By Becky Walz,
The Class 1A boys’ state tennis individual tournament took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 24-25, at Byrnes Park in Waterloo before moving indoors due to weather at Black Hawk Tennis Center. Representing the Decorah in the singles competition were junior Daniel Skrade and sophomore Caden Branum, where 16 players from eight different districts come together to battle it out.
Branum, a district champion, secured the third seed and Skrade, a district runner-up, had to play a district Champion in the first round.
The Class 1A boys’ state tennis individual tournament took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 24-25, at Byrnes Park in Waterloo before moving indoors due to weather at Black Hawk Tennis Center. Representing the Decorah in the singles competition were junior Daniel Skrade and sophomore Caden Branum, where 16 players from eight different districts come together to battle it out.
Branum, a district champion, secured the third seed and Skrade, a district runner-up, had to play a district Champion in the first round.
Both came out strong, shook off a few nerves and secured wins with impressive play. After defeating Atlantic’s Ethan Sturm in 7-5 and 6-4 sets, Skrade ran into the number 1 seed, Brady Horstmann of Cedar Rapids Xavier in the second round where he played long hard points before cramping a bit and falling in two sets (6-1, 6-1). Moving into consolation play at Black Hawk as the rain came, Skrade ran into an old nemesis Roan Martineau from Dubuque Walhert and fell again to end his season, 6-0 and 6-2.
Coach Matt Anderson commented, “Daniel ran into some tough matchups, but proved he belongs here and found a few new goals to strive for in the off season. Daniel had an impressive season and I look forward to his growth and leadership next year.”
Viking sophomore Branum opened the day with a first round win over Wahlert’s Roan Martineau, 6-2 and 6-3. He ran into a tough opponent, Clarinda’s Nathan Brown in round two as well, but ultimately his strong groundstrokes started breaking his opponent down as Branum won in two sets (6-4, 6-4) to move to the semifinals the following day.
On Wednesday, with play moving indoors, Branum matched up against the second seed, Ethan Moon of North Polk, who has similar play style. After a little scouting, the coaches worked on a game plan and the Viking came out firing, playing his best tennis with a demanding win 6-0, 6-1 win setting up a final showdown with the number seed 1, Horstmann of Xavier.
In the finals Branum continued his hot play winning the first set 6-1 before his opponent picked up his energy and an epic battle ensued from there. The next two sets went back-and-forth with both players bringing out the best in each other, ultimately ending in a third-set tiebreaker where Caden lost a heartbreaker (6-1, 3-6, 7-6 [7-4]).
“In 35 years of watching, coaching and playing tennis that was the highest quality match from start to finish between two high schoolers who both deserved to win. That was the epitome of tennis to me — well played, good sportsmanship, good fans and drama that had all the remaining players, coaches and fans watching the last match on court. Caden handled that pressure with grace and turned a lot of heads. What a future this young man has. Decorah tennis was well represented. Thanks to all the fans and support, anyone watching or following on text threads had to be inspired…now get out and play,” concluded Coach Anderson after the match.
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