Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd sophomore Jess Hansen punched his ticket to the Class A State Individual Tournament for the second straight season by winning the singles title in dominating fashion at the Section 3A individual tournament Tuesday in Redwood Falls.
Hansen was the No. 1 seed for the section tournament and lost just one game in four matches. He shut out his first two opponents last Thursday to reach Tuesday’s final four. Hansen then proceeded to overwhelm Montevideo’s Jesse Erickson 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals and Luverne’s Andrew Jelken 6-0, 6-0 in the title match to repeat as section champion.
Hansen’s first match at the two-day state tournament is June 5 at 8 a.m. in Minneapolis at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center.
Erickson later lost in the third-place match. On the doubles side, Montevideo’s duo of Taylor Landmark and Jared Saue was 0-2 after falling in the semifinals 7-5, 6-2 and in the third-place match 6-4, 6-2.
In other area action Tuesday, Willmar’s doubles tandems of senior Nick Courtney/junior Isaac Yoakum and sophomores Drew Corneil and Tate Hovland lost in the Section 2AA semifinals at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter to fall short of qualifying for state.
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Yoakum/Courtney fell 6-0, 6-1 to eventual champions Anthony Rose and Carter Mason of Eden Prairie while Corneil and Hovland lost 6-1, 6-4 to Chanhassen’s Brock Dillon/Matt Dorn. That set up an all-Willmar meeting in the third-place match with Corneil and Hovland winning 7-5, 6-4.
At New London in the Section 6A tourney, Litchfield’s Josh Prahl finished third in singles after losing 6-3, 6-0 to runner-up Logan Herbst of Foley in the semifinals and outlasting Laine Larson of Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Swanville 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the third-place match.
