Nevada tennis falls to Bolivar

NEVADA, Mo. -- The Nevada Tiger tennis team was edged by the Bolivar Liberators in a dual match Thursday, 5-4, at Nevada High School.

Ryan Kimbrough, Justdan Lockwood and Jake Holmes each won individual matches for the Tigers, while the team of Lockwood and Holmes won in doubles.

Kimbrough, the number-one player for Nevada, was particularly impressive in his singles victory.

"Kimbrough really revealed the talent he has," Nevada head coach Dennis Pendrak said. "He put on a clinic."

Kimbrough beat Bolivar's Tyler Sparks 8-0 in a match that lasted only about 30 minutes.

Lockwood had a much more difficult time with his opponent at number-two singles. Playing Bolivar's Joe Stull, Lockwood needed extra games to win 9-7.

Pendrak said Lockwood showed why he is the number-two player on the squad with his gutsy performance.

"Justdan Lockwood is our most improved player from last year," Pendrak said.

Holmes topped Grant Haun at number-four singles, 8-3.

At number-three singles Taylor Hall fell to Bolivar's Brady Fox, 8-0.

Erik DeLaney lost to Philip Hubbert at number-five singles in another very evenly contested match, 8-6.

Devin Ozkal, making his varsity singles debut for the Tigers, lost to Caleb Spindler at number six, 8-2.

The doubles team of Lockwood and Holmes beat Hubbert and Fox 9-8 (8-7) in the closest match of the day. That was the number-two doubles contest.

Kimbrough and Hall were knocked off by Sparks and Still at number-one doubles, 8-4.

DeLaney and Ozkal lost at number-three doubles 8-6, to Bolivar's Shelenhamer and Skalicky.

"We played better than we did Tuesday," Pendrak said. "You really don't like moral victories that much, but you're looking for improvement."

Pendrak said Thursday's match could have gone either way.

"We had four close matches and went 2-2 in them," he said.

Nevada is scheduled to play a JV match at Fort Scott today. The varsity hosts Mount Vernon Monday.