Panther tennis faces tough Clarinda team

Creston/O-M boys tennis faced a tough conference foe Monday night, falling to Clarinda 8-1.

Clarinda entered Monday 5-0, winning four of its last five meets by seven matches.

“I expected this to be an uphill climb for us,” said head coach Kevin Cooper. “One of our kids said ‘isn’t that the same lineup from last year?’ Nobody moved a spot from last year and that’s a huge advantage (for them).”

Clarinda’s lineup of Brady Williams, Kory Rogers, Owen Smith, Alex Best and Connor Brown all had decisive singles wins over Creston/O-M’s 2-6 ranked players.

Creston/O-M’s No. 1, Walker Patterson, paired with Clarinda’s in what was the match of the day to Cooper.

“Walker, easily,” said Cooper about what Panther had the best day on the court. “It’s hard to be the number one on a team that is both young and inexperienced. ... We’re not an experienced varsity team and when he’s played number one he’s never been negative about it and never wants to give it up.”

Patterson’s pairing against the Cardinals’ JD Hitt ended with a score of 11-10 after a lengthy battle for an edge.

Patterson won the tiebreaker by a 7-4 decision for his first singles win of the season and the only match victory of the day for the Panthers.

“Every night he plays a state qualifier or that level of a kid,” said Cooper. “He’s never said a word about it. He just goes out there, plays and has a great attitude so I was excited to see him get his first win of the year in singles.”

Cooper says the focus in practice going forward will be to work on consistency with his boys, trying to keep the balls inside the white lines and to work on perfecting serves.

Junior Varsity

The Panthers JV squad took four of eight singles matches against Clarinda and took one of four doubles matches Monday.

Jacob Rushing and Hunter Walter goose egged their Cardinal counterparts, each winning their singles match 6-0. James Kunz won his pairing by a 6-1 final.

Nate Wells had to work a little harder to get his match win, winning by a 6-3 score.

The doubles group of Isaac Shields and Connor Rink were the lone doubles victors for C/O-M, winning 6-5.

C/O-M in Norwalk

NORWALK – Originally scheduled for a tournament Saturday, the Creston/O-M boys tennis team had a long day, playing three duals with Ballard, North Polk and Saydel.

After St. Edmond pulled out of the tournament the format of the day shifted to three duals, forcing some Panther players to take part in six different matches over the course of the day.

Adding to the difficulty of a long day were the Panthers opponents as Ballard and North Polk both showed the power of their two traditionally strong programs.

Both Ballard and North Polk won their duals over Creston/O-M by 9-0 match scores, keeping the Panthers from winning a single match.

It was the Panthers’ final dual against Saydel where they were able to get on the board and pick up a team win 5-4.

Eli Hartman and Mark Waigand won their No. 2 and No. 3 respective singles matches by matching 8-6 scores.

The Panthers split with Saydel in singles as Nate Wells picked up an 8-6 win at No. 6 over Kenny Michael.

Tied 3-3 heading into doubles, Hartman again grabbed another win alongside partner Walker Patterson as the duo won 8-3.

It was Creston/O-M’s No. 3 doubles pairing of Jeremy Rutz and Daniel Merritt that snagged the fifth and dual-clinching win by an 8-4 margin.

“The tournament was very challenging for the kids because they changed it to a ‘dual format’ so we ended up playing three duals in one day,” said head coach Kevin Cooper. “Each player on varsity played 5-6 matches in one day and that is a lot. Ballard and North Polk were two very challenging teams.”

UP NEXT – Creston/O-M boys tennis is back on the courts Thursday in Shenandoah. The Panthers get started at 4:30 p.m.

Clarinda 8, Creston/O-M 1

Singles — Walker Patterson (C/O-M) def. JD Hitt (Clar) 11-10 (7-4); Brady Williams (Clar) def. Eli Hartman (C/O-M) 10-1; Kory Rogers (Clar) def. Mark Waigand (C/O-M) 10-1; Owen Smith (Clar) def. Jeremy Rutz (C/O-M) 10-3; Alex Best (Clar) dec. James McDonald (C/O-M) 10-3; Connor Brown (Clar) ded. Daniel Merritt (C/O-M) 10-1.

Doubles — Williams/Best (Clar) def. Patterson/Hartman (C/O-M) 10-1; Hitt/Rogers (Clar) def. Waigand/McDonald (C/O-M) 10-4; Smith/Brown (Clar) def. Rutz/Merritt (C/O-M) 10-5.

Tournament results

Ballard 9, Creston/O-M 0

Caleb Hamerlinck (Bal) def. Walker Patterson (C/O-M) 8-2; Max Olsan (Bal) def. Eli Hartman (C/O-M) 8-0; Seth Wohlgemuth (Bal) def. Mark Waigand (C/O-M) 8-1; Chase Winterboer (Bal) def. Jeremy Rutz (C/O-M) 8-1; Alex Upah (Bal) def. James McDonald (C/O-M) 8-1; Carter Harms (Bal) def. Daniel Merritt (C/O-M) 8-1.

Hamerlinck/Olsan (Bal) def. Patterson/Hartman (C/O-M) 8-0; Wohlgemuth/Winterboer (Bal) def. Waigand/McDonald (C/O-M) 8-2; Watson/Gogerty (Bal) def. Rutz/Merritt (C/O-M) 8-2.

North Polk 9, Creston/O-M 0

Evan Moon (NP) def. Patterson (C/O-M) 8-0; Brennen Gering (NP) def. Hartman (C/O-M) 8-7 (3); Ethan Knight (NP) def. Waigand (C/O-M) 8-1; Isaac Larson (NP) def. McDonald (C/O-M) 8-0; Gabe Laizure (NP) def. Merritt (C/O-M) 8-4; Carson Cupp (NP) def. Avery Fuller (C/O-M) 8-1.

Knight/Laizure (NP) def. Patterson/Hartman (C/O-M) 8-2; Larson/Ben Ewing (NP) def. Waigand/McDonald (C/O-M) 8-2; Cupp/Nick Bockenstad (NP) def. Rutz/Nate Wells (C/O-M) 8-5.

Creston/O-M 5, Saydel 4

Zach Bobbenhouse (Say) def. Patterson (C/O-M) 8-4; Hartman (C/O-M) def. Ron Koushki (Say) 8-6; Waigand (C/O-M) def. Dylan Walker (Say) 8-6; Chase Martin (Say) def. McDonald (C/O-M) 8-5; Billy Burr (Say) def. Fuller (C/O-M) 8-2; Wells (C/O-M) def. Kenny Michael (Say) 8-6.

Patterson/Hartman (C/O-M) def. Bobbenhouse/Koushki (Say) 8-3; Walker/Martin (Say) def. Waigand/McDonald (C/O-M) 8-7 (3); Rutz/Merritt (C/O-M) def. Burr.Michael (Say) 8-4.