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Andover 7, North Branch 0

A trying season came to an end last week for the North Branch boys tennis team.

The Vikings drew the third-seeded Andover Huskies in the first round of sections, and things went downhill quickly.

"Although Andover is a very good team, we put up a fight. The score really doesn't show how well we played," Head Coach Chad Brusky said after the loss. "The boys played up to their competition and were hitting better than I had seen all year."

The only North Branch competitors to get a set win were Devin Quam and Carl Fisk at second doubles. They won the first set 7-6, but lost in the next two sets 6-2, 6-4.

The rest of the Vikings were swept, as they were overmatched against the Huskies. "Playing the three seed in sections is never an easy task," Brusky explained. "But, the boys approached it with a great attitude and looked forward to the challenge."

Although the loss ended the team season, the Vikings did send a few competitors to the individual sections.

Nick Lambrecht, seeded fifth in the individual sub, earned a first round 6-0, 6-7, 6-2 win in the first round, but ran into Jack Zirkle in the second round, the fourth-seeded singles player from Andover. Zirkle handled Lambrecht 6-1, 6-4, ending Lambrecht's long varsity career at North Branch.

Seeded ninth, John Jakubowski earned a first round victory, but it send him against defending state champion Dusty Boyer of Forest Lake. Boyer had little trouble handling Jakubowski 6-0, 6-0.

In the doubles portion, Brandon Sonnenfeld and Brandon Johnson won their first round match up against a St. Francis tandem 6-3, 6-2, but much like Jakubowski, that earned them a very tough match up against the top seeded team of David Rau and Brett Lizotte of Chisago Lakes, who are unbeaten on the year. Rau and Lizotte came out on top 6-0, 6-2.

Quam and Fisk were seeded 13th, and that pitted them against the fourth-seeded team of Grant Johnson and Erik Jones of Andover. Although the Andover pair normally played singles, they are two very talented players, and they breezed past Quam and Fisk 6-0, 6-0.

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