Trojans finish sixth at home invitational

James Isaac serves to Jacob Peters of Chapman in No. 1 singles at the Hillsboro Invitational Thursday at the Sports Complex. Isaac, a senior, lost this match but finished fourth in the top bracket.The Hillsboro tennis team placed sixth at the first of their two home invitational tournaments at the Sports Complex courts April 6.

As a team, the Trojans tied for sixth place among the eight schools participating. Smoky Valley won the team title with 63 points, followed by Sterling 58, Conway Springs 57, Hutchinson Trinity 30, Sacred Heart 30, Hillsboro 20, Circle 20 and Chapman 2.

Hillsboro’s best finish came in No. 1 singles, where senior Jacob Isaac placed fourth with 1-2 record. He defeated Jacob Peters of Chapman 8-0 in the first round, lost 0-8 to William Weiner of Sterling in the semifinals, then lost 1-8 to Luke Beller of Con­way Springs in the third-place match.

“He has played well at times this year,” coach Bob Woelk said of Isaac. “He needs to keep his intensity level up for an entire meet. Our conditioning is not where it should be for the whole team. We have been hampered by poor weather, so we haven’t practiced as consistently as I would like.”

Freshman Henry Hein went 0-3 in No. 2 singles, losing 0-8 to top-seeded Jacob Kantz of Con­way Springs, 0-8 to Caleb Jordan of Sacred Heart and 2-8 to Jacob Doolittle of Chap­man in the match for seventh place.

Seniors Dakota Klein and Dylan Wiens played No. 1 doubles, losing 0-8 to Nick Reinert and Johann Rauch­holz of Smoky Valley, 1-8 to Kevin Walker and John Leusman of Chapman and 1-8 to Enzo Visciglia and Thomas Maldonaldo of Trinity in the fifth-place match.

Noah Bartel and Aidan Unruh, comprised the Trojans’ No. 2 doubles team. The freshman duo lost 0-8 to Trenton Jones and Cody Jones of Conway Springs, 3-8 to Koby Douglas and Josh Jordan of Sacred Heart, then defeated Alex Bemis and Trevon Snyder of Chapman 8-1.

“I plan to play them together more this season,” Woelk said. “They have potential to be pretty good down the road.”

Sacred Heart—The Trojans opened the season March 27 at Sacred Heart in Salina.

Jacob Isaac took first place with a 2-1 record. He lost the opener 8-7 (7-5 in the tiebreaker) against Elijah Steffen of Concordia. He then beat Cassey Darroll of St. John’s Military 8-4 and Caleb Jordan of Sacred Heart 8-5.

“A point system was used to break the three-way tie, giving Jacob first place,” coach Bob Woelk said.

Noah Bartel, playing No. 2 singles, lost to Christian Redmond of Concordia 8-6, Jacob Gruenwald of St. John’s Military 8-5 and Andrew Mosher of Sacred Heart 8-5.

In No. 1 doubles, Dakota Klein and Dylan Wiens beat Trent Hasenbank and Eric Grogan of Concordia 8-4, then lost to Adrian Cabildo and Erik Cabildo of SJM 8-3 before losing to John Le and Nathan Weiss of Sacred Heart 8-3.

The No. 2 doubles team of Aidan Unruh and Ethan Plenert lost to Isaac Bombar­dier and Keegan Grogan of Concordia 8-2, Max Duncan and Kenneth Golden of SJM 8-0 and Isaac Martin and Bradon Vandervoor 8-0.

“We have four freshmen on the team, so we are going to struggle early,” Woelk said. “The seniors have already won a few matches, so I am pleased with that. There are a lot of good tennis players in our area.”

Coming—The Trojans are schedule to play at Sterling April 10 and then at Circle April 12.

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