Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008

Santiago Padilla of Piper gave everything he could Saturday during the singles final at the Kansas 4A state tennis tournament at Harmon Park. But his legs just wouldn’t match his heart.

Padilla, a foreign exchange student from Ecuador, saw his bid for a state title fall short with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Chase Dippel of Lindsborg Smoky Valley. Padilla said he had tired after a grueling semifinal match — a 6-3, 6-2 win over Dan Porter of Independence — that ended about an hour before the final began.

“My body just couldn’t respond as much as I tried,” Padilla said. “That first match today just took a lot out of me. It took a lot of energy just to win. I’m just thankful that I got the opportunity to get this far.”

Padilla, a senior who finished his season 11-2, won his first two matches of the tournament on Friday with ease. He lost just three games in four sets.

But Dippel, who sees himself as a basketball player playing tennis, dominated the final. He controlled the match from start to finish by keeping Padilla away from the net and incapable of hitting winners.

“You have to give him credit,” Padilla said. “He played me well.”

De Soto takes fourth

De Soto finished fourth in the team standings behind fourth- and sixth-place finishes from Matt Edwards and Andrew Konetzni in singles.

Edwards, who finished the season 29-9, came into Saturday with a chance to reach the final, but lost to Dippel in the semifinals. He then fell to Porter in the third-place match 6-3, 6-2. Still, Edwards was pleased because he improved from his eighth-place finish in 2007.

“I’m not really happy with how I played today,” Edwards said. “But overall, I’m pleased. I finished better than I did last year, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Konetzni, who lost his fifth-place match to Logan Palenske of Abilene 9-5, actually gave Dippel his biggest challenge of the tournament. Konetzni won five games against Dippel in their quarterfinal matches, more than any other opponent.