Flanagan and Hannes go 1-2 at state

WATERLOO — On the morning of May 10, Fairfield’s top boys doubles team was a few points away from a premature elimination in the first round of the district tournament. Two weeks later, the Trojans can say they’ve won a match at the state tournament.

Garrett Flanagan and Jace Hannes went 1-2 at the Class 1A state doubles tournament in Waterloo, bowing out in the consolation second round to end the season.

The duo began play on Tuesday morning with a battle against Boone’s top duo of Cody Overland and Matt Zimmerman, an eventual state semifinal group. The Trojans lost 6-2, 6-2 to get bumped to the consolation bracket.

In the consolations, the pair of Trojan juniors grasped their first ever state tournament victory. Flanagan and Hannes knocked out Clear Lake’s Jaxson Gerhardt and Ben Loge, winning 7-5, 6-1 to chalk up a ‘W’ on the courts at Black Hawk Tennis Club.

Flanagan and Hannes were one win away from advancing on to Wednesday morning, but Pella’s Cameron Rowe and Cashen Thompson were able to nip the Trojans in straight sets, defeating the pair 7-5 and 6-4 to send the Trojans home.

Fairfield’s run through the tournament almost never happened. Flanagan and Hannes dropped their first set of the district tournament, early getting eliminated by Maharishi’s Dominic Dupous and Jay Wegman.

The Trojans won that match 3-6, 6-4, 10-7, and then had to face another tiebreaker in the semifinals, defeating Xavier’s Trenton Link and Ryan Schmit 7-5, 2-6, 12-10 to earn their spot at state.

Fairfield would settle for second at the district tournament but earn a Southeast Conference championship one day later in Burlington.

The Trojan duo has one more year to go. Four of the six Fairfield varsity regulars were juniors or younger.