Briggs brothers second, PC's Marcon fifth at state tennis

May 26—WATERLOO — The best of the best of 1A boys tennis duked it out in a two-day tournament in Waterloo. Play started outside but had to be moved indoors for the majority of play as Pella and PC were able to bring some hardware home.

The Briggs brothers of Caleb and Jack Briggs came into the tournament as the number two seed and they lived up to that billing by dropping just four games in their three wins on their way to the finals. There they would meet the top seed and the hard-hitting Coe and Courter of Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Both sides held serve early before Xavier would start attacking the net and putting pressure on whoever was at the net for Pella. Eventually the Saints would get a comfortable 5-2 advantage in the first set with the Briggs' needing to make a couple of adjustments.

The comeback was on after that with good serving from Jack and a good break point for Pella brought them closer at 5-4. The next game would settle in at deuce and would see the Briggs boys fight off three set points before winning the game and tying things up at 5-5.

Xavier would battle back to win the next two games to take the opening set 7-5. Pella would get a good start on the second set, jumping ahead 2-1 before Xavier would get the break and jump ahead 3-2. From there they would hold serve the rest of the way before breaking the last game to take the set and the match 7-5, 6-4.

"We talked all season that you don't get to play these types of matches too often," Pella head coach Josiah Brandt said. "It took them a little while to settle down, we were down 2-5 and we're just kind of like guys just settle in. They pulled together and got to 5-5, super proud of them for doing that, and then after that it was just super high quality tennis going neck and neck. Obviously Xavier knows how to play tennis and knows what it takes to win and credit to them. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. They did what they needed to do. It wasn't enough today, but we're satisfied with the effort that they put in today and all season."

It was a tough finish to their tournament run and an emotional moment for the two brothers that have put in a lot of work to get to that match. But after not playing doubles together last season, Brandt went to the two as their top pairing this year and the two close brothers have soaked it up.

"They share one car, they lift weights together and a lot of times after matches I'd be texting them and they'd be together," Brandt said of the Briggs brothers. "It's two brothers who get to do something that not a lot of people do. And even far and fewer between, they are two brothers who are really close and get to spend time and work hard together and make memories that they'll talk about for a really long time."

Pella also had the doubles team of Cameron Rowe and Cashen Thompson competing. They were unseeded and went up against Camanche's Goble and Sbertoli in the first round getting a solid comeback 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 win to get to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for them, they would meet Xavier's Coe and Courter there and would give them a good battle before falling 6-2, 7-5 and dropping to the consolation bracket.

Rowe and Thompson would win their next match 7-5, 6-4 to advance to day two and secure a medal. Day two wouldn't go quite as well for them as they would fall to Waverly-Shell rock 7-5, 6-3 before facing Camanche again in the seventh place match and dropping that one 6-3, 6-4 to take eighth.

"They did so so well," Brandt said. "They developed this year and got better and kind of learned how to play doubles. The tournament was pretty deep this year so for them to get eighth, we're super happy with them medaling."

In singles play, Pella's Joshua Roozeboom would go in unseeded and get No. 4 Jack Freiburger of Wahlert in the first round. Roozeboom would take the number four seed to three sets before coming up short in the 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 loss.

Roozeboom had some work to do in the consolation bracket and he would start well with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Shenandoah's Andrew Lawrence. Roozeboom needed one more win to advance to day two and earn a medal but he would go up against the pesky Alejo Marcon of Pella Christian, who had defeated Roozeboom a couple of times already this season. Marcon would best Roozeboom again by a 6-4, 6-2 score to end his tournament.

"He's right there knocking on the door," Brandt said of Roozeboom. "We were trying to pound that into him that you are knocking on the door every single time you play one of these guys and the door is going to open and it's going to be super fun. He didn't make it to the second day, but I think he was really happy with how he played. He's definitely looking forward to the next two years."

Speaking of Marcon, the Pella Christian standout had been dual-sporting this fall between soccer and tennis and was able to make a nice run at state.

He got a 6-2, 6-4 opening round win over St. Albert's Carter White to start off his day before falling to No. 2 Ethan Moon of North Polk 6-3, 6-1. After defeating Roozeboom, Marcon advanced to day two and secured himself a medaling finish.

Day two saw him top Clarinda's Nathan Brown 6-4, 6-2 to put himself into the fifth place match. There he would meet Wahlert's Roan Martineau, who didn't make many mistakes and forced Marcon to play aggressive and beat him. After a slow start, Marcon found his groove and was able to win the match 6-3, 6-4 to earn himself a fifth place medal, an impressive achievement for the dual-sport athlete and for the Pella Christian boys tennis program in it's second year back.

The tennis season isn't over yet for the Pella Dutch. They are once again in the final four for the team title as the second-ranked Dutch will face off against Wahlert in the semifinals. If they win that, they could complete a possible trilogy against top-ranked Xavier, who Pella has lost to in the finals the last two seasons.

"We have two second place runner-up trophies in the trophy case from the past two years that we've played," Brandt said. "There have been times when I've had to run by the athletic office and I don't even look at them when I walked by them. But there also hasn't been a day where I haven't thought about those teams and what it was like. We are where we want to be and I do think we have a really good shot. We proved that we can play with Xavier this tournament and if everything falls right, maybe we'll squeak out a win. If not, we know we're going to be playing with our team until the last point and that's all we want."

Colin Peters can be reached at 641-672-2581, by email at cpeters@oskyherald.com or on Twitter @ColinPetersOH.