TOPEKA — Iola High’s Riccardo Barbarossa went toe to toe with some of the best tennis players around in taking 10th in singles play Saturday at the Class 4A State Tournament.
Not bad for the foreign exchange student out of Italy who had never played organized tennis before this year.
“He ended up playing some fantastic tennis,” IHS head coach Chris Belknap said.
After rolling to a pair of straight-set victories Friday to ensure himself a medal, Barbarossa’s dreams of a state title came to an end to Buhler’s Colton Lohrentz. Barbarossa won the first set, 6-3, before Lohrentz rallied to take the second and third sets, 6-3 and 6-4, respectively.
The setback pushed Barbarossa to the consolation side Saturday, where he had to dodge rain drops throughout the day.
Barbarossa fell, 6-4, to Andrew Ladwig of Bishop Miege before rallying to defeat Kolten Coup of Abilene, 6-2.
The victory pitted Barbarossa against Labette County’s Joel Mathes, who won a tie-breaker for ninth place.
