Helbig victorious in NB's loss to Totino-Grace

Totino-Grace 6, North Branch 1 The North Branch boys tennis team continued to search for their first victory of the year when they ran into Totino-Grace last week. Although they didn’t get the team victory, they did pick up their first team point of the year against the tough private school. James Helbig dropped his first set 2-6 at third singles, and it looked like he would suffer the same fate as most of his teammates. But, Helbig battled in the second set, edging Micah Rolfe of TG 7-6 (7-5). In the third and deciding set, the match began to approach the three hour mark and Helbig dug deep and finished off Rolfe with a 6-4 victory. The other Vikings hitters didn’t fare so well. Carl Fisk lost at first singles 3-6, 1-6. Petar Kosovic and Andrew Burnett suffered similar results at second and fourth singles. At doubles, Eric Chilstrom and Cole Lee lost 0-6, 1-6. Tim Courtright and Taehyum Yoon at second doubles and Andrew Barnett and Tyler Byrkit had similar struggles at second and third doubles. “This was a good match for us,” Head Coach Chad Brusky said. “Totino consistently has quality teams and we knew that going into the match. The boys played tough and were competitive at all positions. The biggest highlight of the match was Jake playing a match that lasted close to three hours. He played out of his mind and earned the only point of the day for us.”