Great Bend's tennis team performed at a high level by placing fourth at Saturday's Great Bend Tennis Invitational.
The Great Bend Panthers were led by the senior No. 1 doubles tandem Malachi Wasson and Isaiah Smith who went 4-1 to finish third. They beat Hays High's Kaiden Bunger/Carsan Riat, 8-4, Scott City's Tanner Gooden/Brody Stine 8-2 and Liberal's Dan Nguyen/Ruben Gomez 8-4.
They lost to Garden City's John Tran/Carson Kraus in a back-and-forth semifinal 8-6. The duo bounced back in another close 8-6 match against Scott City's Gooden/Stine.
At No. 1 singles, Panther Brendyn Schroeder started the day on fire winning 8-0 against Garden City's Baltazar Ramirez, 8-3 against Liberal's Hudson Brown and a match worthy of a final with the largest crowd of the day as Schroeder held off Hoisington’s returning state qualifier Evan Foltz 8-6. Scott City's Logan Morren downed Schroeder 8-0 to set up a rematch with Foltz. In another thriller, Foltz gained revenge winning 8-5 for third place.
At No. 2 singles, Hoisington's Chase Maier placed third with a 8-2 victory over Liberal's Sabastian Bernhardt-Purdy. Great Bend's Jordan Manning fought hard to come back from injury with zero practice all week. Manning lost 8-3 to Hoisington's Maier and 8-5 to Liberal's Bernhardt-Purdy before losing 8-6 to Hays High's Xavier Catura to finish sixth.
At No. 2 doubles, Great Bend's Roberto Gutierrez and Marcos Castanon recorded their first win as a varsity duo. The duo went 1-2 in pool play with the lone win against Hoisington. The duo then lost a close match to Garden City's Tom Tran/Ashton Palmer 8-6 and then got their second win of the season against Hoisington's Matthew MacMahon/Zander Standberg 8-4 to finish seventh.
"Saturday was an absolute perfect day for tennis," said Great Bend tennis coach Chris Manning. "Overall, it’s great to see improvement from everyone. I’m happy for our senior duo to bounce back from Tuesday and perform like I know they can. We're moving in the right direction. I’m very happy that we came out and competed well."
GREAT BEND INVITATIONAL
TEAM SCORES—1—Garden City 55 (4-2 over Scott City); 2—Scott City 55; 3—Dodge City 38; 4—Great Bend 35; 5—Liberal 27; 6—Hoisington 25; 7—Hays High 7
NO. 1 SINGLES—1—Logan Morren, GC def. Avry Noll, SC, 8-0; 3—Evan Foltz, H def. Brendyn Schroeder, GB, 8-5; 5—Conner Stukenholtz, DC def. Hudson Brown, L, 8-2; 7—Colin Clark, Hays def. Baltazar Ramirez, GC, 8-0
Schroeder def. Foltz, 8-6; Schroeder def. Ramirez, 8-0; Schroeder def. Brown, 8-3; Morren def. Schroeder, 8-1; Foltz def. Brown, 8-1; Foltz def. Ramirez, 8-0
NO. 2 SINGLES—1—Dylan Duff, SC def. Josh Negron, GC, 8-4; 3—Chase Maier, H def. Sebastian Bernhardt-Purdy, L, 8-2; 5—Xavier Catura, Hays def. Jordan Manning, GB, 8-6
Maier def. Manning, 8-3; Maier def. Bernhardt-Purdy, 8-5; Negron def. Maier, 8-4; Bernhardt-Purdy def. Manning, 8-5; Bernhardt-Purdy def. Manning, 8-5
NO. 1 DOUBLES—1—Hayden Carrillo/Alvarado-Martinez, DC def. John Tran/Carson Kraus, GC, 8-3; 3—Isaiah Smith/Malachi Wasson, GB def. Tanner Gooden/Brody Stine, SC, 8-6; 5—Houston Frank/Ayden Presson, SC def. Will Linenberger/Jack Scoby, Hays, 8-4; 7—Dan Nguyen/Ruben Gomez, L def. Kaiden Bunger/Carsan Riat, Hays, 8-6
Smith/Wasson def. Bunger-Riat, 8-7 (7-5); Smith/Wasson def. Gooden/Stein, 8-2; Smith/Wasson def. Nguyen/Gomez, 8-4; Carson/Kraus def. Smith/Wasson, 8-6
NO. 2 DOUBLES—1—Ben Resendiz/Dante Franco, SC def. Tacoma Augustine/Corbin Luck, Hays, 8-3; 3—Aaron Torres/Angel Munoz, L def. Ignacio Bellido/Sam Riefoli, DC, 8-7 (8-6); 5—Aidan DeBay/Tyler Solida, Hays def. Tom Tran/Ashton Palmer, GC, 8-5; 7—Robby Gutierrez/Marcos Castanon, GB def. Matthew MacMahon/Zander Standberg, H, 8-4
Augustine/Luck def. Gutierrez/Castanon, 8-3; Gutierrez/Castanon def. MacMahon/Stranberg, 8-1; Torres/Munoz def. Gutierrez/Castanon, 8-0; Tran/Palmer def. Gutierrez/Castanon, 8-6; Torres/Munoz def. MacMahon/Standberg, 8-1; Augustine/Luck def. MacMahon/Standberg, 8-1; DeBay/Solida def. MacMahon/Standberg, 8-0
