Waldron’s boys tennis team was stronger than Trinity Lutheran at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and at both doubles positions and topped the Cougars 4-1 on Thursday afternoon.
“They have solid spots at one and two,” Cougars coach Kable Walton said. “I think my players played all right. I think maybe they could have stepped their games up a little more, but that’s all right. When you don’t run into stiff competition, you’ve kind of got to find that place and really up your level of intensity.”
Nathan Finke picked up Trinity’s point with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Caiden Young at No. 3 singles. Finke moved from doubles to singles to replace Jack Stuckwisch, who was ill.
“Nathan is usually a doubles player, but we had to move things up since I have a guy sick today,” Walton said. “(Finke) is really good at keeping the ball in play and angling it, which in singles is super useful. He wore his opponent down, making him move side to side just repetitively. He did many less sprints than his opponent.”
Playing singles is new to Finke as he had played doubles all season, where he had a record of 4-2.
“It was a little bit different from what I’m used to,” he said. “It was nice to try it. I feel like I had better placement of my groundstrokes, and I think I was more athletic overall. It feels good to win. Too bad the team couldn’t pull it out, but things like this happen. The whole team has got to be there. It’s a team sport.”
With an overall record of 5-2, Finke said he feels like he is having a good season.
The Cougars were unable to win more than four games at the other four positions.
Solomon Hall fell 6-1, 6-3 to Lucas Shaw at No. 1 singles, and Jonathan Neawedde was on the short end of a 6-1, 6-3 score against Jack Fischer at No. 2 singles.
Nathan Voelker and Will Gruenwald lost 6-3, 6-1 to Josh Kellems and Jacob Lindsey at No. 1 doubles, while Evan Abbott and Max Peters were unable to win a game against Connor Hinchman and Sam Jones at No. 2 doubles.
Trinity’s Cadin Gruenwald lost 8-1 in JV singles.
The Cougars (4-3) will host South Central on Tuesday afternoon.
“What I’ve really noticed is we need to improve some mental toughness, singles and doubles,” Walton said. “They’ve got to believe that they’re out there to win and just keep after it.”