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The Wildcat tennis team completed its conference dual-meet schedule by shutting out Robbinsdale-Cooper 7-0 at the Chisago Lakes courts Thursday, May 10.

The big matchup in this meet was the one at first doubles. Both doubles tandems went into their match having lost only twice in the conference, defeating everyone in the NSC except Benilde and St. Louis Park.

"The match was a showdown as was expected," said CL head coach Steve Otte. The Wildcat duo, Scott Leigh and Mark Eagan won the first set in a tie-breaker and then dropped the second set 1-6.

"This forced a third set with momentum on Cooper's side," Otte added. "Leigh and Eagan did a nice job regaining the momentum and went on and to win the third set 6-3."

Singles

1st Joe Knafla won 6-0, 6-1

2nd Matt Carpenter won 6-0, 6-0

3rd Kyle Hogie won 6-2, 6-1

4th David Carlson won 7-5, 7-5

Doubles

1st Mark Eagan/Scott Leigh won 7-6, 1-6, 6-3

2nd Jacob Spehar/Mike Zvonar won 6-1, 6-0

3rd Matt Jorgenson/Jeremy Patterson won 6-0, 6-0

NSC Tournament

Fridley hosted the North Suburban Conference Tennis Tournament Saturday, May 12. The tournament format pits first singles players against each other, second singles players are in another bracket, etc.

"It was a great day for tennis and the Wildcat boys came with the mind set that they were going to win," said Chisago Lakes coach Steve Otte.

In his opening round match at first doubles, Wildcat Joe Knafla won against Porter from Totino-Grace 6-4, 5-7, 10-6. "This is the second time these guys played, and it is fun to watch them," Otte said. "They hit great ground strokes and make every point count. In the second round, Joe lost to McCarthey from Benilde. The score was 1-6, 1-6. Joe now found himself playing Jensen from Irondale for third place. Joe played a very close first set, but dropped the match 5-7, 2-6."

Wildcat David Carlson moved up to play second singles for the tournament because Matt Carpenter and Kyle Hogie, who usually play singles, moved to second doubles.

"David won his first round match against Lindell from St. Francis 6-2, 6-4. David then played the number one seed from St Louis Park and lost 2-6, 2-6. I asked a lot, having David play second singles today. I am hoping that, in the long run, it will make the team a lot stronger at the fourth singles position," Otte explained.

James Taylor played third singles for the team. Taylor lost his first match to Nagel from Cooper 4-6, 2-6. "James then played some strong tennis and beat Fanning from Columbia Heights 8-3 and then Emerson from St. Francis 8-0 to win the consolation championship. Nice job on the courts, James," the coach commented.

Matt Turner played fourth singles for the 'Cats. He lost a close match to McClanahan from Spring Lake Park 2-6, 4-6. "He then ran into Streich, a tough opponent from Cooper, and lost 2-8. Matt is a senior on the team and I would like to take the time to recognize him now," Otte said. "He has been in the program for many years, taking only one year off. He has been the 12th guy on the team all year and is ready to fill in at any moment. He has a great swing and does an awesome job waiting to see what his opponent does before he hits the ball."

Leigh and Eagan beat a team from Spring Lake Park 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. In the second round they found themselves up against the first seed from Benilde. "They played some good tennis but lost 2-6, 4-6. This put Scott and Mark against a team from Totino-Grace for third place. These guys came out ready to play in this match. They hit some great shots and got things rolling and went on to win easily 6-2, 6-4," Otte said.

At second doubles, Carpenter and Hogie defeated a team from Irondale was from Irondale 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. In the second round, they found themselves up against the first seed from Benilde.

"They got off to a slow start, but really made it a great match to watch," said coach Otte. "They took the match to a third set tie-breaker and lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-10."

They then faced a team from St. Louis Park for third place. "Once again, Matt and Kyle really hustled on the court and ran down a lot of balls and made winners out of them. They forced St. Louis Park to a third set tie-breaker, but came up short 3-6, 6-4, 8-10. Matt and Kyle are going to play doubles in the up-coming section tournament, so this tournament gave them some time to play together and get a feel for the doubles game," the coach said.

Jeremy Patterson and Matt Jorgenson played third doubles and beat a team from St. Francis in the first round 6-2, 6-2. In the second round they were matched against a team from St Louis Park. "They played St. Louis Park to a third set tie-breaker and actually had match point on their racquets," Otte said. "They played a great match against them but came up short 3-6, 6-4, 9-11.

"Overall this was a great day for the Wildcats. The boys were determined to win and worked hard all day long. Many of the players were a point or two away from bringing home some medals," Otte concluded.

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