Hounds get first court wins of the year

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison Bloodhounds boys' tennis teams got their first wins of the year despite falling 6-3 to Burlington in a match transplanted from Burlington to Fort Madison when the courts at Dankwardt were overbooked Tuesday night.
Javeon Davis got his first win of the year at No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Grayhounds' Patrick Morgan.
Fort Madison also got wins from Rowan Benda at No. 5 singles and Jack Amandus at No. 6. Benda won after winning a tiebreak 7-5 for a 7-6 first set win. He went on to win the second set going away 6-1.
Amandus dispatched BHS’ Will Woodard 6-0, 6-2 for his first win of the year.
Burlington won the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 matches over Aiden Benda, James Janic, and Peyton Howard.
The Hounds took the 3-3 singles matches split into doubles action and ran out of gas at Nos. 1 and 2.
Aiden Benda and Davis split the first two sets 6-4, 4-6. They were up 4-1 in the tiebreaker on a couple kills at the net from Benda. But Burlington came back in the final moments to take the tiebreaker 10-7 to win the match.
“They had their chances there in that final tiebreaker, but they ran out of gas and lost their focus,” said head coach Dean Hogan.
Rowan Benda and Peyton Howard also split their No. 2 doubles match losing the first set 4-6, but coming back for a 6-2 win in the second set to set up a tiebreaker. Burlington’s Thomas Fell and Tomas Rascon won the tiebreaker 10-4 to take the 6-3 overall team win.
Jackson Drew and Woodard knocked off Janic and Amandus in No. 2 doubles 1-6, 3-6.
The Hounds travel to Fairfield on Monday.