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Duluth East 4, Chisago Lakes 3

Out of nowhere this year, the Chisago Lakes tennis team turned into quite the formidable squad.

Even in the biggest match of the year, the Wildcats stepped to the courts and nearly pulled off a big upset over number-one seeded Duluth East from the North sub-section.

"We had our chances in this match," Head Coach Corey McKinnon said shortly after the match was decided on the courts in St. Francis. "There were some matches in previous years where we should up and we knew we weren't in the match. That wasn't the case today. We were in this match from the beginning.

Because Forest Lake was taking on Hibbing at the same time, only four courts were available for each match, so the match schedule started from the bottom down with fourth and third singles on the court first, along with third and second doubles.

Chisago Lakes third doubles team lost pretty quick at 2-6, 1-6 to give the Greyhounds the first point of the match. "That was an impressive third doubles team," McKinnon said of the opposition.

But, as quick as the third doubles team faltered, fourth singles competitor Cam Bouwens buzzed through his opponent, winning 6-4, 6-2. At that moment, McKinnon knew the 'Cats would have a shot at taking down the Greyhounds. "Their fourth singles has been their strength all year, and they almost always counted on that point," he said. "We knew we were in it then."

The pivotal match came at third singles. Chisago Lakes trotted out Hogan Haas, who proceeded to have what McKinnon called a "very frustrating" match against his Duluth East opponent. And it wasn't Haas's play that was frustrating.

Because so many matches are going on at one time, high school tennis has always been a self-policed sport, with each player making honest calls on close shots. But, that wasn't always the case in Haas's match. "The Duluth East player made a number of questionable calls throughout the game," McKinnon said. "We ended up getting a line judge over to that court, and the East kid was overruled four or five times."

Dealing with those calls was extremely frustrating for the young Haas, and it was tough to establish any sort of rhythm in the match. McKinnon did say, however, that to the East's kids credit, he returned nearly everything that Haas had for him.

The kid played a very cautious, defensive style, and that, coupled with the early questionable calls, really created a headache for Haas. After a close loss in the first set at 5-7, Haas took the second set 6-4, but by the third set, with the frustration mounting, Haas went down 1-6. "It was a very tedious match," McKinnon said afterwards.

Another key match in the meet was the second doubles match that involved Brian Erickson and Brian Hynes.

The pair lost the first set pretty quick at 2-6, and they were down to their last breath as Duluth East held three match points up 6-5 in the second set. The resilient pair of 'Cats fought it off to tiebreaker and won the tiebreaker 7-4 to send it into a third set.

In the third set, the pair was playing from behind the whole time. Every time they would get a point, East would answer back with their own point until it was finally 6-5 in East's favor. Hynes served the match to a tiebreaker, but the seasoned tandem eventually fell in the tiebreak 4-7.

"I really felt for the kids after this match, especially Brian Erickson being a senior," McKinnon said. "As a coach, you can't ask for anything more than your kids laying it on the line, and both guys did that. They never flinched, even when facing three match points. We hate to lose, but if there was a way to go down, I'd go down like those guys did. They should be proud of that match."

Vinnie Gorski was also able to win his match at second singles, winning in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, but that was only the Wildcats second point, and by the time he got off the court, the Greyhounds had already locked up four points, which was enough for the win.

Because of the match being wrapped up, and the Greyhounds trying to conserve as much energy as possible before facing top-ranked Forest Lake, the East first doubles team retired in the midst of playing CL's first doubles team, so David Rau and Brett Lizotte were credited with a 6-0, 6-0 win.

Individual Sub-Section

The Wildcats got three wins in the first round of sub-sections as Joe Turnquist and Gorski won their first round matches, and Rau and Lizotte won their only match of the day after receiving a bye in the first round.

Gorski and Turnquist both ran into brick walls in the second round, though, as Gorski took on Toby Boyer of Forest Lake and Turnquist played Isaiah Mayerchek of Princeton.

Hynes and Erickson, seeded 10th in the doubles portion, lost their first round match to a team from Forest Lake.

Because of being the top seed, Rau and Lizotte played the ninth-seeded duo of Brandon Johnson and Brandon Sonnenfeld from North Branch in the second round, and they moved on quite easily. The pair played again on Wednesday, check out next week's County Press for results.

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