Hamand leads Newton boys tennis to fourth at LHC meet

GRINNELL — Not even rain and unplayable courts could stop Newton senior Trent Hamand from claiming the Flight 2 singles championship at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet on Monday.

Hamand and Pella’s Joshua Roozeboom were the only players still on the court when it started to rain in Grinnell.

The courts became unplayable so they picked up and headed to Newton where they finished their final set for the Flight 2 singles championship.

Hamand would win the match 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to claim the title. Newton was fourth in the six-team field with 21 points.

Pella won the LHC team championship with 40 points after claiming titles in both Flight 1 and Flight 2 doubles.

Hamand won both of his matches in the second flight of singles competition. He also downed Oskaloosa’s Sage Cochran 6-2, 6-3.

Blake Baumgartner finished fifth in Flight 1 singles, Thomas Hodnett and John Valtman were fourth in Flight 1 doubles and William Muckler and Landon Heisdorffer took sixth at Flight 2 doubles.

Baumgartner was 1-1 on the day. His lone loss came in three sets.

Hodnett and Valtman won their first match in three sets and then lost their next two matches, the third-place match loss coming in three sets.

Muckler and Heisdorffer were 0-2 on the day, losing their second match 6-4, 5-7, 13-11.