COLLEGEVILLE -- Benson/KMS advanced to the state Class A boys tennis tournament for the first time in nine years with two wins Tuesday at the College of St. Benedict's.
The Braves beat Foley in the Section 6A semifinals 5-2, then topped Long Prairie-Grey Eagle by the same score for the section title. The Braves last won a section crown in 2000.
Benson/KMS avenged a loss to Foley in last year's section championship dual.
"Everybody has worked real hard" since losing in sections last year, Benson head coach Jonas Grossman said, "but it's been a team effort and we've really played our best tennis over the last couple of days."
The Braves won three singles matches and two doubles matches to beat Foley.
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The 1-doubles team of Will Johnson-Luke Widseth captured the deciding point, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Also winning points were Steven James, Matt Hagestuen and Ethan Ratliff-Crain in singles and Michael Goulet-Peter Lindblad in doubles.
The Braves also got a little revenge on the Thunder, having lost the West Central Conference title to LPGE.
Benson/KMS again won three singles matches with James, Hagestuen and Ratliff-Crain, and two doubles matches with Johnson-Widseth and Goulet-Lindblad. Three of the five BKMS wins were three-set matches.
Semifinals
BKMS 5, Foley 2
Singles
(1) Nick Jansen, Fol, def. Ben Murphy 6-2, 6-3 (2) Steven James, BKMS, def. Brady Hanes 6-2, 6-4 (3) Matt Hagestuen, BKMS, def. Brandon Stevens 6-1, 6-4 (4) Ethan Ratliff-Crain, BKMS, def. Kirby Seppelt 6-1, 6-2
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Doubles
(1) Will Johnson-Luke Widseth, BKMS, def. Aaron Zimmer-Walker Zabloski 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 (2) Steven Dottzler-Ben Hageman, LPGE, def. Ahren Bachman-Brandon Edlund 6-3, 7-6 (3) Michael Goulet-Peter Lindblad, BKMS, def. Tom Witterer-Sam Witterer 6-4, 6-1
Championship
BKMS 5, LGPE 2
Singles
(1) Nathan Korfe LPGE, def. Ben Murphy 6-3, 6-0 (2) Steven James, BKMS, def. Berent Uhlenkamp 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 (3) Matt Hagestuen, BKMS, def. Michael Nies 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 (4) Ethan Ratliff-Crain, BKMS, def. Jeremy Welters 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
(1) Will Johnson-Luke Widseth, BKMS, def. Joe Tusta-Roger Mead 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 (2) Zachary Pesta-Cody Warner, LPGE, def. Ahren Bachman-Brandon Edlund 6-3, 6-2 (3) Michael Goulet-Peter Lindblad, BKMS, def. Matthew Holts-Brandon Roering 6-4, 6-1
