FP Boys Tennis Lost to Gibson Southern 0-5; Finish Up the Regular Season 8-7 The Forest Park Boys Tennis team had their final regular season match on Thursday evening at Gibson Southern. The Titans are the best team in the PAC with an undefeated record in the PAC, so the Rangers knew it was going to be very tough to get the win. FP was able to battle for the most part, but were unable to get a win at any position. All 5 positions besides their 1 Singles was undefeated in the PAC, so it was going to take the Rangers best tennis to beat them at any position. The Rangers fell short, but Coach Hochgesang was not disappointed with how his players battled. FP's 1 Singles, Miles Rea, gave his best vs an experienced Junior in Curl. Rea was able to get 4 total games, and Coach was pleased with his play as a Freshman. Jace Brockman, the Ranger's 2 Singles, surprised Coach the most with his great play in the first set taking their undefeated Sorgius into a tiebreaker. After the first set, Gibson's 2S found his rhythm and placed the ball with some pace in great spots. Brockman played well in the second set, but his opponent just had better shots. Rea and Brockman have surprised Hochgesang with their improvement from last year's Junior High season. FP's 3 Singles, Jace Betz, struggled versus a very consistent player in Williams. Betz, who has been at 3S for a few matches now had not seen this type of player all season. Williams kept the ball in play and beat Betz with his ability to keep the ball in play. Betz struggled with the wind aspect as well, throwing off his timing and footwork with the movement of the ball because of the wind. The Forest Park 1 Doubles duo of Alex Fischer and Eli Brockman played against the best doubles team they have seen all year in Gibson's Junior and Senior duo as well. Alex and Eli were able to get the first set score to 3-4 but were unable to get over the hump, and lost 3-6. The second set was just as hard, and the duo found themselves in a hole right away being down 2-5. The consistency and power of Gibson's players were hard to match. Finally, the Ranger's 2 Doubles pair of Clayton Roesner and Drew Fischer lost to Gibson Southern's Head Coach's son and Assistant Coach's son. Both players finished volleys well and had great ball placement. Roesner and Fischer were unable to get in the groove of things, but were able to get 2 games in the second set. At the end of this match, Coach Hochgesang knew that his team battled against this tough team, and he also thought that this would prepare his Rangers for Sectionals. The Forest Park Boys Tennis team will practice hard Friday, Monday, and Tuesday to get ready for their Sectional opponent on Wednesday. The Sectional draw is on Sunday evening at 6pm, so the Rangers will know their opponent at that time. Scores vs Gibson Southern: 1 Singles : Miles Rea lost to J. Curl 1-6, 3-6 2 Singles : Jace Brockman lost to R. Sorgius 6-7 (4), 0-6 3 Singles : Jace Betz lost to A. Williams 0-6, 0-6 1 Doubles : Alex Fischer and Eli Brockman lost to L. Schmitt and B. McClellan 3-6, 2-6 2 Doubles : Clayton Roesner and Drew Fischer lost to C. DeBord and C. Grabbe 0-6, 2-6 JV Scores vs Gibson Southern: 1 Doubles : Preston Englert and Brayton Fromme lost to C. Agee and M. Stunkel 0-6 2 Doubles : Preston Englert and Brayton Fromme lost to D. Bane and N. Bodenstein 1-6 1 Singles : Colton Osborn lost to L. Evetts 4-8 The Forest Park Boys Tennis team finished their regular season with a record of 8-7. The Rangers had a great 8-3 start to the season, but had to battle against some of the best teams in the PAC at the end of their schedule. Even though Coach Hochgesang and the boys ended the regular season on a 4 match losing streak, Coach knew that this year would be more about getting experience and getting better each day, than what their record ended. Finishing the regular season with a winning record is a plus with only returning 2 of their players from last year and starting 4 Freshman and 1 newcomer to tennis. Congratulate the boys on a good regular season, and wish them good luck at Sectionals!