The Union High School boys tennis team had a tough go in their season-opening meet against Waterloo Columbus JV last week, ending the day with a loss as a team. The final team score was 6-3 in favor of the visiting team.

In first singles, Robert Leipold lost 1-10 to Eliott Kuchera. Rick Bauer, playing in the second singles spot for the Knights, fell 3-10 against Cameron Weidner.

In third singles, Austin Pauling had a tough match, fighting all the way to a second-set tiebreaker. He lost the match 10-11 on a 10-12 tiebreaker, a tough break in a meet that seemed to have a lot of them.

Casey Tecklenberg recorded the team’s first victory playing out of the fourth singles slot, beating Alex Kepler 11-9.

The fifth and sixth singles slots ended up as close losses for the Knights, with Cole Pippert falling to Jordan Martin 8-10, and Nathan Dvorak losing to Konner Horan 7-10, respectively.

The team fared much better in doubles competition as the duo of Leipold and Bauer won their match 10-7 in first doubles. They defeated Kuchera and Weidner for the match.

In second doubles, Pauling and Tecklenberg fell to Horak and Kepler by a score of 3-10.

The third doubles duo of Pippert and Ribble racked up the final win of the day for Union, beating Martin and Horak by a score of 10-6.

MVP of the meet was Casey Tecklenberg, who recorded the only singles victory of the day for the Knights.

On Tuesday, April 10, the boys were back in action at South Hardin, and despite the cold and windy weather, the Knights played much better and earned their first team victory of the season.

Robert Leipold lost his match to Blake Baker playing first singles, 2-6, 3-6. Rick Bauer fared much better at second singles against Dalton Miller, winning 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets.

Austin Pauling lost just one game at third singles, beating out Hardin’s Ethan Balvanz 6-0, 6-1. The fourth singles slot went to Casey Tecklenburg, who had a tough first set against Micah Darow, but put it away 6-4 before winning the second set 6-2.

Cole Pippert and Chris Ribble, playing fifth and sixth singles, respectively, won their matches by forfeit.

In first doubles, Leipold and Bauer fell in a hard-fought contest to Baker and Miller by a score of 6-10.

Pauling and Tecklenburg played second doubles, and beat out the team of Balvanz/Darow handily, 10-3.

Pippert and Ribble also won their match at third doubles by forfeit. As a team, the Knights won the meet by a score of 7-2.

Union’s record now stands at 1-1, with several meets upcoming. The Knights are next in action at South Tama High School on Monday, April 23, at 4:15 p.m.