The Minnewaska Area fall sports schedule will soon be underway and the first team to get an official competition under its belt will be the Laker girls tennis team, which is set to open up the season Friday, Aug. 18 at the Park Rapids quadrangular.

The first home match for the team, coached by Tara Reichmann and Chad Quelle, is Tuesday, Aug. 29 when the Lakers are set to host Benson-KMS.  

Reichmann, in her 27th season as head coach for girls tennis (24 at Minnewaska and 3 at Rochester) is 481-269 overall for her coaching career for boys and girls tennis (341-141 for girls and 140-128 for boys).  

That means she should have a good chance at reaching win No. 500 sometime during the 2024 boys tennis season.

Minnewaska Area is coming off a 9-10 season from a year ago, which also included a perfect 8-0 mark in the WCC to win its eighth-straight WCC title.  LQP-DB was second with a 7-1 record, followed by Melrose Area (6-2), Morris Area-WCA (4-4), MACCRAY, Benson-KMS, and Montevideo (all 3-5), Sauk Centre (2-6) and YME (0-8).

The only players lost to graduation from last year’s team are Olivia Bleick, Zoey Elwood and Grace Jensen.  Bleick played first doubles for the team last year and Elwood and Jensen played mostly second doubles.

Earning All-Conference for the team last year were Bleick, Megan Thorfinnson, Sydney Dahl and Alia Randt, while Olivia Danielson earned honorable mention.  Dahl had also earned All-WCC honors the previous year, while Bleick had earned honorable mention a season earlier.

The season came to an end last year with a 6-1 loss to eventual section champion Litchfield in the section semifinals.  The Dragons, along with Osakis and NLS, will be among the teams to beat again in Section 6A, which has added LPGE-USA this year for a 9-team section.

Last year, the Lakers went with a lineup mostly of Megan Thorfinnson, Alia Randt, Olivia Danielson and Jayda Kolstoe for singles, and Olivia Bleick-Sydney Dahl, Grace Jensen-Zoey Elwood and Avarie Uhde-Katy Vold for doubles.  That means the Lakers will return the top four singles players this year, but will need to find at least three players as doubles replacements.

•  During team awards handed out at the end of last season, Alia Randt and Katie Sorenson were selected for the Most Improved Player Award, while Olivia Danielson earned the Sportsmanship Award.

Grace Jensen earned the Team Spirit Award and also won the “Most Individual Wins in a Season” honor with 18 victories last fall.

The Varsity Rookie of the Year award went to Danielson, while earning Senior Leadership Awards were Olivia Bleick, Zoey Elwood and Grace Jensen.

•  For the JV team, Adysen Hess and Hannah Walsh shared the Most Improved Player awards, while Maggie Hjelm won the Sportsmanship Award and Kiarra Bosek and Kileigh Wilmes earned the Team Spirit Award and Molly Cassidy won the Rookie of the Year honor.

Final 2022 Laker 

girls tennis records

Grace Jensen 12 2D 18-5

Zoey Elwood 12 2D 17-8

Avarie Uhde 10 3D 15-8

Katy Vold 10 3D 14-9

Jayda Kolstoe 9 4S 13-9

Sydney Dahl 10 1D 13-12

Olivia Bleick 12 1D 12-12

Megan Thorfinnson 10 1S 11-14

Livi Danielson 9 3S 10-13

Alia Randt 9 2S 10-15

Katie Sorenson 10 3D 0-2

Brianna Erickson 11 3D 0-2

Addison Heid 9 — 0-0

Hannah Walsh 9 — 0-0