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Bison finish second at home invitational
McCOOK, Neb. -- What a difference a day can make.
After suffering a 9-0 loss to Kearney High Friday, the McCook Bison bounced back with a second-place finish at Saturday’s McCook Invitational at the Bison Tennis Courts.
Highlights for McCook included gold medal winners in all three doubles divisions.
“I thought the boys played extremely well,” said Bison head coach Matt Wiemers. “As a team, we put on a great performance and had a total improvement from Friday.”
As a team, the Bison finished second in the five-team invite with 38 points. Holdrege won the team title with 41 points, thanks to solid play in the singles divisions.
“Holdrege is a very solid team,” Wiemers admitted. “They return pretty much everyone but one of their top-six players. We knew they were going to be a tough team to beat.”
But the Bison did have some success against the Dusters. Most notably in the championship match of No. 1 Doubles.
Krysl and Knoll took on Weed/Schrock in the No. 1 Doubles final and won a close 9-8 (7-2) match.
“They (Spencer and Sam) started really well against Holdrege, but had to come back and finish the match off,” Weimers said.
So far, Wiemers has been very pleased with the chemistry his No. 1 Doubles duo is showing.
“It’s a natural fit with those two,” he said about Krysl and Knoll. “I love the way they’re playing right now.”
Von Fritsche and Caden Bortner were champions at No. 2 Doubles, while Tanner Unger and Logan Barenberg won the No. 3 Doubles division.
“You could tell Von and Caden were head and shoulders better than the rest,” Wiemers commented on No. 2 Doubles.
Meanwhile, Weimers was impressed with how his No. 3 duo played.
“They (Tanner and Logan) ran away with it,” Wiemers said. “They’ve been doing great things together.”
Zion Moyer was McCook’s other medalist with a second-place finish in No. 2 Singles.
“Zion played extremely well,” Wiemers said. “I’ve been happy with how he’s playing. He’s got an aggressive style.”
Syd Wier was McCook’s man at No. 1 Singles and finished 1-3 on the day.
“I’ve seen great things from Syd,” Wiemers said. “This is his first time playing No. 1 Singles full time. He’s learning, but I’ve been pleased with the direction he’s heading.”
McCook’s Andrew Graff, Mason Michaelis and Joel Gray also played in Saturday’s varsity invite. All there were assigned to Gering’s team, as the Bulldogs did not have enough to field a full lineup.
Graff finished 0-4 in No. 1 Singles, while Michaelis/Gray went 1-3 in No. 1 Doubles.
While Friday and Saturday marked the opening of McCook’s regular season, Wiemers is happy with what he’s seen so far.
“The lineup seems pretty set,” he said. “It kind of worked out well. Syd and Zion said they love playing singles, which is what we were planning for them this year. Syd is probably more of a No. 1 Singles player between the two. Zion is in his first year of singles play, and he’s shown a lot of hustle and hard work.”
As for his doubles lineups, Wiemers didn’t hesitate with a reply.
“I love our doubles teams and don’t see us making any changes to them. They’ve been showing great things already.”
McCook will be back in action Thursday against Hastings High.
Bison split with Kearney Catholic, Kearney High Friday
KEARNEY, Neb. -- The McCook Bison opened their regular season with a split at Kearney Friday. McCook defeated Kearney Catholic 5-4 before losing to Kearney High 9-0.
The Bison notched three wins in singles play and two more in doubles action against the Stars.
In singles action, Spencer Krysl and Von Fritsche won their matches 8-3, while Caden Bortner registered an 8-0 sweep.
"We played very hard against Kearney Catholic," Wiemers noted. "They returned, I think, everyone of their starters from last year, so we knew they would be a tough matchup."
The dual came down to the final two matches and Knoll's win would ensure the Bison victory.
Losing their singles matches against Kearney Catholic were Wier (3-8 score), Moyer (6-8), Knoll (5-8), Tanner Unger (4-8) and Logan Barenberg (3-8).
In doubles, Krysl and Sam Knoll won their match 8-6, while Syd Wier and Zion Moyer were 8-0 victors in the No. 3 doubles contest. Unger and Barenberg won a closely-contested 9-7 match. Losing their doubles matches were Fritsche and Bortner (3-8).
Against Kearney High, the Bison rackets found tougher resistance. The lone Bison winner was Barenberg in the finals singles match, as he defeated his Bearcat opponent 9-8 (7-5).
"We knew it was gonna be tough," Wiemers said about playing Kearney High. "They're on a different level, but they should be being a Class A school. It just was not a good matchup for us."