Pioneers pull past Panthers

FAIRFIELD — Pujn Tennis Courts in Fairfield played host to a battle between the Maharishi and Mt. Pleasant boys on Tuesday, and when the dust settled, the Pioneers stood tall, winning 6-3 in a clash of undefeated teams.

The two teams split the six singles matches. It was Mt. Pleasant that took two of three higher-up matches, winning the No. 1 and No. 3 singles matches.

Mt. Pleasant’s Owen Vansickel and Maharishi’s Ruimin Luo battled to the bitter end in the No. 1 singles game. Vansickel won the game via the 10-point tiebreaker, taking down Lua 7-5, 1-6, 10-6.

Mt. Pleasant’s Levi Graber defeated Maharishi’s Polo Altynski-Ross 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 3 singles match. The Panthers also picked up a 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 6, when Lou Schimmelpfennig defeated Mekhi Kahiu.

The Pioneers’ top singles win came from Zak Askar, who defeated Mt. Pleasant’s Jake Ensminger 7-5, 6-4 in the No. 2 match. Jayanta Wegman defeated Tim Cam 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 4 match, and Dominic Dupoux beat Elliot Cook 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 5 match.

With the showdown tied 3-3 heading into doubles, it was Maharishi that would finish with the hot hand. The Pioneers won all three doubles matches by narrow margins.

Lua and Askar sneaked past Vansickel and Ensminger 7-6(6), 6-4 in the No. 1 doubles match. Altynski-Ross and Wegman defeated Graber and Cam 7-6(5), 7-5 in the No. 2 match, and Dupoux and Kahiu took down Cam and Cook 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 3 match.

Maharishi is now 4-0. They will play at Fairfield on Thursday. Mt. Pleasant (3-1) will next compete on Monday, April 25, against Fort Madison.