Boys tennis: Burlington sweeps Fort Madison to stay perfect for season

Matt Levins The Hawk Eye- John Gaines Photography

FORT MADISON — On a chilly, windy Tuesday afternoon, conditions weren’t exactly conducive for playing tennis.

In turned out to be a perfect day for the Burlington High School boys tennis team.

The Grayhounds kept their perfect record intact, sweeping Fort Madison, 9-0, in a Southeast Conference dual at the Fort Madison High School tennis courts.

BHS improved to 2-0 on the season, sweeping both duals by identical 9-0 scores.

“This is only our second meet of the year,” BHS coach Brian Mumm said. “It’s been a pretty good start. I have a couple freshmen playing, which is always nice because then you can keep guys around for three or four years. The future looks pretty good. I’ve got numbers. That’s always good for me.”

BHS won two hotly-contested matches.

At No. 1 singles, Patrick Morgan, a Notre Dame student playing for BHS in a sharing agreement, pulled away late for an 8-6 win over Rowan Benda.

At No. 3 singles, Burlington’s Will Woodard battled to an 8-5 win over Peyton Howard.

“The first match was pretty good. Patrick and Rowan from Fort Madison. It was pretty Even Steven until the end,” Mumm said.

While his team dropped both matches, first-year Fort Madison coach Dylan Mussleman was pleased with the competitive fire his team showed.

“We had a couple close ones. Benda had a really close one. Peyton (Howard) had a close one. Today’s hasn’t really gone our way, but that’s all right. They’re out here getting better against some good competition. That’s all we can ask for right now until we can get this thing off the ground and running soon,” Mussleman said. “(Monday) we had a good day. We won one match. We’re just going to keep building. We have a lot of room to grow. A lot of ways we can still get better. Just a few key things right now we need to improve on and hopefully we’ll see some better results.”

Burlington’s Tomas Rascon beat James Janic, 8-3, at No. 2 singles. At No. 4 singles, Jack Drew, another Notre Dame student-athlete, beat Holden Fraise, 8-2. At No. 5 singles, Burlington’s Ian Mason blanked Elijah Broadhurst, 8-0.

Fort Madison’s Cal Hennings had a track meet at Fairfield, so BHS’s Cameron Avery won by forfeit at No. 6 singles.

Burlington’s Morgan and Woodard defeated Benda and Howard at No. 1 doubles and Rascon and Drew beat Janic and Fraise at No. 2 doubles.

Hennings’ absence created an interesting situation at No. 3 doubles. Mason actually teamed up with Broadhurst, whom he had just beaten in singles, to play Burlington’s Cameron and Tavion Chandler. Chandler and Cameron came away with an 8-0 victory.

“In doubles I got to play with the guy I played against in singles because they didn’t have enough people for a doubles match,” Mason said. “I got to play with him against Avery Cameron and Tavion Chandler. They’re on my team. That was pretty fun, too.”