FSHS tennis takes two of three

Either Winfield or Free State High’s doubles team was going to face its first setback Tuesday during the last match at the Firebirds’ home quadrangular.

Fortunately for Free State’s Ben Cropp and Matt Schwabauer, the Vikings’ bus ride home became a bit longer.

“This was a great day,” said Firebirds coach Jon Renberger, whose team improved to 4-1-1 with victories over Topeka Seaman and Shawnee Miege on Tuesday despite losing their match with Winfield, 3-1. “I thought No. 1 doubles was going to be the most challenging division today, so for those guys to emerge 3-0 is a significant accomplishment.”

Cropp and Schwabauer took care of Miege’s Nick Grunauer and Ben Hicks, 8-3, before defeating Seaman’s Dan Barnes and Ryan Heitman by the same score.

Cropp and Schwabauer remained undefeated, emerging with an 8-6 victory against Winfield’s Shane Conner and Cole Winblad, returning state qualifiers from the Vikings’ second-place Class 5A state squad.

“I think we gained a lot of experience,” said Schwabauer, who joined Cropp to push their season record to 6-0. “They were a really strong team, probably the toughest we’ve had so far this year. I don’t think we’ll see them again, but it’s good to get experience against all different styles of play.”

It wasn’t just Free State’s doubles team that had solid days as Rishi Surana went 2-1 and FSHS’s No. 2 doubles team of Eyad Safadi and Eric Sheu also finished with two wins against one loss.

Renberger couldn’t say enough about his top doubles team, though.

“Right now they are playing sound fundamental doubles tennis,” he said. “It gets their season off to an extremely positive start.”