Fairfield boys’ fourth at SEC meet

The Fairfield boys' tennis team hosted the Southeast Conference meet Monday and had great weather for the four-team tournament-style bracket play that crowned six singles and three doubles champions.

'Fort Madison just has a really tough, top-3 guys in particular,” explained Coach Bill Sheppard of the conference champions.

Team points

Fort Madison 20

Mt. Pleasant 16

Keokuk 11

Fairfield 7

Singles (comments from Coach Sheppard)

No. 1 A.J. Greiner lost 1-6, 0-6 to Sam Avery of Fort Madison and 8-4 to Corbin Broeker of Mt. Pleasant.

'What I liked about A.J.'s matches was that even though he lost both of them, he just lost to Mt. P 8-1 and this time it was 8-4.”

No. 2 Noel Peterson lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-10 to Jaxon Hoyle of Mt. Pleasant and 5-8 to Kaden Stoneking of Keokuk.

'Noel lost the first round on a tiebreaker and I think he was a little disheartened by that and he ended up losing 8-5 in the next round.”

No. 3 Will Sheppard lost 2-6, 2-6 to Vason Thurman of Fort Madison and then claimed third place with a 8-2 victory over Donny Arledge of Mt. Pleasant in the consolation round.

'Even though Will lost, his opponent was complimenting him on the big shots that he hit. I think he was motivated and he came back and defeated the Mt. Pleasant guy that has defeated him twice this season. That was pleasant to see.”

No. 4 Blake Holden won 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round against Clayton Henricksen of Mt. Pleasant before falling in the title game 1-6, 0-6 to Reed Fehseke of Fort Madison.

'I know Blake was disappointed in losing in the championship, but to give the Fort Madison guy credit, he has really picked his game up and I think he just deserved it.”

No. 5 Brian Parcell defeated Bryce Workman of Fort Madison 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 and then lost 6-4, 6-1 to David Nguyen of Mt. Pleasant in the championship match.

'Brian won a tough first round tiebreaker, but I think he had a lot taken out of him.”

No. 6 Michael Holt lost 6-2, 4-6, 8-10 to Levi Sissel of Fort Madison and 8-9(6-10) in a third-place match that went to another tie-breaker against Tucker Hanan of Keokuk.

'Michael won the first set and then lost a couple of really tough tiebreakers.”

Doubles

'I shuffled all my players for the doubles,” said Sheppard. 'The down side is that they have no record, so we don't know how they are going to do because none of my three teams have ever played together. I wanted my No. 1 team to have good volleying strength and for the other two I had a mixture of a backcourt and a netplayer. I think it worked out pretty well. One made it to the finals and the other two played very tight matches that could have easily gone in their favor.”

No. 1 Greiner/Holden lost 6-4, 0-6, 7-10 to Broeker/Hoyle of Mt. Pleasant before finishing fourth behind Keokuk's Haner/Hanan.

No. 2 Peterson/Holt lost 1-6, 0-6 to Avery/Fehseke of Fort Madison and 5-8 to Arledge/Shimmellfennig of Mt. Pleasant.

No. 3 Sheppard/Parcell defeated Workman/Sissel of Fort Madison 6-3, 6-1 before losing to Nguyen/Henricksen of Mt. Pleasant 3-6, 2-6.

Coaches corner

'I'm hoping that we can take away some knowledge and surprise some people,” shared Sheppard. 'Sometimes the score doesn't really reflect the play. Our volley game is where we are getting taken. I'd love to see them all be comfortable volleying at the net. I might be a little more reflective after districts, but right now I'm in the thick of it as far as I'm concerned and I'll save that kind of emotion for later. If any of my team walks away from this season with an enjoyment for tennis, then I have done my job. I believe in the lifetime sports and that competitive physical activity is good for everyone and that's what I want to bring to my kids, even if it's not tennis. Just get away from your cell phone and computer and get outside and get some exercise.”

Next

The Trojans will host the district meet Friday beginning at 9 a.m.