LEXINGTON, Neb. -- When the rain stopped, the Bison rackets started.
After two separate rain delays forced a change to Saturday’s Greater Nebraska Activities Conference tennis tournament, McCook managed to find plenty of success on the Lexington tennis courts.
Medaling three of its four entries, McCook scored 31 points to secure just its third runner-up trophy since joining the GNAC.
Technically, this year’s runner-up trophy will have more than one claim, as the Bison finished in a three-way tie for second with Norfolk and North Platte. Due to no tiebreaker in the conference bylaws, the three teams shared runner-up honors.
“The conference bylaws say there’s no tiebreaker, so there could theoretically be multiple champions or runners-up,” said McCook head coach Matt Wiemers. “Having said that, we’re still very pleased with how our boys did. You don’t know what everyone’s gonna have going into the season, and for us to have only three seniors and get second is a big accomplishment.”
It marks the third time that McCook has finished runner-up in the conference tournament. The Bison also finished second in 2005 and 2006.
Saturday’s tournament almost didn’t happen, as two separate rain delays pushed the start time from 9 a.m. to shortly after 1 p.m. To accommodate the late start, coaches agreed to restructure the tournament with pool play followed by a seeded bracket for each of the four divisions.
The Bison had two silver-medal entries in Zion Moyer at No. 2 Singles and Spencer Krysl and Sam Knoll at No. 1 Doubles.
Moyer started his day with wins over Hastings (8-4), Scottsbluff (8-1) and Lexington (8-0) to set up a championship match with Kearney High’s Phillip Tran. Tran would prevail in an 8-1 decision, though Wiemers said there was no shame in losing to the conference’s defending No. 2 Singles champion.
“Zion played pretty well. He ran away with his pool play, then went up against the Kearney High kid who won conference last year as a freshman. Overall, Zion was solid, smart and consistent, and for him to get second as a sophomore was really good.”
The Krysl/Knoll combination put on another great performance Saturday. They defeated Hastings (8-2), Lexington (8-0) and North Platte (8-5) before falling to Kearney High’s Max Rademacher/Braeden Anderson in the championship by a score of 8-3.
“As usual, these two played really good,” Wiemers said. “Kearney High just has a very solid No. 1 Doubles team. I had (Kearney High head coach) Troy Saulsbury come up to me after the championship match and say ‘your doubles team pushed us harder than anyone today.’”
McCook had a third medaling performance at No. 2 Doubles, where Von Fritsche and Mason Michaelis went 3-1. Following an 8-2 loss to Kearney High, they rallied to beat Hastings (8-2) and Lexington (8-3) to take the bronze.
“I was happy with the day these two had,” Wiemers commented. “They had a really nice win over North Platte to start the day. Interestingly, they were down 3-0 in that match before the second rain delay. After the delay, they came back to win 8-3.”
The third-place performance was a “great result” for Fritsche and Michaelis, who only began playing together at No. 2 Doubles midway through this season.
“We’re very pleased with how well they’ve played together. You can tell they’re getting used to each other.”
McCook’s fourth entry, Syd Wier at No. 1 Singles, went 1-3 with a win over Scottsbluff (8-5) and losses to Lexington (8-5), Hastings (8-4) and Kearney High (8-1). Despite Saturday’s record, Wiemers said he was proud of Wier’s performance against the best the conference had to offer.
“Syd’s always going to go up against the best. He’s just plugging away this season trying to get more experience. It’s just tough to play in that division when you’re a junior going up against a bunch of seniors and veteran No. 1 players. His win against Scottsbluff was key for us to get in that tie for runner-up.”
Kearney High ran away with the conference crown with 46 points. This is the Bearcats’ last year in the GNAC and, according to Wiemers, it was no secret that they would come out “guns blazing” in Saturday’s tournament.
“Troy said their goal was to not lose a single match Saturday. All of us other coaches knew they were the team to beat. Year-in and year-out they are.”
With the season coming to a close soon, McCook will have one final busy week. The Bison reserves will be at Kearney today for an invite, while the varsity will be back in action Tuesday with a trip to Ogallala for duels against Alliance, Gering and Scottsbluff.
McCook closes out its regular season with a home duel against North Platte on Thursday. It will be Senior Day and “Food Day” at the Bison Tennis Courts. Free food, including sloppy joes, tacos and nachos, will be provided for anyone in attendance.
1. Kearney 46 pts
t-2. Norfolk 31
t-2. North Platte 31
5. Lexington 24
6. Scottsbluff 22
7. Hastings 19
8. Columbus 12
No. 1 Singles - Syd Wier (1-3)
Lost to T. Rowe, Lexington 8-5
Lost to B. Howie, Hastings 8-4
Lost to K. Strawhecker, Kearney 8-1
Def C. Muhr, Scottsbluff 8-5
No. 2 Singles - Zion Moyer (3-1, 2nd Place Medalist)
Def L. Powers, Hastings 8-4
Def N. Hafner, Scottsbluff 8-1
Def J. Avila, Lexington 8-0
Lost to P. Tran, Kearney 8-1
No. 1 Doubles - Spencer Krysl/Sam Knoll (3-1, 2nd Place Medalists)
Def S. Gomez/E. Davis, Hastings 8-2
Def E. McKenna/T. Berry, Lexington 8-0
Def Cauffman/Lohoefener, North Platte 8-5
Lost to Rademacher/Anderson, Kearney 8-3
No. 2 Doubles - Von Fritsche/Mason Michaelis (3-1, 3rd Place Medalists)
Def T. Hoatson/N. Merz, North Platte 8-3
Lost to C. Liesinger/K. Goff, Kearney 8-2
Def S. Gomez/E. Davis, Hastings 8-2
Def K. Lo/B. Nguyen, Lexington 8-3
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