By Becky Walz,
The Decorah boy’s tennis team traveled to Winona (Minn.), Friday for a match with Winona Cotter, a team which was weaker than normal without their normal number of international students.
Cotter put all their large marbles into singles action, allowing Brendan Hunter/Daniel Skrade, Edwin Holyoake/Noah Tapscott, and Michael Njus/Aidan Nalean-Carlson had an easy time of it after getting rid of their starting jitters.
Singles was a different story.
At No. 1 Gabe Anderson lost a hard-fought first set 2-6. He refocused in the second, staying down into his shots and using his left handedness for tactics more favorable to him, winning 6-3. At that point, he had his opponent demoralized and won the third set tie breaker going away 10-4.
At No. 2 Caden Branum had the reverse. He cruised to a first set score of 6-2, all be it hard fought. In the second set, his opponent won 6-4 by becoming much more consistent which put a dent in Branum’s confidence. To his credit the Viking dug in and stayed more positive to win a hard fought third set tie breaker 10-6 to win the match.
Luke Walter played a strong player at No. 3, playing hard in the second set, hitting many fine shots.
“I thought he would get over the hump, but he couldn’t overcome his opponent’s ability to attack his second serve. I am confident he will fix that,” said Coach Reg Laursen.
Landon Baker ran the marathon of the day in the No. 4 spot, winning the first set 6-2. His opponent then played much more consistently, leading to a 6-6 score in the second set. To Baker’s credit, he gutted out a 7-4 tie breaker score to win the set, hence the match.
“It was inspiring to see how hard these four singles players competed. I’m sure those who played doubles in this match will get their time in future matches. It is so much fun to win tight, tight matches,” said Coach Laursen. “I was pleased all the JV got a match even though we were indoors. Noah Spilde-Maki, Grady Brauer, Noah Lovelace, Wyatt Hackman, Grant Timm, Thomas Foster, Benton Sparrow, Carter Kowitz, Nolan Jacobsen, Adam Walter, Kolten Gossman, Gabriel Hiner, Lucas Arendt, Simon Mumford, Seth Thompson and James Alberts compiled a 5-win, 3-loss record.”
The Vikes will visit Waverly-Shell Rock Tuesday, April 13, at 4:30 p.m. and host Clear Lake Friday, April 16, at 4:30 p.m.
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