In matches against South Central Association conference opponents last week at Salem and Monday at home against Mountain Grove, the Houston High School tennis team fell twice.
At Salem, the host Tigers beat the visiting Tigers 5-4.
Houston prevailed in the first, second and third singles matches, as junior and defending SCA singles champion Connor McKinney won 8-3 in the No. 1 match, senior Kolten Gayer won the No. 2 match 8-4 and senior Stuart Smith posted an 8-5 victory in the No. 3 match.
In the No. 4 singles match, HHS senior Waylon Collins was defeated 8-3, while sophomore Maggie Wolfe fell 8-5 in the No. 5 match and sophomore Caleb McGiboney lost 8-6 in the No. 6 match after building a 6-5 lead.
In doubles, McKinney and Gayer took the No. 1 match 8-4, but Smith and Wolfe fell 9-8 in the No. 2 match (9-7 tiebreak) after jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Collins and sophomore Riley Wilson rounded out the scoring with an 8-3 loss in No. 3 doubles.
On Monday, Houston was defeated 7-2 by Mountain Grove.
McKinney and Gayer posted an 8-0 shutout in No. 1 doubles, but Smith and Wolfe lost a back-and-forth No. 2 match, 8-6, and sophomores Jack Sandberg and Halie Hamilton fell 8-1 in the No. 3 match.
McKinney was dominant in the No. 1 singles match and won 8-0, but Gayer, Smith, Wolfe, Wilson and McGiboney were each defeated in their singles matches.
During a very busy week, the Tennis Tigers play Tuesday (April 2) at Licking and Wednesday in the Salem Invitational, and will host Mountain Grove again on Friday.
