Fairfield, IA- Eight teams entered the Class 1A Substate 5 team tennis tournament and now only two are left to duel on Wednesday, May 15th, at 3:30 pm. Here’s how we got there.
At the top of the bracket, Xavier entered as the #1-seed having to face off against the #8-seed Keokuk. No upset was to be found as the Saints swept each one of their singles positions and all together dropping just two games. The Chiefs finished 1-11 on the season.
In the lone upset of the bracket, it was the #5-seed Fort Madison who knocked out #4 Oskaloosa 5-1 to advance to the semifinals to face off against the Saints. However, the Bloodhounds were unable to keep rolling, losing 5-0. Aiden Benda and James Janic each won a game in their two sets.
Scrolling to the bottom of the bracket, Mt. Pleasant, the #3-seed, was tasked to take on #6 Albia in the first round. The Panthers dispatched the lower seed 5-0.
Phoenix Watson won both his sets 6-4. Dane Cook and Lou Schimmelpfennig each had a set where they blanked their opponent. Additionally, Gavin Ross and Sawyer Fulton defeated their opponents with ease by scores of 6-1 and 6-2.
Waiting for the Panthers in the semifinals was Fairfield, the #2-seed, and it was a tough conference battle with the Trojans able to squeak out a 5-3 victory.
On the singles front, Dane Cook and Zach Johnson both won their sets 2 to 0 but needed tiebreakers to get there. Rumin Luo, Han Wang, Austin Loria, and Rylan Anderson had the Trojans up 4 to 2 with doubles to determine who would advance.
The team of Fulton and Cook defeated Anderson and Niko Emerson 6 to 2 in both sets to cut the lead to one; however, the team of Luo and Ethan Cass knocked out the Panthers, winning their match 7-6 and 6-2. Mt. Pleasant ended the season with an 8-4 record.
Fairfield will now make the trip up to Xavier High School on Wednesday to see who will advance to the state tournament scheduled for May 30th-31st in Iowa City for Class 1A.