Three Individual Conference Titles and Two Second Place Team Finishes For Ram Tennis at H-10 Conference Tournament

Kevin Tucker's picture

Monday the girls and boys tennis teams traveled to a great facility in Omaha, Nebraska for the Hawkeye Ten Tennis Tournament. The tournament was held at Tranquility Park where they have twenty five courts in one area. Eleven teams in competed in four brackets for both the girls and boys divisions.

First let me explain how the day goes for those fans who aren’t tennis fanatics. Before the day starts each Hawkeye Ten coach makes a decision on whether a varsity player will play singles or doubles that day. Out of the six varsity players on a tennis team there are four players that play doubles and two individuals that play singles. There is a Number One Singles Bracket, Number One Doubles Bracket, Number Two Singles Bracket, and a Number Two Doubles Bracket at the Conference Tournament. The scoring goes as the following: 1st place-8 points, 2nd place-7 points, 3rd place-6 points, 4th place-5 points and so on.

Shenandoah won the girls tournament with a total of thirty points. The Fillies won three different brackets (#1 Singles, #2 Singles and #1 Doubles) and finished third in #2 Doubles. Glenwood finished second with twenty-two team points. Red Oak finished third with nineteen points.

Sierra Stouder and Brielle Smith won the #2 Doubles Bracket for the Rams. Stouder and Smith played well the entire day and were crowned Hawkeye Ten Champions! Brooklyn Taylor and Erin Stanley finished second in the #1 Doubles Bracket. Ruby Crow finished fifth in the #2 Singles Bracket after going 3-1 on the day. Ellie Osterloh finished sixth in the tough #1 Singles Bracket. Way to go girls!

Atlantic won the boys tournament with an impressive total of twenty-five team points. The Trojans finished 3rd in #1 Singles, 3rd in #2 Singles, 3rd in #1 Doubles, and 2nd in #2 Doubles. While Atlantic did not win an individual title the Trojans showed the conference their depth by earning enough team points to win the title. Glenwood finished second with twenty-two team points. The Rams finished 1st in #1 Singles, 1st in #2 Singles, 6th in #1 Doubles, and 6th in #2 Doubles. Carroll Kuemper finished third in the team standings with twenty team points.

I was proud of my team with their second place finish after placing a disappointing fifth a season ago. Winning two out of the four conference brackets is pretty impressive. I was also impressed by Atlantic’s depth and my hat goes off to Coach McDermott for entering what I thought was a smart team championship lineup! Congrats Atlantic!

Adam Konfrst won his third straight Hawkeye Ten Conference Title on Monday by defeating Trevor Finnegan of Shenandoah 6-3, 6-1 in the finals. Adam won #1 doubles back in 2016, #2 singles in 2017 and now won #2 singles in 2018. Glenwood has never had a three time Hawkeye Ten Conference Champion and I am happy for Adam and his accomplishments.

Joel Ibanez won the #1 Singles Bracket 5-7, 6-4 (10-3) in a tiebreaker over the #1 seed Tanner Finken of Carroll Kuemper. This was a fantastic win for Joel. All season long the media and coaches in the Hawkeye Ten ranked Finken over Ibanez as the best player in the conference. On Monday, Joel had his opportunity and in front of a hostile crowd Ibanez proved he was the best in the Hawkeye Ten. My hat goes off to Joel, he was down early but always trusted his game. The match was very intense and both individuals played the game with class.

Both doubles teams bounced back after first round losses to earn sixth place on the day. While the doubles teams weren’t happy with their finish I know they were happy with the way they competed after dropping the first games and so was I.

Glenwood bounced back quickly on Tuesday as the girls and boys both defeated St. Albert. The girls won 9-0 over the Saintes and the boys won 8-1 over the Falcons.

Keep up the good work Ram Tennis!

GO RAMS!

 

Section: