Bourbon and Anderson take first place in No. 1 doubles; Togersen takes second place in No. 1 singles

LARNED — The Bearcat tennis team finished in second place overall at the Larned Meet April 28. The meet was originally scheduled for April 25, but was rescheduled due to anticipated storms.

While five teams were planning on competing Tuesday, only three were able to make it for the rescheduled date: Ellsworth, Larned and Scott Community.

Junior Jacob Togersen placed second in No. 1 singles and senior Caleb Romero finished second in No. 2 singles.

Ellsworth took two doubles teams to Larned, both taking home first place medals. Senior Chase Bourbon and junior Brendan Anderson were victorious in No. 1 doubles while senior Rudhra Bhakta and sophomore Tyler Conley took home the gold in No. 2 doubles.

Ellsworth at Great Bend

The team took third overall at Great Bend April 27.

Facing difficult competition, Togersen went 1-3 for the day in No. 1 singles. He finished in seventh place. Placing fifth in No. 2 singles, Romero went 2-2 for the day. Both singles players faced the challenge of building momentum after starting their day with close losses.

In No. 2 doubles, senior Anthony Halbgewachs and sophomore Tyler Conley went 3-1 and finished in second place. This was the first time in a month that the partners played together.

Bourbon and Anderson took home wins all day.

They finished 4-0 and placed first in No. 1 doubles. In a total of 37 games throughout all their matches on the day, they only lost five.

The doubles partners took a big stride in their journey to the top when they beat a team from Scott City in the finals. The two have a 25-2 record for the season, and their only two losses were from the Scott City team.

“It was a very good match and really fun to see Brendan and Chase take the next steps in their game by coaching themselves and holding each other accountable,” Head Coach Eric Anderson said.

Eric Anderson thinks very highly of the duo and sees them as great leaders for the team.

“Brendan and Chase are our leaders day in and day out,” Eric Anderson said. “They push each other on a daily basis and are really good at helping their teammates and discussing areas of concern. This helps me because I am not always the one leading/coaching the team, and it helps Brendan and Chase because it takes their understanding of the game to higher levels.”

While the weather seemed to be the biggest challenge for the Bearcats throughout the week, there were overall many areas of great success and improvement.

The team will travel to Hillsboro today and tomorrow to compete at the regional meet.

“It was a very good match and really fun to see Brendan and Chase take the next steps in their game by coaching themselves and holding each other accountable.”

Eric Anderson Head Coach