OTTUMWA — As the top singles player in the line-up, Logan Storto will be facing the best boys tennis players in Iowa throughout the course of this season.
In just his second match of the season for Ottumwa, Storto may have faced the best player in the entire state.
Ames freshman Ethan Wang, a highly-touted prospect who hopes to ultimately contend for the Class 2A state singles title before his high school career is over, secured a 6-0, 6-0 sweep against Storto igniting an 11-0 win for the Little Cyclones over the Bulldogs spoiling the home opener for Ottumwa at Dan Staggs Family Courts.
"It was definitely very tiring against him," Storto said of going up against Wang. "I played decent, but he's one of the best kids in the state and maybe in the country. I just gave it my all. He just put it past me. He really gave it to me, but it's cool seeing very good players."
Storto wasn't done seeing Wang after concluding the singles portion of the dual as both would be part of the top doubles match with Storto joining Dominick Rath while Wang teamed up with Anson Bernard. Things were slightly more competitive as Storto and Rath took four games off Wang and Bernard.
Even in defeat (6-2, 6-2), Wang was impressed with his Ottumwa opponents.
"It feels great to get complimented by him at the end of a match," Rath said of Wang. "He said I had an insane serve, so that felt awesome. I feel like we definitely competed. We should have kept it closer. We definitely need to work on our return of serve. That was probably our biggest weakness in the match. We only about two break points all match. We should have gotten way more."
Storto and Rath are holding themselves to a high standard this season in doubles play, bouncing back on Thursday to sweep Des Moines Lincoln teammates Hudson Christie and Liam Miller at the Knapp Tennis Center. Rath also picked up his second win in the No. 2 singles match in a 7-4 Iowa Alliance Conference south division dual loss to the Railsplitters, sweeping Miller 7-5 and 6-4.
"For Logan and I, making it to state is going to come down to fine-tuning things throughout the season," Rath said. "We need to take what we can from any losses and push hard for wins."
Ottumwa (0-3, 0-2 Iowa Alliance) will be back on the court for a pair of Iowa Alliance duals at Marshalltown on Tuesday The Bulldogs will take on Mason City at noon before coming back to take on the Bobcats at approximately 4 p.m.
