Pella Takes Third At Lhc Meet, Shaffer Wins Flight

PELLA — Weather was ideal as the seven Little Hawkeye Conference boys tennis teams converged at the Pella tennis courts at Caldwell Park on Wednesday for the LHC Meet. The team race was tight down the stretch with Newton ending up winning their first ever conference title with 42 points to top Norwalk (38) and Pella (36) for the crown.

The meet was split up into four flights. Two flights for singles and two for doubles with teams earning points for their placings in each flight.

The Dutch were led by Jordan Shaffer, who played solid tennis all day on his way to winning the Flight Two singles title. Shaffer was the top seed so he would earn a first round bye before picking up wins of 6-3, 6-1 in the semis and 6-4, 6-2 to win in the finals.

Nile Rozenboom also had a good showing in the top singles flight as he too got a first round bye. He then picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win in the semifinals to advance to finals against Newton’s Ethan Valtman. Rozenboom dropped the first set 6-4 with a handful of his shots just missing the line. He bounced back from the brink in set two trailing 5-4 before rallying to win it 7-6 and force a super tiebreaker. The tiebreaker went back and forth before Valtman eventually closed it out 10-7 to cap off a title for himself and the Cardinals.

The Dutch added a third place in the top doubles flight while their second doubles team finished sixth in Flight Two after falling in a super tiebreaker in the fifth place match.

Pella Christian was led by their second doubles team of Rob Schreur and Rhett Terpstra, who won a 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7) super tiebreaker to defeat Newton in the semifinals. They then followed that up with another tight match, this time against Norwalk that would also end in a super tiebreaker with the Warriors winning 4-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (6).

The Eagles finished fourth in the other doubles flight while Evan Tschetter took seventh in the top singles flight and Jonathan Van Gorp finished sixth in the second singles flight.

Oskaloosa was led by Ethan Stek, who played well in the top singles flight. Stek opened against the eventually champion from Newton but would bounce back to his first consolation match 6-2, 6-1 to put him in the fifth place match. Stek would win the first set 6-2 but was unable to close it out in the second and would fall 5-7 to head to a super tiebreaker. He went shot for shot with his opponent and eventually closed it out with a hard-fought 13-11 tiebreaker to claim fifth.

Ruben Chilcote added a seventh in the other singles bracket for the Indians while both doubles teams would also place seventh on the day.

Oskaloosa and Pella are back in Pella next Wednesday at 9 a.m. for the state individual qualifiers while Pella Christian goes to Knoxville for their qualifier.

Team standings

1. Newton (42), 2. Norwalk (38), 3. Pella (36), 4. Indianola (26), 5. DCG (24), 6. Pella Christian (22), 7. Oskaloosa (10)