Creston/O-M tennis splits with Red Oak

Creston/O-M varsity boys tennis picked up a 9-1 victory against Red Oak and the varsity girls suffered a 6-3 setback to the Tigers in meets Tuesday.

Boys romp Tigers

In singles action, the Panthers’ James Kunz beat Max DeVereies 10-7 and Jeremy Rutz beat Joshua LaRette 10-1, before Tyler Beeson beat Creston/O-M’s Daniel Merritt 10-8. C/O-M rounded out with wins from Avery Fuller 10-0 over Jonah Wemhoff, Nate Wells 10-3 over Tyler Strunk and Foster McCutchan over Nate Ernst 10-0.

The Panthers swept doubles matches with Kunz/Merritt beating DeVereies/LaRette 10-5, Ruts/Wells defeating Wemhoff/Strunk 10-2 and Fuller/McCutchan beating Beeson/Corbin Wolfe 10-3.

“It was a really great feeling to get out on the court for the first time this year,” Creston/O-M head coach Kevin Cooper said. “We had the advantage of having five players back from 2019. Yes, they moved up spots on the lineup, but today was not a new experience for them, and that helped us.”

In JV singles, Creston/O-M’s Conner Wiley beat Wolfe 8-3 and Carson Cooper topped Xavier Ross of Red Oak 8-3. In doubles, Wiley/Cooper beat Ernst/Ross 8-1.

Next up, the boys take on Atlantic at home Thursday.

Red Oak girls top the Panthers

Maddie Fry beat Jessica Lukehart of Red Oak 8-1 to start singles action for the Panthers. Red Oak’s Rhenn Rolenc defeated Morgan Driskell of Creston/O-M 8-2; Panther Karly Calvin beat Tessa Rolenc 8-5; Red Oak’s Anna Grizzard topped Creston/O-M’s Sam Dunphy 8-5; Red Oak’s Brooklyn Johnson beat Jess Elben 8-2 and Red Oak’s Mercedes Ramirez beat Creston/O-M’s Halle Evans 8-1.

Doubles action saw Rolenc/Ramirez beating Driskell/Dunphy 8-5; Fry/Calvin topping Lukehart/Rolenc 8-3 and Grizzard/Johnson winning over Eblen/Evans 8-6.

“Like with our boys team, it was great to get out on the court tonight to get our season started,” said Cooper. “We have a mixture of experienced players and others who are competing in this sport for the first time. We didn’t play singles as well as we anticipated, and that put a lot of pressure on us in doubles. We had some matches that were tight and we just need to focus on turning those matches into points for us.”

The Creston/O-M girls play Thursday at Atlantic.

Junior varsity results showed Caitlin Bruce and Josie Mahan falling to Red Oak’s Madison Bruce and Grace Wingfield 6-5, Abby Wheeler and Haylee Meyer beating Red Oak’s Cayden Wingfield and Lexi Fridolf 4-0, Sophia Short and Jenny Li beating Tigers Josie Rengstorf and Abby Johnson 4-2, Kolbey Bailey and Abby Tallmon falling to Red Oak’s Aedynn Graham and Taylor Bennett 4-3, Hannah Buchanan and Bailey Wilson losing to Red Oak’s Prasha Bell and Wingfield 4-1; Brooklyn Knight and Mica Andreasen falling to Madison Bruce and Lexi Fridolf of Red Oak 4-2, Kloey Crawford and Kennedy Lohoff losing to Tigers Abigail Johnson and Grace Wingfield 4-2, Kaylee Harper and Reece Kinsella losing to Red Oak’s Josey Rengstorf and Aiden Graham 4-1, Caitlin Bruce and Josie Mahan beating Tigers Prasha Bell and Taylor Bennett 4-0, and Abby Wheeler and Haylee Meyer beating Red Oak’s Lexi Fridolf and Madison Bruce 4-0.