Special to the Leader & Times

The Liberal tennis team went to Topeka Monday to seek out some quality competition from the eastern side of the state and found it.

“We fought hard all around and gave some good teams all they could take while getting some quality victories along the way as well,” Liberal coach David Short said.

Competing teams were, Liberal, Bonner Springs, Topeka High, Topeka West, Wichita East, Wichita Southeast, Manhattan, Gardner-Edgerton, Derby and Junction City. Team standings have not yet been sent individual results were:

No. 1 singles: Gerardo Holguin drew the tough singles assignment and played the best each school had to offer. He finished 1-4 but fought hard all day long.

“Gerardo is still new to the game but is developing well. He should be a force next season,” Short said.

No. 2 singles: Aaron Munoz also played some extremely good competition. He finished 2-3 on the day and picked up seventh place.

“He made so much improvement just during this tournament from his first match to his last match,” Short said.

No. 1 doubles: Diego Flores and Aron Duque started the day off strong with an incredible win over Topeka High School 8-7 in a tie-breaker. After that hard fought battle, fatigue set in a little bit and they dropped some close ones to Gardner-Edgertaon and Manhattan 8-5 and 8-6. They defeated Wichita Southeast 8-6 in the next match before falling to the 7th/8th place match in a tie-breaker to Bonner Spring 8-7.

“They picked up some good wins and showed eastern Kansas they can compete with them,” Short said.

No. 2 doubles: Easton Martinez and J’Kobe Contreras started off strong and played that way all day. they defeated Topeka West 8-3, defeated Derby in an 8-7 tie-breaker in a match that had a huge impact on regional seedings. Then they handled Junction City 8-2 and Manhattan 8-3. In the championship match they played Bonner Springs and led most of the way until Bonner Springs got a second wind and won late 8-6 giving Liberal the second place finish.

“Liberal had some ups and downs for sure but got the two big wins they needed to set up regionals better,” Short said.

The WAC tournament is next for the tennis team May 4 in Hays.