A long wait made Friday an anxious day for a Durango High School sophomore.

One day after he received a last-minute call to come up to the CHSAA Class 4A Boys Tennis State Championships at Pueblo City Park to fill in for Steamboat Springs’ No. 1 singles player, Fred Edwards was in the state quarterfinals going against the top overall seed in the bracket, Keenan Kaltenbacher of Air Academy.

Edwards, who beat Aaron Weil of Mullen 6-1, 6-3 in the Round of 16, sat around through rain delays for hours before finally getting on the court in Pueblo at 7:15 p.m. When he did get to play, Edwards was unable to keep up with Kaltenbacher, who won 6-4, 6-1.

“The Air Academy kid is a buzzsaw. He has great hands and didn’t make too many errors,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said. “Fred broke some strings and was on the backup of his backup racket. He couldn’t get a feel in the second set, and by the time he won a game he was down 4-1, which was too much to overcome.”

Edwards was called up late Wednesday night when the Steamboat Springs player dropped out. Weisfeldt is just happy his No. 1 singles player got to experience state for a second time as just a sophomore.

“He feels lucky to be here with the weird circumstances. Every match at state is tough, and he learns something every match,” Weisfeldt said.

Edwards will bounce back in the consolation bracket if Kaltenbacher can advance in the semifinals past Kent Denver’s Willie Gold.

Durango’s No. 3 singles player also will await a semifinal match and will root for Colorado Academy’s Noah Forman to reach the final so he can get back in the consolation bracket.

“We will be out at the courts at 9 a.m. rooting for the kids who beat us to make the finals so we can get back in. It all depends on that,” Weisfeldt said.

heraldsports@ durangoherald.com