Great Bend Post Sports
The Panther tennis team, and the seven other schools participating in Thursday's invitational continued to battle Kansas winds. Great Bend scored 44 points in the meet, which was hosted by Hoisington at the Shannon Schartz Courts. Scott City won the invite with 63 points, and Meade took second with 51 points.
"Not playing our best, we still took third as a team," said Panther Coach Chris Manning. "It’s great to see the kids fight though even when they are not having the best day. Aaron Ramirez continues to play really consistently for us."
After many joint brackets, Thursday's meet did feature traditional No. 1 and No. 2 brackets. Ramirez, playing at No. 2 singles, went 3-0 in pool matches with 8-2 wins over Hoisington and Meade, and an 8-3 win against Cimarron. He fell 8-1 to Scott City in the first-place match.
Aiden Stacey also posted a 3-1 record at No. 1 singles. After an 8-4 win over Hoisington, he fell to Meade 8-2. Stacey rebounded with an 8-5 win over Cimarron to advance to the third-place match, where he won by default against Ellinwood.
The No. 2 doubles team of Chason Ramsey and Kaden Pounds finished fourth with a 1-2 record. The pair opened with an 8-5 win against Hoisington before falling to Meade 8-6. Great Bend lost to Scott City 8-3 in the third-place match.
Jacob Parks and Kaden Deines posted a 2-2 record for fifth at No. 1 doubles. After an 8-2 win over Hoisington, the pair dropped an 8-2 match to Meade and an 8-0 set to Cimarron. The Panthers rebounded to defeat Phillipsburg 8-0 in cross-pool play.