Vikes crowned district champs, two on to state

By Becky Walz,

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 4:39 pm

The Decorah boys’ tennis team competed at Districts Monday, May 9, at Luther College for the right to move the team forward in state competition and for individuals/doubles teams to qualify as well.  
Eight teams add two single players and two doubles teams into brackets in single elimination tournament format, with a singles win giving the team two points and a doubles win giving the team three points. Competing in the tourney with Decorah were teams from Aplington-Parkersburg, Clear Lake, Hampton-Dumont, Independence, Oelwein, Waverly-Shell Rock and Western Dubuque.  

The Decorah boys’ tennis team competed at Districts Monday, May 9, at Luther College for the right to move the team forward in state competition and for individuals/doubles teams to qualify as well.  
Eight teams add two single players and two doubles teams into brackets in single elimination tournament format, with a singles win giving the team two points and a doubles win giving the team three points. Competing in the tourney with Decorah were teams from Aplington-Parkersburg, Clear Lake, Hampton-Dumont, Independence, Oelwein, Waverly-Shell Rock and Western Dubuque.  
In singles, Decorah seeded Caden Branum and Daniel Skrade No. 1 and No. 3 respectively, both players making it to the semifinals where tough matches ensued but both came up victorious to setup an all-Decorah finals in which Branum ended up winning. Both singles players qualified for the state individual tournament in two weeks.  
In doubles, the team of Landon Baker and Brendan Hunter got seeded No. 4 and had a great day of tennis before falling to the eventual winner Waverly-Shell Rock in the semifinals and ultimately finishing third. The team of Aidan Nalean-Carlson and Liam Chamberlain got a tough draw having to play the third-seeded team from Aplington-Parkersburg in the first round, but it didn’t faze them as they came out firing to get the win. They won again to set up a semifinal match against the No. 2 seeded team from Clear Lake where they lost a close one.  
In the end though, the wins piled up and so did the team score, garnering 26 team points and a district Championship.  
Coach Anderson commented, “We knew this day would be tough physically and emotionally with heat and crazy wind, but our guys never faltered and kept fighting. I couldn’t be prouder of how the guys performed after a long week of tennis starting last Monday at conference and a few nagging injuries and colds.”  
The team will play Wednesday, May 18, in a dual meet against another Districts No. 2 team which is still to be determined.

 

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