Tennis is an individual sport but, in high school, it’s also a team game.
The Willmar boys tennis team’s embrace of that concept has led the Cardinals to a memorable season and a crack at a state tournament berth for the first time since 1979.
Willmar’s 7-0 win over St. Cloud Apollo on Friday ran the Card’s record to 9-2 in the Central Lakes Conference, 13-2 overall, and on Sunday were selected the top seed in this week’s Section 2AA-South tournament.
After rounding out the regular season against Alexandria today, Willmar will receive a first-round bye and then play either the No. 4-seed Hutchinson or No. 5-seed Delano on May 14 in the second round of the section tournament.
The Cardinals will be formidable because they understand their chances of advancing hinge on the work of 10 players, not one or two.
“Matches are played as individuals,” said Cardinals head coach Jim Anderson, “but we look at it as, what can you do for your team? From a coaching standpoint, it doesn’t matter if it’s hockey, basketball or tennis, it’s whether you can get your guys to buy in.”
This Cardinals team has done so, and at an early age.
Willmar, which was 12-4 last season, has seniors Alex Reynolds and Alec Bateman team at No. 1 doubles. The other eight Willmar regulars are juniors or younger.
But they’ve all played like seasoned veterans this spring.
No. 1 singles player Tate Hovland is 9-5, No. 2 Drew Corneil is 11-3 and No. 3 Jarod Swoboda is 11-5. All are juniors.
Sophomore Manny Obregon trumps all his singles brethren with a 14-2 mark at No. 4 singles.
Reynolds and Bateman are 9-7 facing the CLC’s and 2AA’s best doubles teams, and triplets - eighth-graders, no less - are the driving force responsible for the Cards’ 23-5 record in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.
Junior Nick Revier pairs with Peyton Fischer at No. 2 doubles and they are 13-3. The other two-thirds of the Fischer trio - Hunter and Will - have played the majority of matches at No. 3 doubles and are 10-2.
The Fischers are a product of a system that Anderson, in his fourth year as varsity coach, has been implementing to reinvigorate Willmar tennis. The Fischers come from a tennis family - grandpa was a top player in South Dakota, mom plays, and a cousin is one of St. Cloud Tech’s top singles players - and they are earning their chops against tough competition, Anderson said.
“They’re (playing) players who are good players and strong kids,” Anderson said. “These (Fischer) kids don’t have the physical size yet of other kids, but they are smart kids and they are very coachable.”
When Anderson took over the program there virtually was no program.
The Cards fielded a varsity team but had no middle school tennis. Today, the boys varsity and middle school teams have 29 players. About 100 kids take part in summer leagues and camps, and a winter tennis program gets players to the high school on Sundays to hit against ball machines and work on their mechanics.
“I think early in the season (winter tennis) bonded our kids together and gave us a little bit of an edge,” Anderson said. “So, some of our programming is paying off. We’re lucky. We have good families who play tennis and they’re really promoting the game in the community.”
And it’s promoted a solid foundation of solid students wanting to play solid tennis. In the boys program, about 26 of the 29 players are on the school’s honor roll. The Cards’ girls team, which plays in the fall, had a cumulative 3.91 grade-point average.
For the boys, the cohesion and emerging talent is paying dividends on the court.
Willmar won three 4-3 matches early in the season, one against 2AA opponent Mankato West. Like the rest of the CLC, the Cards have had no luck against titanic tennis power St. Cloud Tech, but, overall, the Cards have scored five or more points in 10 of their 15 matches.
“We stole a couple of matches early, but there’s a book called “Winning Ugly” and that’s what we did,” Anderson said. “We had three matches that were 4-3 that were anybody’s contest, and our guys dug in and found a way to win those matches. And there were different guys stepping up in different matches.”
Promise leads to effort. Anderson said one of Hovland’s recent matches typified the Cards’ season.
“Tate was so exhausted at the end,” Anderson said. “He hit a ball, fell and rolled and got back up and fought like a tiger. We couldn’t play any better than we are right now. These kids, if they were like a lemon, you’d squeeze them and you couldn’t get another drop out of them.”
