Lincoln freshman Cayden Laughton wins state boys tennis title, helps Cardinals win fourth team title
Published 3:01 am Sunday, May 25, 2025
Up one set and holding a 3-0 lead in the second set, Lincoln High School boys tennis freshman Cayden Laughton seemed to be in cruise control against Mountainside junior Arnav Arora in the 6A state boys tennis title match Saturday, May 24 at the Babette Horenstein Tennis Center in Beaverton.
Instead, the freshman started to fumble a bit as Arora tied the second set up a 3-3 and aiming to push the match to a third set.
Instead, Laughton locked back in, not an easy task for a 15-year-old in his first season of high school, and closed the match by holding serve a couple times and breaking Arora once for the 6-2, 6-4 championship victory.
And not only did Laughton win the individual honor, but his win put Lincoln at 18 points for the tournament, one ahead of West Linn in second, to help the Cardinals win their fourth boys tennis team title in program history.
“In a big match like this where everything matters a lot, it comes down to every single point, a ton of people here, I knew he was going to fight back,” Laughton said. “I was ready for it. I had to re-center once it got to 3-all and tried to just stay solid on my serve and make sure to stay focused. The energy of the crowd helped me a lot to just get through it and close out the second set.”
Laughton’s first state title comes after Lincoln alum Will Semler, who won the individual crown the previous three years from 2022-2024.
Laughton said Semler sent a text to the freshman Saturday morning saying good luck and to try and enjoy the moment as much as he can.
“It meant a lot and it’s cool to carry on the streak in a way,” Laughton said. “I’m happy to do it for Lincoln, for (head coach) Stuart (Allen) and the team. It’s fun and it’s a cool thing to pass down.”
The new Lincoln champion received a bye in the first round as the No. 1 seed, then won his next two matches with relative ease. Laughton took down Roseburg’s Alex Howard 6-1, 6-0 and then defeated Tigard’s Camden Board 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
The semifinals match proved to be the hardest on paper with Laughton going three sets against Jesuit’s Tristan Hernandez, but the freshman pulled out the 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory.
“I think it really helps that (Laughton) has the support of his teammates, he really thrives off of his teammates,” Lincoln head coach Stuart Allen said. “I think he really enjoys the relationships, enjoys being at Lincoln and feeling all the support. The first couple of days (at state) his eyes were wide open thinking about the whole week the way the OSAA puts it on, he loves it.”
While Laughton’s individual title netted the Cardinals 10 team points, he wasn’t alone in scoring.
Sophomore Heath Silver dropped his first match to fall into the consolation bracket where he battled back and made the consolation final with 8-4 and 8-2 one-set victories. In the final, he dropped a 6-2, 7-5 match to McDaniel’s Joshua Parker Howard.
Freshman Nathan Ramachandran also scored a point for the Cardinals with a first-round victory over Andrew Swartout of Newberg, downing the Tiger 6-1, 6-1. Ramachandran dropped his next match 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles, Lincoln had three duos competing, headlined by junior Roland Alexander and sophomore Charlie Torch winning two matches in the winner’s bracket.
Sophomore duo Becker Husbands and Anderson Kitzis dropped their first match, but also battled back through the consolation bracket to make the finals. They dropped the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to a duo from Westview.
Add it all up and it’s 18 points for the Cardinals despite not having a single senior compete and eight of the nine players being underclassmen.
So whether this is the first of many more is to be seen, but the Cardinals are set up for a bright future behind their latest state champion.
“Our district is a lot stronger,” Allen said. “Little bit lucky at districts to get a lot of guys in. To replicate this pressure experience is pretty awesome.”
“A lot of pressure that comes with that, and it’s pretty cool to not just win for yourself, but also win for the team,” Laughton said. “Just for everybody out here supporting that helped me through it, to be able to win for them and the coaches and everything, it just makes it a super special win.”
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McDaniel’s Joshua Parker Howard had an excellent weekend despite dropping his first-round match. The junior won three consolation games to make the final against Silver from Lincoln.
There, Howard dominated with a 6-2, 7-5 victory to take home the win and end the week on a high note with a 4-1 record.
Sticking in singles, Central Catholic had two individuals competing. Senior Finn Johnson lost in the first round before receiving a bye in the consolation. He fell 8-3 to Howard from McDaniel.
Senior Jonah Black won his first match, taking down Silver of Lincoln with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory. He fell 6-0, 6-2 in the second round to eventual runnerup Arora of Mountainside.
On the girls singles side, PIL champion Carlyta Barfield, a sophomore from Benson, received some unfortunate seeding. The No. 3 seed received a bye and won her second-round match 6-0, 6-2, but ran into eventual champion Leah Lup, the No. 5 seed, in the quarterfinals. Lup won the match 6-0, 6-2 to end Barfield’s tournament.
Grant sent two individuals to state in Adeline Backer and Elizabeth Sacks. Both lost round one to fall to the consolation bracket, and both won a match before falling in the consolation quarterfinals.
Isa Llados was the last PIL rep coming out of Wells and she won her first match 6-1, 6-0 over Ava Williams of Sherwood. She dropped her second round matchup 6-1, 6-2 to No. 6 seed Sonya Drayton of West Linn.
David Douglas sent two individuals to state in junior Amy Do and senior Katelyn Vo. Both of them lost round one and dropped their first match in the consolation bracket.
Central Catholic also had senior Isabel McDonald make state, but she went 0-2.
Switching to boys doubles, Grant’s duo of junior Miles Potter and junior Rafael Valverde won their first round match 6-2, 6-1 over a duo from Glencoe. However, they got the No. 1 seed from West Linn in round two and fell 7-6 (0), 6-1 to end their week.
On the girls side, Lincoln sent two doubles teams and saw sophomores Reese Hefele and Sitara Soman win their first round match 6-0, 6-1 over a duo from McNary. They fell 7-6 (1), 7-5 to the No. 2 seed and eventual champions from Westview in round two.
The Cardinals’ other duo of junior Scarlett Dempsey and senior Zoe Lazzara went 0-2.
Grant had the other two PIL spots and had sophomore Emma Tadjedin and senior Mia Farr win in round one 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 over a duo from Lakeridge. They drew the No. 1 seed from Jesuit in round two though and lost 6-2, 6-1.
The other Generals duo of senior Maddy Naugler and junior Ruby Hanson started off with an upset of the No. 5 seed from Lakeridge 7-6 (7), 6-3. They turned that into another win with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over a duo from Sprague to make the second day of the state tournament.
However, Naugler/Hanson ran into that same Westview champion duo, falling 6-1, 6-2.
Central Catholic had the sophomore duo of Lucy Chandler and Finleigh Mork in the tournament, winning their first round match 6-3, 6-4 over a duo from West Salem. They fell 6-1, 6-0 in round two to a Jesuit squad.
The Rams also had a junior duo of Coco Stanford and Erica Zanavich meet the same fate. They won round one 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 over a duo from Lake Oswego, but fell round two 6-1, 6-1 to the No. 3 seed Sunset duo.
Parkrose had one girls individual qualifier in junior Trina Dinh. She dropped her first match but won in the consolation bracket 8-0 to make the consolation semis. She fell 8-3 to Kendall Sales of Hood River Valley.
Riverdale sent one girls single player as well to the 4A/3A/2A/1A state tournament at Oregon State University. She fell in round one but won three consolation matches to make the final. She dropped the final match 6-1, 6-3 however to Ryan Lomber of Valley Catholic.
