The Minnewaska Area boys tennis team went 0-2 at the State Boys Tennis Tournament last week at the Read-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.  The Lakers ended the team portion of their season with a 22-5 overall record.

The Lakers were swept by top-seeded St. Paul Academy-Summit School in the opener, 7-0, and also lost to Cotter in the consolation bracket, 6-1.

The Lakers, coached by Tara Reichmann and Chad Quelle, earned their state berth by winning the Section 8A team title with wins over Fergus Falls (6-1), Thief River Falls (6-1) and East Grand Forks (4-3).

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’s team won 22 matches.

In addition to the state team berth, the Lakers also had the doubles’ team of Drew Bleick and Carter LeClair competing at the state meet, Thursday and Friday. The Laker duo went 1-2 at the state meet as LeClair finished the season with a team best 29 victories (29-6) record and Bleick was second with 28 wins (28-8 record).

“It was a great run and a very fun season,” said head coach Tara Reichmann.  “We had a great time at the state tourney and hope to get back there as a team again in the near future.”

The only senior lost to graduation from this year’s team is Connor Quelle, who was a member of the 2022 and 2024 state tournament teams.

State Team Tourney

The Lakers lost twice during the State Class A Team Tourney last Tuesday at the Read-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

Minnewaska fell 7-0 to the top seeded St. Paul Academy-Summit team in the opener and also dropped a 6-1 decision to Cotter later in the day.  The Lakers closed out the team portion of their season with an overall record of 22-5.  The 22 wins is a school record for boys tennis at MAHS.

Minnewaska won just four total games against SP Academy, which was top seeded despite having only three seniors in its lineup.

Winning two games was the first doubles team of Drew Bleick and Carter LeClair at first doubles, who lost 6-0, 6-2, while Tenzin Dahl (second singles) and Connor Quelle (first) also won games.

•  The Lakers came very close to winning their other game against Cotter before eventually losing 6-1.

Marshall Kopp and Landon Schiffler prevailed 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 10-8 tiebreaker in a tight match at second doubles, but the Lakers also had chances in at least four other matches.

Drew Bleick lost 6-4, 6-4 at third singles, Xavier Johnson and Carson Beyer lost 6-4, 7-5 at third doubles, Riley Thorfinnson and Tyler Kohn dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision at first doubles, and Tenzin Dahl fell 6-2, 6-4 at second singles.

State Individuals

Drew Bleick and Carter LeClair competed in the State Individual Tourney, Thursday and Friday, going 1-2 overall. 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.

That team went on to lose to a pair from Cotter for the consolation title, 6-1, 6-3, while the pair from St. Paul Academy went on to win the state title.

State Class A Boys Tennis

SP Academy 7, Waska 0

SINGLES results:  

(1)  Winston Arvidson, SP def Connor Quelle 6-0, 6-1  (2) Zahir Hassan, SP def Tenzin Dahl 6-1, 6-0  (3) Baasit Mahmood, SP def Riley Thorfinnson 6-0, 6-0  (4) David Schumacher, SP def Carson Beyer 6-0, 6-0

DOUBLES results:  

(1) Malik Nguyen-Allan Wang, SP def Carter LeClair-Drew Bleick 6-0, 6-2  (2) Leo Benson-Jacob Colton, SP def Marshall Kopp-Landon Schiffler 6-0, 6-0  (3) Ben Macedo-Isaak Senaratna, SP def Tyler Kohn-Xavier Johnson 6-0, 6-0

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Cotter 6, Minnewaska 1

SINGLES results:  

(1)  Ondrej Vitasek, Cotter def Connor Quelle 6-0, 6-0  (2) Pedro Alonso, Cotter def Tenzin Dahl 6-2, 6-4  (3) Logan Granseth, Cotter def Drew Bleick 6-4, 6-4  (4) Hamilton Brewer, Cotter def Carter LeClair 6-1, 6-0

DOUBLES results:  

(1)  Everett Engler-Zeke Jaworski, Cotter def Riley Thorfinnson-Tyler Kohn 6-4, 6-2  (2) Marshall Kopp-Landon Schiffler, Min def Mateo Ardines-Oliver Engler 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 10-8tb  (3) Joseph Row-Carter Knuesel, Cotter def Xavier Johnson-Carson Beyer 6-4, 7-5

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State Individuals

Minnewaska results

DOUBLES results:  

•  Drew Bleick-Carter LeClair, Minnewaska lost to Gary Speier-Louie Wehmann, Prov Acad 6-0, 6-1; def Max Young-Harold Habben, BKMS 6-4, 6-3; lost to Keaton Petrick-Isaiah Hildenbrand, Hibbing 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-6tb

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