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North Branch 7, Columbia Heights 0

The Vikings boys tennis team finally entered themselves into the win column with a convincing sweep over the Columbia Heights Hylanders. "This was a much needed win for this team," Head Coach Chad Brusky said. "We have been playing good tennis, but we've been unable to pull off a victory."

They pulled more than just a victory off, they pulled a clean sweep of the overmatched Hylanders. Nick Lambrecht kicked things off in first singles with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Pao Vang.

Much like Lambrecht, Brandon Sonnenfeld at second singles breezed through his match without ever being threatened by his Columbia Heights opponent. Sonnenfeld took the match 6-1, 6-1.

At third singles, Tyler Cosgrove had the first struggle of the day. After winning the first set 6-4, Cosgrove started to falter. Heights' Zach Maas hit a few solid shots and had Cosgrove on the ropes for much of the second set. Maas took the set 6-3. In the third and deciding set, Cosgrove readjusted his game back to his first set form and buzzed through Maas, winning 6-3.

Matt Jarvis sealed the match at fourth singles with a relatively easy match, winning 6-1, 6-4 over Brandon Erickson of Heights.

Similar to the singles players, the first two doubles teams had no problems disposing of their Hylander opposition.

At first doubles, Aaron Good and Travis Heilig cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory, and at second doubles Devon Quam and John Jakubowski had similar results, winning 6-1, 6-4.

The only other real test on the day came at third doubles. Brady Noreen and Jeff Anderson stepped up in the third doubles match. Noreen and Anderson dropped the first set 4-6, and it looked like North Branch might not get their sweep. But the pair battled back in the second set to win 6-4. In the third set, the North Branch duo had all the momentum on their side. They smoked the Height's team of Thomas Vescio and Terrell Holmstrom 6-1 in the deciding set. "These guys played for over two hours before coming up with the win," Brusky noted. "I am very proud of those guys, and I hope that the win will continue to motivate them to play well.

Brusky also explained the key to the Vikings' success on the day. "Everything just came together today," he said. "All of the positions played well even though we were missing [Carl Fisk], one of our better singles players

Robbinsdale Cooper 5, North Branch 2

The excitement from their first win was short-lived, however, as the Vikings had two tough teams in a row on their schedule. First up on the menu was the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks.

The match was a battle of a lot of evenly matched kids that came down to the wire in many of the matches. The first nail-biter came from Lambrecht and his opponent John Hollen. Hollen won the first set 6-3, and got up by a point in the second set. It looked like first singles might be a sweep for the Hawks until Lambrecht stormed back. He started placing his shots in key spots and protecting the net. The adjustment allowed him to take the second set, 6-3. In the final set, like a game of cat and mouse, Hollen made a few changes to his game, and it proved to be the difference as he beat Lambrecht 6-3 in the deciding set.

At third singles, Cosgrove started out scorching hot, winning the first set 6-1. It looked like it could be an easy win for him, until small missteps started turning into big missteps. As the mistakes piled up, Cooper's Gustav Tesch gained more and more confidence, and he took the next two sets 6-3, 6-3.

A similar situation occurred at fourth singles, only it was a positive for the Vikings. Jarvis dropped his first set 2-6, and it looked like the Hawks might get a singles sweep and the automatic win that goes with it. But, Jarvis, using his talent and head, fought back to win the second set 6-4. By that time, his confidence was brimming, and he downed Ward Westray of Cooper by a score of 6-2.

Good and Heilig earned the Vikings second, and last, win of the day at first doubles. They played together nicely, and mixed their shots together to effectively wipe out the Cooper first doubles team. Good and Heilig won 6-3, 7-5 to make the final score 5-2 in favor of the Hawks.

"This was a very close match. We had three, three-set matches in which they really could've gone either way. Unfortunately, we lost two of those three matches," Brusky explained. "Had we won them all, we would've had the win. Jarvis, Good and Heilig did play very well in our two wins."

Irondale 6, North Branch 1

The North Suburban Conference doesn't afford teams any breaks, and North Branch found that out taking on Irondale.

Heilig and Good won their third match in a row with a dominating 6-1, 6-1 victory at first doubles. "They looked like they found their end of the year form early as they cruised to our only win," Brusky mentioned. Other than that, however, the Vikings had a tough time with the Knights' stacked lineup.

"Even though on the scoreboard we came up short, I saw a lot of improvement by our team," Brusky said. "Nick Lambrecht at one singles showed that he is developing the patience needed to set up points instead of forcing them. Matt Jarvis played another tight match and is continually improving his game."

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