Several players stepped up in competition with C. J. Ray’s absence against North Scott. The Bulldogs pulled away to clinch their first dual win by winning the last four singles matches, including tiebreaker wins by Seth White and Nick Sedore, while Sam Kramer stepped up to beat Josh Meier in the freshman’s first varsity singles match.

“He showed a little bit of jitters early, but he stepped up and played well,” Paris said of Kramer. 

 “That experience really will pay off down the road. All those close matches will definitely come in handy.”

Ray rolled to a 6- 0, 6- 1 win against Bettendorf’s top player, Bobbie Slaves, before joining Kramer for an 8- 5 decision in the No. 1 doubles match against Forrest Campbell and Micheal Porubcin. The Bulldogs will finally play their first home dual on Thursday as Ottumwa welcomes in Waukee in another tough early- season test.

“That’ll give just strengthen our team more playing against a team like that,” Paris said. “The better teams we play, the stronger we’ll get.”