Boys tennis singles & doubles district tournaments were held statewide Wednesday.
At the 1A district at Boone, Aplington-Parkersburg senior Tate Neymeyer qualified for the state tournament for the second straight year, this time as a district champion. Neymeyer says he was confident entering the tournament and he took care of business.
“It was a long wait, but we finally pulled it out,” Neymeyer says. “I’m going through a little bit of an injury, but we had a pretty good district. We got lucky. There were some good players here, but I knew I was the best player here, so I knew I had to pull it out, and that’s what I did.”
Neymeyer won each game in the first and second rounds. He clinched the state tournament appearance with a 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win over Easton Ersland of Ballard. In the championship match, South Tama’s Kaden Timm defaulted out of the match after the first set due to illness. Head Coach Dave Price.
“Tate came in today with a lot of confidence,” Price says. “He’s had a tough, tough schedule this year. I don’t know if there’s anybody that has played as many tough kids as he has. And so that helps when you come in knowing that I played good competition. I played at a high level. And we were happy that he got the number one seed today. His goal was to win and get to state. Not only today, but he had that goal back in March when we started and did what he wanted to do.”
The championship match was held indoors at Ames Fitness Center – South due to a rain shower that caused the courts in Boone to be unplayable.
Keegan Bolhuis was defeated in his first round singles match. Doubles teams Gabe Jacobson/Tommy Janssen and Grant Wedeking/Seth Orta each went 1-1.
At Byrnes Park in Waterloo, Grundy Center senior Tanner Laube won the singles title to clinch a state tournament appearance. In the first round, he defeated South Hardin’s Carter Zollar 6-0, 6-0. He clinched the state tournament appearance with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Cal Martineau of Wahlert Catholic. In the championship, he defeated Parker Stroh of Columbus Catholic 6-4, 6-4.
The Class 1A singles & doubles state tournament will be at Byrnes Park, beginning Tuesday, May 21.
