The Minnewaska Area boys tennis team will be competing at the State Boys Tennis Tournament, Tuesday through Friday, June 4-7 at the Read-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

The Lakers earned the Section 8A team title with wins over Fergus Falls (6-1), Thief River Falls (6-1) and East Grand Forks (4-3), raising their overall record to 22-3 in the process.  Minnewaska Area is set to open up state play Tuesday, June 4, versus top-seeded SP Academy.

In addition, Drew Bleick and Carter LeClair earned a state berth in doubles after claiming the individual doubles’ title at the Section 8A Tourney as well.  Bleick (27-4 record) and LeClair (28-2) will open up State Doubles action Wednesday, June 6.

This is only the second trip to state for the Laker boys tennis team.  The Lakers also advanced to state in 2022, going 1-2 during the state tourney to place sixth.  The 2022 season was also the year when the Lakers had 21 victories, going 21-7 to set the record for wins in a season until this year.

The Lakers also won the WCC title this season with a perfect 6-0 mark followed by Montevideo (5-1), NLS (4-2), Benson-KMS (3-3), YME (2-4), LQP-DB (1-5) and MACCRAY-RCW (0-6).

Members of this year’s team are senior Connor Quelle; juniors Tenzin Dahl and Riley Thorfinnson; sophomores Drew Bleick, Tate Hanson and Tayte Wasilowski; ninth-graders Carter LeClair, Landon Schiffler, Marshall Kopp, Tyler Kohn and Ethan Klick; and eighth-graders Xavier Johnson, Carson Beyer, Carter Myrom, Easton Palmer and Aidrick Vold.