High doubles teams also won their respective matches Sunday and will advance to next weekend’s south sectional semifinals. The teams are comprised of Donnie Brodd and Cooper Blaze at number one doubles and Cooper Hesse and Daniel Dettinger-Klemm are seeded number two.
– Sean Walsh is the sports editor for Capecod.com. His email is [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm.