Newton girls tennis finishes fourth at Knoxville

KNOXVILLE — Alexis Dirksen and the doubles team of Paige Benson and Morgan Frehse finished one position above their seed at the Knoxville Invitational on Friday, and the Newton girls tennis team finished fourth in the six-team field.

The Cardinals scored 12 points in fourth, while Clarke (6) and Chariton (4) completed the field.

Knoxville and Ballard each scored 19 points at the top of the standings and Creston was third with 15 points.

Dirksen was the No. 3 seed in singles but finished second after going 2-1 for the day.

Benson and Frehse were seeded fourth but finished third after winning twice and losing once.

Dirksen opened with a narrow 4-3 (7-4), 4-3 (7-2) win and then advanced to the championship match following a come-from-behind 2-4, 4-2, 13-11 victory in the semifinals.

Dirksen settled for second after losing the final 4-0, 4-1.

Benson and Frehse began their day with a 4-1, 4-0 triumph and then lost 4-1, 4-2 in the semifinals.

They bounced back with a 6-3 victory in the third-place match.

Emersyn Gross also played in the singles tournament and went 0-2 after losing 4-2, 4-1 and then 6-3.

Brooklyn Sterling and Sloan Brodersen finished 1-2 after losing their first match in three sets. The Cardinal duo lost 2-4, 4-3 (7-2), 7-4 then won 6-2 before losing 6-4.

Pella 11, Newton 0

Class 1A No. 4 Pella won all 11 varsity matches in straight sets and downed Newton, 11-0, on Thursday during Little Hawkeye Conference action at Aurora Heights Park.

The Dutch improved to 9-0 and 5-0 in the conference, while Newton dropped to 2-4 and 1-3.

The closest match came at No. 4 singles where Frehse lost 6-4, 6-3. Dirksen lost 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Benson and Frehse also fell 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.