Glenwood boys tennis falls in substate finals

The Glenwood boys tennis team’s season came to an end Monday in the Class 3A substate final at Atlantic.

The Rams dropped a 5-4 decision to host Trojans to end their hopes of a return trip to the state tournament. Glenwood had handed Atlantic its lone dual loss back in April.

“We knew, having beaten them 5-4 in third week of the season, this would be close,” said Glenwood coach Kevin Tucker. “They had the upper hand most of the match. We had high goals this year. For us to go down this early we definitely weren’t happy about it. But our guys took it well and showed good leadership.”

The Rams’ Alex Chekal and Adam Konfrst won their singles matches and in the doubles portion, Konfrst teamed with Sam Lauritsen and Chekal with Kris Mintle for a pair of doubles wins.

The Rams’ team season may be over but with Alex Chekal  and the tandem of Konfrst and Lauritsen in singles and doubles earning state individual bids last week, the individual tennis season is far from over.

“Konfrst and Lauritsen are 19-1 in doubles this season,” Tucker said. “They should be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed at state. We’ll see how it goes.”

The state singles and doubles tournament kicks off Friday in Waterloo.

Atlantic 5,
Glenwood 4
Singles
No. 1 – Alex Chekal, G, defeated Grant Podhajsky, A, 6-2, 6-0.
No. 2 – Cooper McDermott, A, defeated Sam Lauritsen, G, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
No. 3 – Adam Konfrst, G, defeated Luke Hohenberger, A, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 4 – Nile Peterson, A, defeated Kris Mintle, G, 1-6, 6-1, 6-1.
No. 5 – Kalob Flory, A, defeated Carter Benson, G, 7-6, 6-2.

Doubles
No. 1 – Lauritsen/Konfrst, G, defeated Podhajsky/McDermott, A, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 2 – Chekal/Mintle, G, defeated Hohenberger/Petersen, A, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 3 – Flory/Caleb Williams, A, defeated Benson/Josh Ruth, G, 6-2, 6-1.