Newton boys lose tennis opener to experienced Boone

Five of Boone’s top six boys tennis players are seniors. The Toreadors have an experienced roster, and they were too much for Newton’s boys tennis team on Monday during the season opener.

The Cardinals lost all 11 matches against Boone at Aurora Heights Park and only one went past the second set during an 11-0 loss.

“Overall, it was a tough but good first match for us,” Newton boys head tennis coach Jared Gerber said. “They were a solid and experienced team playing with five seniors in their top six. They will be competing for the top team in the state at the end of the season.”

The closest match of the meet came at No. 3 singles where Thomas Hodnett rallied from a first-set loss to force a third set but was defeated 6-1, 2-6, 10-8 by Marcus McPortland.

“I saw lots of good things, especially from Thomas at No. 3,” Gerber said. “He battled in a great match. He changed his strategy after the first set and the match came down to the last few points. He showed a lot of resilience to work his way back.”

At the top of the lineup, Blake Baumgartner lost 6-1, 6-0 to Ben Craven at No. 1 singles and Trent Hamand lost 6-0, 6-1 to Joe Zehr at No. 2 singles.

John Valtman, playing at No. 4 singles, lost to Tate Sandvig 6-2, 6-3. No. 5 William Muckler lost to Cody Overland 6-1, 6-0 and No. 6 Landon Heisdorffer lost 6-3, 6-1 to Wylan Haberer.

Landon Rae and Seth Adams were the only Cardinals to win three games in one set in doubles action. Rae and Adams lost 6-3, 6-0 to Zach Bolton and Ashton Thigles at No. 5 doubles.

At No. 1 doubles, Hamand and Hodnett lost 6-2, 6-1 to Zehr and McPortland. Valtman and Baumgartner lost 6-0, 6-1 to Craven and Sandvig at No. 2 doubles.

Muckler and Heisdorffer teamed up at No. 3 doubles and lost 6-1, 6-1 to Overland and Jake Judge. Owen Sanger and Kyler Van Brogen lost 6-1, 6-1 to Haberer and Matt Zimmerman at No. 4 doubles.

“The score can be a little deceiving because so many of the games went to deuce with our team losing the next point and, therefore, the game,” Gerber said. “You always have those first-match jitters and that showed a few times today, but this meet gave us a lot of things to work on moving forward to continue getting better and to compete in our next matches.”