Tennis players warm up at Maharishi School tourney

Fourteen tennis players from Maharishi School, Fairfield and Mount Pleasant competed March 11 at the preseason Maharishi Tennis Challenge held on MSAE?s campus.

MSAE?s Sam Stickels won the singles tournament with a finals victory over runner-up Govi Punj of FHS. Stickels also made it past Pioneer teammate Sam Arsanjani in the semifinals round. Arsanjani, MSAE?s No. 1 player last season, retired from the match.

MSAE?s Solaris Nite advanced to the other semifinal vs. Punj.

Fairfield?s Sean Soupiset finished first in consolation singles, topping Chandre Morales of MSAE in the consolation final. MSAE?s David Fleshman lost to Soupiset in the consolation semifinal, and Niko Martina of MSAE fell to Morales in the other consolation semifinal.

In doubles play, Soupiset and Martina teamed up to take first place in the main draw, while Stickels and Fleshman took runner-up. MSAE?s Avery Mullenneaux and Punj joined forces to finish first in consolation doubles, and Morales and Daniel Pirc finished second in consolation doubles.

Other Maharishi School students participating included Thomas Weiss, Hongli Lui, Katya Sheridan and Rashan Anderson.

The tournaments lasted the entire day, from 8:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. Doubles partners were chosen by the bottom seven players drawing their partners from a bag consisting of the top seven players.

The high school tennis season officially kicks off in April. The Trojan tennis teams open the season April 3 vs. Keokuk; Pioneer boys host West Burlington-Notre Dame April 2 and Pioneer girls begin their season April 14 at the Fort Madison Invitational.