'Dogs tennis drops duals to Spencer, Estherville

The Le Mars Community boys tennis team will head into Monday's regular-season finale against Cherokee looking to snap a eight-match slide in the Lakes Conference following losses to Spencer Tuesday and Estherville-Lincoln Central Thursday.

The Bulldogs opened the Lakes season with a win over Storm Lake April 13, but have been shut out since then - including a 6-3 loss to that same Storm Lake team Monday - and have just one more chance to pick up a win before the postseason opens Thursday.

After dropping Monday's dual with Storm Lake, Le Mars had the unenviable task of traveling to Spencer Tuesday to take on the Lakes leaders. The Tigers won the dual 9-0, extending the Bulldogs' losing streak to seven matches at the time.

No. 1 singles Kyle Koth lost to Chris Lensing 10-3, No. 2 Colin Richards lost to Dallas Boisen 10-1, No. 3 Mike Rosacker lost to Zach Plugman 10-2 and No. 4 Tyler Petty dropped his match to Kyle Kaldahl 10-2. No. 5 singles Eric Janssen put up the biggest fight for Le Mars in a 10-5 loss to Joey Toale, but No. 6 Zach Lancaster lost 10-1 to Chris Jones to complete the Tigers' dominant sweep of the singles matches.

The doubles featured one competitive match as well, with Le Mars' No. 2 pair of Koth and Anthony Schimek falling to Boisen and Kaldahl 10-6. No. 1 doubles Richards and Rosacker lost 10-1 to Lensing and Plugman, while No. 3 team Janssen and Lancaster fell to Toale and Jones 10-3.

The JV meet went much the same for Le Mars as Spencer won 8-1. No. 6 singles Brian Kehm had the Bulldogs' only win of the night across the board by an 8-4 count.

No. 1 singles Schimek lost 8-3, No. 2 Kurt Hoss 8-2, No. 3 Bret Giese 8-2, No. 4 Jordan Freking 8-5 and No. 5 Austin Roy 8-2.

In doubles, No. 1 pair Hoss and Freking lost 8-4, No. 2 Giese and Roy 8-5 and No. 3 Kehm and Carter Daniels 8-4.

Exhibition matches yielded three more wins for Le Mars as Spencer Vore (6-1), Josh Meredith (6-1) and the doubles team of Meredith and Trevor Lang (8-6) all recorded victories. Daniels (6-4) and Tyler Pottebaum (6-4) dropped singles matches, while doubles Pottebaum and Lang (6-3) and Vore and Daniels (6-2) also lost.

The Bulldogs were looking to regroup Thursday at Estherville, but found defeat instead by a 5-4 count.

No. 1 singles Koth won his match over Dan Olsen 8-1 and No. 2 Richards was an 8-3 winner over Aaron Olsen, but ELC won three of the final four singles matches to knot the score at 3-3. No. 3 Rosacker lost to Tyler Holstead 8-3, No. 4 Petty fell to Jim Mohler 8-3 and No. 6 Lancaster was defeated by Terry Breamen 8-5. Only No. 5 Janssen prevented Le Mars from trailing heading into doubles, knocking off Aaron Hunt 8-2.

Le Mars needed two doubles wins to take the dual and got one from the No. 1 team of Richards and Rosacker, who rolled past Aaron Olsen and Mohler 8-4. But No. 2 pair Koth and Schimek lost to Dan Olsen and Holstead 8-5 and No. 3 Janssen and Lancaster lost to Hunt and Breamen 8-1 to lock up the dual for the Midgets.

All matches were shortened by the threat of rain.

The JV played only doubles matches Thursday with the impending rain and Le Mars finished 1-2. The No. 1 pair of Hoss and Freking lost 8-6 and No. 2 tandem Giese and Roy dropped their match 8-4. No. 3 team Kehm and Meredith provided the only win, defeating their ELC opponent's 8-6.

The Bulldogs (2-8) will now host Cherokee Monday in the final Lakes dual of the season.