The Minnewaska Area boys tennis team had one of its best seasons ever in program history last spring.  The Lakers not only set a new boys tennis record with 22 victories, but the team also advanced to state for the second time in program history.

The Lakers went 22-5 overall last year, which included a 6-0 mark in the WCC to win a conference title.

The Lakers were set to open up the new season Tuesday, April 1 at the Fargo triangular.  The team is also set to compete at Yellow Medicine East, Tuesday, April 8 before coming home for its first match, Thursday, April 10 against Benson-KMS, and Friday, April 11 with a home triangular.

Minnewaska Area, coached by Tara Reichmann and Chad Quelle, earned the Section 8A title with wins over Fergus Falls (6-1), Thief River Falls (6-1) and East Grand Forks (4-3), and then went 0-2 at state, losing to St Paul Academy (7-0) and Cotter (6-1).

Besides the state trip for the team, the Lakers also sent a doubles’ team to the state tourney after Drew Bleick and Carter LeClair won the section doubles’ title. At state, the Laker duo went 1-2.  

Only one player was lost from last year’s team, Connor Quelle, who was a member of the 2022 and 2024 state teams and played first singles the past two seasons.  Coach Reichmann earned her 500th career tennis coaching victory early last season for the boys and now has over 525 career victories.

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 last year’s team won 22.

The Lakers won the WCC title last year 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).

Minnewaska Area was 14-0 last season before losing its first match.  Besides the state tournament, the only other losses for the Lakers last year were to Sartell, Alexandria and Foley.

At the state tournament last year, Bleick and LeClair drew a tough assignment in the opener, losing to the top-seeded team from Providence Academy, 6-0, 6-1.  In the consolation bracket, Bleick and LeClair beat a team from Benson-KMS, 6-4, 6-3, before losing to a duo from Hibbing in the next round in three sets, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-6 tiebreaker.

•  Carter LeClair had the best record last year at 28-6, while others with at least 13 wins were Drew Bleick (27-8), Tenzin Dahl (26-6), Landon Schiffler (22-6), Marshall Kopp (22-6), Xavier Johnson (21-6), Connor Quelle (19-13), Carson Beyer (16-10), Tyler Kohn (15-9) and Riley Thorfinnson (13-17).

•  Among postseason awards last year, the Lakers had five players earn All-Conference and another two were named to the honorable mention team.  Earning All-Conference were Connor Quelle, Tenzin Dahl, Drew Bleick, Carter LeClair and Riley Thorfinnson, while named honorable mention were Landon Schiffler and Marshall Kopp.

•  In team awards, Connor Quelle won the Senior Leadership Award, Carson Beyer was named the Most Improved Player and Drew Bleick won the Team Spirit Award.

Earning the Sportsmanship Award were Tenzin Dahl and Riley Thorfinnson, while Dahl also won the “Hustle Hit, Never Quit” award, Xavier Johnson earned Rookie of the Year, LeClair earned the award for most wins (28), and Bleick and LeClair were honored for reaching state in doubles.

•  Quelle graduated with a 75-35 career record, while Dahl is 76-32 going into this year, Bleick is 52-17 and LeClair is 52-13.