TROY — The Milton-Union doubles team of junior Tyler Kress and freshman Ben Iddings may hav even surprised themselves at the D-II sectional tournament Tuesday at Troy High School and Troy City Park.

But, they certainly didn’t surprise coach Kevin Brackman.

The duo didn’t drop a game in advanced to Saturday’s semifinals and earning a berth in next week’s district tournament.

“Tyler (Kress) went to district last year,” Brackman said. “And Ben (Iddings) is a really good player for a freshman. So, I knew they would be a good team.”

The two, who played singles much of the year, came in as the third seed.

They defeated Cara Chivington and Claudia Cotarelo-Jiminez of Greenon 6-0, 6-0 and followed with a win by matching scores against Charles Kochensparger and Jude Minton of Eaton in the go-to district match.

“Honestly, I think we did even better than I thought we did,” Iddings said. “Definitely, I think we are still getting better.”

Kress said his experience from last year was a bonus.

“I just think it makes me more relaxed, more at ease,” he said.

On Saturday, they will play two matches to determine their seed at district.

Brackman said their semifinal match is a big one.

“If we can win that first match and get a one or two seed, that can make a big difference at district,” he said.

The Milton-Union double team of Joel Benkert and Lukas Knight lost to Michael Ray and Noah Moore of Kenton Ridge 1-6, 6-4 7-6 (4).

In singles, Titus Copp defeated Matthew Bolendar of Northridge 6-0, 6-0 before losing to Braden Ware of Greenon 6-1, 6-4.

Carter Berner lost to Joseph Tedeschi of Northwestern 6-3, 6-1 and Zeb Hines lost to Henry Kochensparger of Eaton 6-3, 6-1.

LEHMAN

The Lehman Catholic boys had Sam Gilardi in singles and Josh George and Brandon Bostick in doubles come up one match short of advancing to district.

“I know getting to district was one of our goals,” Lehman coach Tim Ungericht said. “But, we had a really great season. We were 8-4 and could finish in the top five in the Dayton Area in D-II. We lost half our first doubles team and our second singles from last year.

“Joe Pannapara and Brandon Jones had to move to second and third singles and we had to completely rebuild first doubles. So, there were a number of question marks at the start of the year and we did a great job.”

Gilardi was the fourth seed in singles.

He defeated Tyler Fox of Greenon 6-0, 6-0 and Chase Collins of Carroll 6-4, 6-1 before losing to Kenton Ridge’s Nolan Parrett 6-2, 6-4 in the go-to district match.

“It was the third match of the day and I think that affected Sam (Gilardi),” Ungericht said. “But, he battled the whole match.”

In doubles, Bostick and George were the fourth seed.

They defeated Ray and Moore 6-1, 6-4 before losing to Carroll’s Kai Hary and Tony Nguyen 6-3, 6-2.

They were up 3-2 in the first set, before losing four straight games and 2-0 in the second set before losing six straight games.

“We had early leads in both sets,” Ungericht said. “But, that (Kai Hary, Tony Nguyen) is a really good team. We didn’t lose the match. They won it.”

In other singles matches, Logan Linson lost to Riley Johnson of Urbana 6-1, 6-1 and Thomas White lost to Landon Bowling of Kenton Ridge 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, Brandon Jones and Joe Pannapara lost to Ryan Harrington and Brady Baugh of Northwestern 7-5, 6-3.