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Chisago Lakes 7

North Branch 0

Local tennis fans had been waiting for the match since last spring. No, not Chisago Lakes against North Branch....Philip Beitler versus Britt Baumann. The two are considered two of the best singles players in the conference, if not the best. Last Thursday, they met for the first time this season. It was the main event.

Although both players will admit that they still working on getting their “tennis legs”, the match was as good as advertised. Beitler jumped on Baumann early, taking the first set 6-2 before Baumann charged back, taking set two 6-4. It’s only fitting that it would go to three sets.

In the third set, Beitler kicked it into gear, pinning Baumann back on his heels before taking control of the match, winning the third set 6-1. The win gave Beitler a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victory.

“Phil and Britt had a good match,” said Phil Derksen, Chisago Lakes head tennis coach. “Britt really challenged him. He fell behind and came back, that’s great to see because he hasn’t fallen behind a whole lot.”

Tom McLaughlin, head North Branch tennis coach, also thought the match was worth seeing.

“Britt started to show flashes of regaining his match form,” said McLaughlin. “He’s still forcing the play a bit too much at times and not exhibiting the patience he needs to win matches against top players like Phil.”

As for the team meet, Beitler’s win was one of seven that Chisago Lakes picked up, defeating the Vikings 7-0. Missing three seniors due to a choir and band trip, North Branch just didn’t have enough fire power.

“We were missing three seniors. It was going to be a tough match to begin with,” replied McLaughlin. “Chisago has a great chance of winning the conference championship this year.”

The ‘Cats showed why, winning all but one of the matches in straight sets.

“They are a young team. Our guys knew that going in. We knew we should’ve won.” said Derksen. “They just went in there and did their job. All of our players showed great sportsmanship. We just wanted to take care of business and we did.”

The win was Chisago’s fifth of the season, improving their season mark to 5-1. On the other side, North Branch fell to 1-4.

Chisago Lakes 7

North Branch 0

Singles:

Beitler def. Baumann 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

Peltier def. Stark 6-1, 6-1

Haynes def. Anderson 6-2, 6-1

Knafla def. Gelden 6-1, 6-0

Doubles:

Pieper/Burgin def.

Ekstrom/Sung 6-1, 6-3

Thompson/Gegeliia def.

Gertz/Forrest 6-1, 6-2

Metzler/Hoffman def.

Koski/Chandler 6-0, 6-1

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