Newton boys fall short of state berth at district tennis

PELLA — Newton head boys tennis coach Jared Gerber liked most of his team’s draws in a Class 1A individual district tournament on Wednesday.

And for the most part, the results went as expected.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the individual portion of their season is over after rival and second-ranked Pella swept the competition on its home courts.

“We played some of our best tennis of the year today,” Gerber said.

Ethan Valtman had the top finish as he was third in singles with a 3-1 day.

Harrison Oswalt and Evan Marshall also won a match in doubles, while Ethan Freese lost his only match in singles and Ezra Bartell and Damien Smith suffered a tough three-set loss to Grinnell’s top doubles team.

Valtman (14-6) earned the No. 2 seed for the tournament but settled for third. He’ll be an alternate for the state tournament after winning his first two matches 6-4, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-3. His third win came in the third-place match but he lost 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) in the semifinals to third-seeded Ben Van Gorp of Pella.

The top two finishers in both singles and doubles advance to the state tournament.

“Ethan played great matches today, but just came up short,” Gerber said.

Top-seeded Jack Briggs won the singles bracket after dropping only two games all day. He won the championship match by injury default against his teammate after winning the first game.

Oswalt and Marshall scored a 6-1, 6-2 victory but was eliminated by Pella 6-1, 7-5 in the second round.

Freese lost his only singles match 6-3, 6-2 and Bartell and Smith won the first set of their doubles match but lost 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

“Harry and Evan played really well against a good Pella doubles team and Ezra and Damien showed their potential in their match,” Gerber said. “Ethan Freese also stepped in and played a tough match against another team’s No. 1 player.”

Notes: While the individual portion of the Cardinals’ season is over, the varsity squad will play in the 1A Substate 6 team tournament on Saturday. Third-seeded Newton faces sixth-seeded Chariton and second-seeded Grinnell plays seventh-seeded Knoxville at 9 a.m. on Saturday in Grinnell. The winners face off in the semifinals at noon. The final round will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The top seeded team in the Substate 6 bracket is second-ranked Pella.

Cardinals split a pair of non-conference duals

HUXLEY — The Cardinals ended their regular season with a road triangular on Monday. And Newton came away with an 11-0 win over Saydel and a 10-1 loss to Ballard.

The Cardinals opened with Ballard and the lone win came from Seth Adams and Brady Swihart in doubles. Valtman and Marshall both lost their singles matches in three sets.

“We didn’t play to our potential against Ballard,” Gerber said. “Evan and Ethan played great and took their guys to a third set tiebreak. Seth and Brady played well together.”

In the win over Saydel, Valtman edged his opponent at No. 1 singles and Oswalt won 8-4 at No. 3 singles, Adams and Freese were 8-3 winners at No. 4 and No. 6 singles and Smith and Marshall claimed 8-2 wins at No. 5 and No. 2 singles.

Valtman and Andrew Wiles (8-3), Marshall and Bartell (8-3), Smith and Oswalt (8-2), Stone Lillard and Freese (8-1) and Keary Sanger and Swihart (8-2) all won their doubles matches.

“We played much more freely and aggressive against Saydel,” Gerber said. “We executed our game plan much better. Hopefully our best tennis is in front of us.”