Boys tennis roundup: Litchfield earns a state berth

ST. PETER — The Litchfield boys tennis team earned a berth in the state Class A tournament by winning the Section 2A team championship Monday at St. Peter High School.

The top-seeded Dragons opened with a 7-0 victory over Southwest Christian. Southwest Christian, the fourth seed, first beat No. 5 Blue Earth Area 4-3 to advance to the semifinals.

Litchfield then played No. 2 St. Peter for the championship, winning 5-2.

St. Peter beat No. 3 Holy Family Catholic 6-1 in the semifinals.

In the first round, Holy Family Catholic beat No. 6 St. James 5-2 and St. Peter knocked off No. 7 Fairmont 6-1.

Against St. Peter, Litchfield swept the doubles with Alex Draeger, Mason Woelfel, Garrison Jackson and Nathan Wuotila all winning in straight sets for the Dragons.

The No. 1 doubles team of Braden Olson and Tyler Pennertz beat St. Peter’s Anders Dixon and Cooper Dean 6-4, 6-2 for the other win.

Litchfields’ No. 2 doubles team of Brady Cannon and Eli Schacherer and No. 3 team of Gray Nelson and Josh Blomberg each fell in three sets. Both matches were extremely close.

Cannon and Schacherer lost to Will Elias and Ben Taylor 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-6. Nelson and Blomberg fell to Tyson Schmitz and Quinn Dixon 7-5, 6-7 (5), 12-10.

Litchfield has a 14-3 record.

The state Class A tournament begins June 7 at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

Singles
(1) Alex Draeger, L, def. Marty Anderson 6-4, 6-0 … (2) Mason Woelfel, L, def. Fede Zimmermann 6-0, 6-1 … (3) Garrison Jackson, L, def. Colton Abels 6-1, 6-1 … (4) Nathan Wuotila, L, def. Ezekiel Ribar 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
(1) Braden Olson/Tyler Pennertz, L, def. Anders Dixon/Cooper Dean 6-4, 6-2 … (2) Will Elias/Ben Taylor, SP, def. Brady Cannon/Eli Schacher 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-6 … (3) Tyson Schmitz/Quinn Dixon, SP, def. Gray Nelson/Josh Blomberg 7-5, 6-7 (5), 12-10.

Singles
(1) Alex Draeger, L, def. Garrett Lyles 6-2, 6-1 … (2) Mason Woelfel, L, def. Mateo Schneibel 6-1, 6-1 … (3) Garrison Jackman, L, def. Brock Walmer 6-0, 6-0 … (4) Nathan Wuotila, L, def. Daniel Bozanich 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
(1) Braden Olson/Tyler Pennertz, L, def. Luke Schwen/TJ Ringer 7-5, 6-0 … (2) Brady Cannon/Eli Schacherer, L, def. Cooper Reimann/Austin Kimble 7-5, 6-3 … (3) Gray Nelson/Josh Blomberg, L, def. Justin Erickson/Benny Strain 6-1, 6-2.

Third-seeded Yellow Medicine East cruised past No. 6 Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd in the quarterfinals of the Section 3A playoffs at Granite Falls.

YME plays No. 2 Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Redwood Falls. Benson/KMS beat Montevideo on Monday. That’s one semifinal. The other semifinal features No. 1 Luverne and No. 4 Redwood Valley at noon. Luverne beat No. 8 MACCRAY 7-0 Monday.

YME was runner-up in the section last year.

Singles
(1) Ean Clarke, YME, def. Jackson Buer 6-0, 6-0 … (2) Jackson Torgerson, YME, def. Liam Kisch 6-1, 6-1 … (3) Ryan Syring, YME, def. Matthew Martinson 6-4, 7-5 … (4) Derrick Lien, YME, def. Luke Stock 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
(1) Austin Canatsey/Isaac Olevson, YME, def. Levi Olson/Gavin Stulz 6-4, 6-2 … (2) Karter Canatsey/Ryan Brouwer, YME, def. Wyatt Wiebe/Nate Grunwell 7-5, 6-3 … (3) Garrett Kostad/Gunnar Olson, LQPV, def. Mason Rhode/Gage Corner 6-4, 6-1.

Top-seeded Luverne cruised past No. 8 MACCRAY in the first round of the Section 3A playoffs at Luverne.

Luverne plays Redwood Valley at noon Tuesday in Redwood Falls in the section semifinals. Redwood Valley beat Pipestone 4-3.

MACCRAY finishes the season 0-14.

Singles
(1) Pierce Cunningham, L, def. Josiah Seehusen 6-0, 6-0 … (2) Nathan Nath, L, def. Daniel Seehusen 6-0, 6-0 … (3) Blake Frahm, L, Josh Castaneda 6-0, 6-0 … (4) Ethan Nath, L, def. Brent Rassat 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles
(1) Chance Tunnissen/Logan Ommen, L, def. Andrew Janssen/Brogan Harguth 6-1, 6-3 … (2) Kyle Ferguson/Jase Arp, L, def. Austin Sweep/Nate Wieberdrink 6-2, 6-2.

Fergus Falls eliminated New London-Spicer from the Section 8A tournament with the victory at Alexandria.

“We lost a close match to Fergus Falls with four matches going to a third set,” NLS head coach Chad Schmiesing said. “Give credit to Fergus Falls, as I thought their team played very well today.

“They were simply too strong for us at singles. Carter Ness (Fergus Falls’ No. 2 ) was super impressive using his forehand groundstroke to keep (NLS’) Jack (Barney) on his heels.”

Ness beat Barney 6-2, 6-4.

NLS earned wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. Jack Noeldner and Matt Monson beat Reno Schierer and Nick Flugstad 6-2, 5-7, 6-0. And at No. 2, the Wildcats’ Adam Klaphake and Ethan Spors beat Luke Schroeder and Christian Reed 6-2, 6-2.

Singles
(1) Ben Schierer, F, def. Kenneth Schmiesing 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 … (2) Carter Ness, F, def. Jack Barney 6-2, 6-4 … (3) Grant Ackerson, F, def Jowell Gamez 6-0, 6-2 … (4) Ethan Leopold, F, def Andres Rojas 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Doubles
(1) Jack Noeldner/Matt Monson, N, def Reno Schierer/Nick Flugstad 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 … (2) Adam Klaphake/Ethan Spors, N, def Luke Schroeder/Christian Reed 6-2, 6-2 … (3) Bryce Adams/Jackson Lysne, F, def. Josh Sotyo/Joe Brouwer 7-5, 3-6, 6-0. 

Willmar’s doubles team went 1-2 and the singles teams were swept at the Section 8AA individual tournament at Becker.

In doubles,Willmar’s Ryan Newberg and Gabe LaRue won their first-round match. They beat J.D. Fuentes and Eliot Andrews of Sauk Rapids, 6-1, 6-3. The duo then lost to Becker’s Ryan Bengtson and Eli Scheideman 6-0, 6-0.

The Cardinals’ Jorge Zelaya-Velasquez and Andrew Ziebarth fell to the St. Cloud Crush’s Ben Eiynck and Zach Strong 6-1, 6-0.

In singles. Willmar’s Josh Jensen lost to Zane Pemberton of Monticello 6-0, 6-0 and Miguel Garcia fell to Alex Robeck of Monticello, 6-0, 6-0.