Walker finishes fourth at state
WATERLOO — With rain leaking through the roof of the Black Hawk Indoor Tennis Center, Red Oak tennis player Pete Walker finished his final individual tournament by placing fourth for the second straight year.
Walker lost the third place match to Sam Stickels of Maharishi, Fairfield 6-3 and 6-4.
Walker had an opportunity in the second set as he jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Stickels recovered though, scoring points and rallying to win games.
“The kid is a good player, he’s intense,” Walker said after the match.
Walker started the day with a semifinal showdown against St. Edmond’s Aaron Chalstrom.
Both went back and forth for three sets, but Chalstrom advanced to the finals with a 4-6, 6-1 and 6-2 win against Walker.
Thanks to his serves, Walker kept pressure on Chalstrom during the first set. The senior clinched the first set thanks to a couple of baseline winners with Chalstrom approaching the net.
“I think he had trouble with my serve at the start and he made a couple of errors at the end,” Walker said.
In the second set, Walker kept the momentum going by winning the first game. However, Chalstrom rallied by winning six straight games.
“He just started playing better,” Walkersaid. “I missed a couple key volleys and had a lot of forehand errors. You have to give him credit, he played pretty well.”
In the third set, Walker stayed close with Chalstrom early, but the St. Edmond star pulled away and clinched his spot in the championship match.
Chalstrom went on to win his first ever state title as he defeated Alex Bernt of Waterloo Columbus in three sets.
“I kind of knew he’s consistent, but next time, if I can hit a forehand and construct the point with my forehand, I’ll have a lot more success,” Walker said.
Saturday’s semifinal and final rounds were moved to the Indoor Tennis Courts because of rainfall in Waterloo.
Walker began the first round with a 6-0 and 6-0 win over Ryan Hageman of Decorah. Later in the afternoon, Walker defeated Spirit Lake’s Brandon Stoll 6-3 and 6-2 to advance to the semifinals for the second straight year.
Jordan Nelson was eliminated in the second round of consolations after losing to Brandon Schneider of Dubuque-Wahlert 6-3 and 6-2.
Nelson was eliminated from the championship bracket in the first round by the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Boone’s Chad Moklestad. Nelson lost to Moklestad 6-1 and 6-1.
In the first round of consolations, Nelson was able to overcome a first set loss to win the match against Brett Walker of Cherokee.
Nelson lost the first set 6-3, but he was able to rally in the second set and win 6-1, forcing a third set super tiebreaker. Nelson only gave up four points in the super tiebreaker and advanced on to play Schneider.
Nelson made his first appearance at state this season in singles after the last two seasons he made it there in doubles, along with Craig White.
This is Walker’s final state boys individual tennis tournament appearance. The Rotary Club Male Athlete of the Year award winner has made an appearance at state all four years in his high school career.
His first appearance at state was in 2010 when Walker missed out on the top eight after losing in the second round of consolation to Waterloo Columbus’ James McManus.
In 2011, Walker cracked the top eight for the first time when he defeated Grinnell’s Tim Kahl 6-2 and 6-2 to place seventh.
Then last year, Walker took another step forward when he placed fourth at state, falling to Alex Bernt of Waterloo Columbus 6-2 and 6-2.
The tennis season isn’t over for the boys team though. Tuesday afternoon, they were in Des Moines for the state semifinals for team tennis.
Walker would get another shot at Chalstrom as he, as well as the rest of Red Oak, faced St. Edmond in the semifinals.
“I think they saw that not everyone at state is going to be crazy good, like Chalstrom and Bernt,” Walker said about competing in team state. “I think they won’t quite be as intimidated as they would be if they didn’t come up and see that not everyone is a giant killer.”