RAPID CITY – Bobcat senior Dalton Rittershaus came up just short of advancing to the semifinals during the State Boys’ Tennis Tournament on Friday.
Third-seeded Gage Gohl, of Sioux Falls Lincoln, edged the sixth-seeded Rittershaus 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 in the Flight 2 singles quarterfinals.
Rittershaus fell 8-1 to Yankton’s Sam Mooney in the fifth-place semifinals to finish in a tie for seventh.
He concluded the season with a 14-7 record.
At Flight 3, Micah Ardry picked up a pair of consolation wins Friday, beating Sioux Falls Christian’s Daniel Puumala 8-1 in the second round and Rapid City Christian’s David Greni 8-1 in the quarterfinals.
Aberdeen Central’s Luke Reierson dropped Ardry 8-6 in the consolation semis, as Ardry wound up tied for 11th. He posted a 3-2 record in the tourney.
Jonah Dobbs (Flight 1) and Dawson Peters (Flight 4) both went 1-1 for the second day in a row.
Dobbs defeated Huron’s Brenden Schlader 8-3 in the consolation second round but fell 8-6 to Rapid City Christian’s Noah Johnson in the quarterfinals.
Peters beat Harrisburg’s Connor Sperber 8-0 in the consolation second round before dropping a 9-8 (4) matchup with Aberdeen Central’s Andrew Hartze in the quarters.
Derek Brallier fell 8-2 to fourth-seeded Gerit Ludens, of Sioux Falls Roosevelt, in the second round of consolation play in Flight 5. In Flight 6, Gabel Goldhorn lost 8-3 to Huron’s Eh Kalu in the consolation second round.
Thursday
Rittershaus led the way on the opening day, advancing to the quarterfinals in Flight 2 singles.
The No. 6 seed earned a first-round bye and then defeated No. 22 Jax Plank, of Lennox, by the set scores of 6-2 and 6-2.
Play was moved indoors in the afternoon due to thunderstorms in the area.
Dobbs opened with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Sioux Falls Christian’s Landon Levenhagen in Flight 1 singles action. He fell 6-2, 6-4 to fourth-seeded Cade Damgaard, of Sioux Falls O’Gorman, in the second round.
Ardry got his tourney underway with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lennox’s Kaleb Lunstra in Flight 3. He fell 6-1, 6-0 to No. 2 Michael Yousef, of O’Gorman, in Round 2.
In Flight 4, Dawson Peters was a 6-2, 6-2 victor over Spearfish’s Jay Sayler. The No. 9 seed fell to No. 8 Isaac Klimisch, of Yankton, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.
Brallier (Flight 5) and Goldhorn (Flight 6) both lost their openers.
Watertown’s Adam Kays topped Brallier 6-0, 6-1 and St. Thomas More’s Baxter Meyer defeated Goldhorn 6-0, 6-0.
In doubles, Dobbs and Rittershaus beat Spearfish’s Carter Thorman and Tim Deorges 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of Flight 1 action. The Bobcat duo dropped a heart-breaker to the fourth-seeded Sioux Falls Washington team of Tory Schafer and Chris Harris, 6-7, 6-0, 10-6. They stayed alive with an 8-1 win over Rapid City Central’s Jaxon Thorson and Toan Luc.
Ardry and Peters fell 7-5, 6-4 to Pierre’s Ryan Warne and Phil Adam in their Flight 2 opener.
Brallier and Goldhorn were eliminated in Flight 3, falling 6-2, 6-2 against Aberdeen Central’s Justin Teply and Gabe Goetz and 8-6 versus Sioux Falls Washington’s Garrett Mayer and Clayton Poppenga.
SDPB photo: Eighth-grader Dawson Peters follows through on a shot. He posted a 2-2 record in Flight 4.
