Wildcats finish runner up in section

Section 7AA Meet It was always a tough draw for the Wildcat boys tennis team to have Elk River in the same section as them, but the fact that they made it to face them in the section finals shows the strides they’ve made. In the first round of the Section 7AA meet, the Wildcats cruised past North Branch with a clean 7-0 sweep. In the second round, the ‘Cats beat their long time nemesis Forest Lake, who was seeded third, by a 5-2 tally, and they were through the tough part of that portion of the bracket. In the final four of the 16 team section, the teams cross over. Chisago Lakes was the second seed in the south sub-section, so they were slated to face North sub-section top-seed Duluth East in the cross over round. The Greyhounds weren’t a match for the Wildcats despite their higher seed.

The south sub-section’s competition level is on a bit higher level than the north sub-section and it showed. CL beat East 6-1 and moved on to the final to play south sub-section top seed Elk River, who had swept north section second-seed Grand Rapids 7-0. In the 6-1 win, the victories came from Joe Turnquist at one singles, Vinnie Gorski at second, Blake Lizotte at third singles, Thomas Gillach at fourth, Jake Sells and Seamus Sullivan at second doubles and Zach Williamson and Zack Lambrecht at third doubles. In the section final, Elk River’s depth and talent overcame as the Elks won 6-1. They won the state title last year and returned almost their whole lineup, so they were the favorites heading into the season. They still have a singles player and a doubles team left in the individual section tournament, also.