Knights down Clarke, narrowly fall to Ballard

The first match was almost too easy.

The second match ended in heartbreak.

In the team portion of the tennis post-season held on Friday the Kuemper Catholic boys tennis team was close to advancing in their district round.

They started their day off with a 5-0 win over Clarke.

Against Ballard the Knights had an early lead, but they fell 5-4 to Balalrd, which ended their team portion of the season.

Against Clarke the Knights won all of their sets in two straight sets.

Hans Kraus won his match 6-1, 6-0 for one of the first wins.

Josh Langel was able to win 6-2, 6-2 to put the Knights up by two.

Mason Reicks, fresh off his district win, was able to win 6-2, 6-3 to put the Knights up 3-0.

They soon went up by four matches as Max Reincke was able to win his match 6-0, 6-0.

Braxton Lu was able to gain a 6-1, 6-0 win in his singles match to help the Knights move onto the next round.

Against Ballard the Knights fell 5-4.

Reicks, once again, was able to win his match. He won 6-4, 6-1 to add to his winning streak.

Reincke kept the wins coming as he won his match 6-1, 6-4.

Josh Langel won his singles match 6-1, 6-3.

Jake Hausman was in a battle. After falling in the first set 7-5, he won the next set 7-5. In the third set it went to a tiebreak, but Hausman fell 7-6 (7-4).

Braxton Lu also won the first set of his singles match, 6-2. He was defeated 6-4 in the next two sets.

Kraus fell in straight sets in his singles match 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles play Reincke and Lu were able to gain the lone victory. They won 6-4 and then 10-8 in a tiebreak to win in straight sets.

Kraus and Langel were able to win their first set 6-4, but they were defeated 7-5 in the second set. In the third set they fell 6-4.

That meant everything came down to the match of Reicks and Hausman. Whichever team would win that doubles match would gain a win for their team in the match, and advance them into the next round of the State team tennis tournament.

Reicks and Hausman won the first set 6-4. They led late in the second set, but fell 7-5.

In the third set the doubles team once again won five games, getting close to an overall victory, but Ballard’s team battled back and took a 7-5 win to win the overall match.