Tennis team on a roll heading into State

The Lennox High School boys’ tennis team participated in the Sioux Falls Christian invite at Tomar Park where they went 3-1 vs other Class A foes.  

First off, the Orioles secured an 8-1 win over Milbank on April 25 at Tomar Park in Sioux Falls.  The wins in singles came from Cody Plank at flight #1, Gunnar Geiken at flight #2, Eli Plank at flight #3, Pierce Temme at flight #4 and Alex Heibult at flight #6.  

Doubles wins were scored by the duos of Plank and Plank at flight #1, Temme and Geiken at flight #2 and Noah Welch and Heibult at flight #3.  Wins were also scored by Mitch Van Meeteren and Connor Sherard in Singles and Doubles.     

Then on April 26, the Lennox Orioles tennis team traveled to Sioux Falls to take on the Spearfish Spartans.  The match had to move indoors due to the rain, but that didn’t stop the team from carrying over their momentum.  The team delivered a 9-0 dominant performance and also marked wins by Van Meeteren and Sherard in doubles and singles.  

On Saturday the team was back outside at Tomar Park. The day started against a much-improved Aberdeen Roncalli squad.  The match started with doubles where Plank and Plank earned a win, but the duos of Geiken and Temme and Welch and Heibult fell just short, each of them losing in close tie-break sets.  

In singles, four of the six matches went into a tie-breaker, but unfortunately Lennox could only close out with a win in two of them, which was by C. Plank and Temme.  After a closely contested dual, Lennox dropped the match 3-6 to Roncalli. Van Meeteren and Sherard were able to secure wins too in singles and doubles.

After the close battle with Roncalli, the Orioles had one more dual against Pierre. The match started with doubles where Lennox took a 2-1 lead with wins from Plank and Plank at flight #1 and Welch and Heibult at flight #3.  In singles, the Orioles had three matches either split sets or go into a tie-breaker, but in the end, they stayed dominant with wins by Plank, Geiken, Plank, Van Meeteren and Heibult, and closed out the dual with a 7-2 win.  

After the invite, the Orioles are 6-6 on the season and 4-2 in Class A play. The doubles team of Plank and Plank are 7-3 (5-1 in class A) and on a four-match win steak.  

On the season, Cody Plank is 8-3 in singles, going 5-1 in Class A. He is on a four-match win streak. 

The Orioles traveled to Pierre to compete in the Pierre Invite. As a team, Lennox finished in third place. Cody Plank earned flight 1 singles runner-up honors. Geiken took third place in flight 2 singles; Eli Plank fourth in flight 3; Temme third in flight 4; Welch fifth in flight 5 and Heibult third in flight 6.

In doubles, the duo of Plank and Plank (pictured above, left) were named flight 1 Champions. Geiken and Temme claimed fourth at flight 2 and Welch and Heibult took fifth in flight 3. State Tennis will be held at Rapid City Monday, May 13 and Tuesday, May 14.