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In a flurry of action last week, the North Branch boys tennis team struggled to keep pace with some tough teams.

Playing five matches in five days took a toll on the Vikings, as they went 1-4, sandwiching a win over Fridley on Wednesday, May 7 with losses to Pine City and Chisago Lakes on Monday and Tuesday, and to Totino-Grace and Spring Lake Park on Thursday and Friday.

The Dragons of Pine City toasted the Vikings with a sweeps in all seven matches. Nick Lambrecht put up the biggest fight in first singles, eventually succumbing to Andrew Lutex by the score of 7-5, 6-4.

Results

The Vikings had a tough time handling rival Chisago Lakes on Tuesday, May 6. Again, Lambrecht scratched and clawed for every point he could get, but lost to the Wildcat's Kyle Hogue, 0-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Joel Cramblet and Tyler Cosgrove had a narrow loss at third doubles, as they pushed both sets to tiebreak, but the team of Brandon Mueller and Jared Rectenwal from Chisago Lakes won 7-5, 7-5.

Results

In their lone win of the busy week, the Vikings swept the doubles action en route to a 5-2 win.

Matt Jarvis earned the Viking's first win at second singles with a commanding 7-5, 6-3 victory over Tyler Antil.

Carl Fisk carried that winning momentum into third singles with a workmanlike 6-2, 6-1 victory over Ben Schiltman.

The shining moment, however, for the Vikings in this match was the doubles sweep.

Travis Heilig and Aaron Good kicked things off with a 6-2, 6-1 win at first singles.

Brandon Sonnenfeld and Brandt Rasmussen earned another victory for the Vikings when they stomped out the Tiger duo of Aaron Mattson and Charlie Benson for a 6-4, 6-2 win.

Cramblet and Cosgrove finished the sweep off with a 7-5, 6-3 win at third doubles.

"This was a great win for us, the boys came out ready to play," said coach Chad Brusky. "Our feet were moving, and we played up to our abilities instead of playing at the level of our competition."

Results

After the promising win, the Vikings were again faced with the task of taking on two of the North Suburban Conference's finest.

Totino-Grace was first on the checklist, and they thundered past the Vikings for a 7-0 win.

Lambrecht and the team of Heilig and Good were the only Vikings able to score more than two points against their Eagle counterparts.

Results

After a four-day tennis binge, the Vikings capped it off with a match against NSC powerhouse Spring Lake Park.

North Branch got on the board early when Lambrecht finally broke through for a big win over SLP's Cole Heule. Lambrecht dominated the first set and won 6-3, and in the second set, when it went to tiebreak, Lambrecht had the fresh legs underneath him to run circles around Heule. He won the tiebreak 7-6 (7-2).

Jarvis was able to push Madison Zickmond to three sets at second singles, but Zickmond came through on the winning end with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 victory.

"That was a tough loss, but we did have some great matches out there," Brusky noted. "The boys are starting to realize that they are better than they think, and that they can compete with some of the teams in our conference.

The Fridley match was a great day of growth for us. We are on the verge of breaking through to be a great team."

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