WATERLOO - The look on Lane Luhring's face didn't differ much from his semifinal win to his Class 1A state championship loss.

The Aplington-Parkersburg junior had plenty of reasons to be content with his runner-up finish to Dubuque Wahlert's Carter Giese in the boys' state tennis tournament Saturday at Byrnes Park. In addition to being awarded a large runner-up trophy that takes two hands to lift, Luhring validated his No. 2 seed and has one year remaining to add a championship trophy to his collection.

"Just to get into the finals is pretty big," Luhring said. "Carter Giese is a good player, and I thought I played well against him. I'm just glad to be here."

Giese - last year's doubles champion - graduates with an 80-2 career singles record. The Wahlert senior broke Luhring's serve to end the first set and went on to win the championship match 6-4, 6-2.

"He's explosive," Aplington-Parkersburg coach Jon Wiegmann said of Giese.

"We tried to get around to his backhand, and you cannot because he pins you deep."

Another player leaving the state tournament with high aspirations for next season was Waterloo Columbus junior Jim Nora.

After losing a hard-fought, 6-4, 6-4 match to Luhring in the semifinals, Nora recovered with a 6-1, 6-3 win over South Tama's Jeff Yanda in the third-place match.

"It's a little disappointing," Nora said of the third-place finish. "I was gunning for first place, but I lost to a good player and he's a nice kid. I'll be back next year."

Nora, who's already finished as a state champion and runner-up in doubles, had a brief string of unforced errors near the end of his first set with Luhring. He bounced back and went up an early break of serve in the second set before Luhring rallied to win five consecutive games.

"When I got down 0-3 in the second set, it was my serve," Luhring said. "I thought if I could hold my serve and break him we'd be right back on track at 2-3, and I just kept getting a couple more wins and finished it out."

"It was a very competitive match," Columbus coach Jim Berry added. "I didn't think we moved (Luhring) enough. We made it a little easier for him, but he's a good enough player that he makes it look real easy, too. He's got good height so he covers a lot of ground."

Nora may not have to wait long for a rematch.

"We'll both probably see each other in some tournaments this summer," Luhring said of Nora, who takes lessons with him at Black Hawk Tennis Center. "We're good friends so it's always going to be a good rivalry I guess. … They're good matches whenever we play."

"We've been hitting with each other for years now," Nora added. "We both know each other well."

There will be no next year for Decorah seniors Sean Brown and Lance Loney, but they made the most of their only trip to state. The Vikings' duo took the first set before losing to eventual champions Gui Ochoa and Dustin Rhoads of Oskaloosa 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Brown and Loney improved on their No. 4 seed by defeating Maharishi's Joseph Gelfand and Derek Thatcher 6-3, 6-2 in the third-place match. Also in doubles, Columbus' Casey and Michael Goerdt placed fifth with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Independence's Hyder Chowdhry and Adam Gustafson.

Class 1A

SINGLES

SEMIFINALS - Carter Giese (Wahlert) def. Jeff Yanda (South Tama) 6-0, 6-2; Lane Luhring (Aplington-Parkersburg) def. Jim Nora (Columbus) 6-4, 6-4.

CHAMPIONSHIP - Giese def. Luhring 6-4, 6-2.

THIRD - Nora def. Yanda 6-1, 6-3.

FIFTH - Michael McGonegle (Norwalk) def. Bryn Boswell (Pella) 6-2, 7-5.

SEVENTH - Matija Simulak (Camanche) def. Justin Bradfield (Fairfield) 6-0, 6-0.

DOUBLES

SEMIFINALS - Gui Ochoa-Dustin Rhoads (Oskaloosa) def. Sean Brown-Lance Loney (Decorah) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Michael Runde-Jon Moore (Wahlert) def. Joseph Gefland-Derek Thatcher (Maharishi) 6-2, 6-3.

CHAMPIONSHIP - Ochoa-Rhoads def. Runde-Moore 6-4, 6-3.

THIRD - Brown-Loney def. Gefland-Thatcher 6-3, 6-2.

FIFTH - Casey Goerdt-Michael Goerdt (Columbus) def. Hyder Chowdhry-Adam Gustafson (Independence) 6-3, 6-2.

SEVENTH - Taylor Anderson-Carsen Anderson (Storm Lake) def. Taylor Harman-Drew Jacobsen (Spender) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7).

Class 2A

SINGLES

SEMIFINALS - Charlie Caris (Roosevelt) def. David Knight (Fort Dodge) 6-2, 6-1; Elliott Baker (Dowling Catholic) def. Nick Mozena (Senior) 7-6(8-6), 6-1.

CHAMPIONSHIP - Caris def. Baker 6-0, 6-1.

THIRD - Knight def. Mozena 4-6, 6-1, 1-0(15-13).

FIFTH - Matt Sturgeon (Valley) def. Jeff Damisch (Kennedy) 3-6, 6-1, 1-0(10-6).

SEVENTH - C.J. Ray (Ottumwa) def. Austin Grundy (Sioux City North) 1-6, 6-4, 1-0(12-10).

DOUBLES

SEMIFINALS - DeSimone-Johnson (Bettendorf) def. Wiser-Newman (Ankeny) 6-7(9-7), 6-1, 7-5; Kruse-Hemminger (Roosevelt) def. Allebach-Liao (Kennedy) 6-2, 6-1.

CHAMPIONSHIP - Kruse-Hemminger def. De Simone-Johnson 6-2 6-3.

THIRD - Wiser-Newman def. Aleebach-Liao 6-4, 6-3.

FIFTH - Pratt-Spencer (Bettendorf) def. A. Crowl-C. Crowl (Council Bluffs) 3-6, 6-4, 1-0(10-3).

SEVENTH - Ampuero-Moellers (ICW) def. Kettering-Anderson (Linn-Mar) 6-2, 6-1.