Newton boys can’t overcome slow start in tennis loss to Indianola

Ethan Valtman won his seventh match of the season and the Cardinals had an advantage in doubles matches on the night, but the Newton boys tennis team went 0-5 in tiebreakers and lost 7-4 to Indianola on Monday at Aurora Heights Park.

The Cardinals started the Little Hawkeye Conference matchup by going 1-5 in singles matches. Four of those losses featured some kind of tiebreaker situation Newton came out on the short end of.

“We were hoping this could be a match we could win, but we went 0-5 in tiebreaks,” Newton head boys tennis coach Jared Gerber said. “A couple of points made the difference in the match.”

The lone Newton singles win came from Valtman, who won his match at No. 1 singles 6-2, 7-5.

Evan Marshall lost his No. 2 singles match 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 and Harrison Oswalt dropped his No. 3 singles match 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. Ezra Bartell fell 7-6 in his second set and Seth Adams lost 7-6 in his first set.

Valtman and Marshall won their match at No. 1 doubles 6-4, 6-2 and Oswalt and Andrew Wiles also won by that same score at No. 2 doubles. Adams and Nathan Freese had the final win for the night as the duo won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 4 doubles.

River Meyer and Noah Tremmel lost their No. 5 doubles match in straight sets but the final set was 7-6.

“Ethan continues to play really well,” Gerber said. “We also played some better doubles tonight, which was great to see.”

Newton dropped to 2-5 and 2-3 in the conference, while Indianola improved to 6-5 and 3-2 in the LHC.

Pella 11, Newton 0

Class 1A No. 2 Pella did not use their top two players in singles action against the Cardinals on Tuesday, but the talented Dutch still left Aurora Heights Park with an 11-0 victory on Newton’s Senior Night.

“We played a pretty good match,” Gerber said. “Pella is No. 2 in the state for a reason — they are good up and down the lineup.”

Marshall and Adams came the closest to winning a match in singles during the LHC matchup. Marshall dropped his opening set 6-1 but forced a third set with a 6-3 win in set two. The third set was 10-6. Adams won his first set 6-4 but lost the next two 6-2, 11-9.

Adams and Freese also went three sets in doubles. They split the first two sets 6-2 before losing 10-4 in the third.

“Seth played awesome today on Senior Night,” Gerber said. “He couldn’t quite close out his two matches but continues to improve. Two of our other seniors, David (Holmes) and River (Meyer), had an awesome match at No. 5 doubles. The score doesn’t show how close the match was.”

Adams, Oswalt, Meyer and David Holmes all were recognized for Senior Night. The other four seniors on this year’s squad include Andrew Wiles, Presley Arnold, Colin Cummins and Eli Stewart.

Pella is now 6-0 and 4-0 in the conference.