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Chisago Lakes got to show off their beautiful tennis facilities the past week and a half during the Section 7AA Individual and Team tournaments, and they made a nice little run to the semifinals to boot.

In drawing the fourth seed in the 12 team section, the Wildcats got a first round bye and awaited the winner of the fifth seeded Blaine Bengals and 12th seeded St. Francis Saints.

Blaine ran over St. Francis pretty easily, winning 7-0, setting up a match up against the Wildcats.

Chisago Lakes had a battle on their hands, but they ended up prevailing 4-3 in the section quarterfinals to move on.

Abe Olson earned a big win at one singles, as the Bengals swept the rest of the singles competition. But, CL made up for that by taking all three spots of the doubles competition. Jack Hanson and Eddie Kern won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in a back and forth affair. Will Hennen and Collun Dunleavy won 7-6, 6-3 and Aaron and Caleb Brink breezed through their match, winning 6-2, 7-5.

In the semifinals, they had the unenviable task of taking on the Elk River Elks, the perennial powerhouse from Section 7AA. Elk River is a virtual tennis factory, churning out great players, and they had a strong team this year, as well.  They swept the ‘Cats in the semifinals to move on and take on Duluth East in the section championship match. Only the second and third doubles teams took sets from Elk River, but the Elk tandems came back  to win both.

“It was a solid effort from us, but they were just too good this year,” Head Coach Jim Gillach said.

Individuals

In the individual portion of the Section 7AA tennis tourney, senior Olson made the deepest run, getting to the quarterfinals. 

He had drawn the fifth seed in the tourney, and with that came a bye in the first round. In the second round, he took on 21st seed Isaiah Rubin, who had upset the 12th seed in the first round. Olson made quick work of Rubin, winning 6-0, 6-3.

That advanced him to the quarterfinals, where fourth seeded Aaron Zuobek of Elk River awaited.

Zoubek got the better of Olson, winning 6-2, 6-0, ending Olson’s individual career for Chisago Lakes. Zoubek would go on to finish third in the section, losing in three sets to teammate Cullen Brown in the true second match after falling out of the main bracket in a loss to top-seeded Dane Patten of Duluth East.

The other individual entrant for CL was Rhivers Sauter, who was seeded 10th, and he suffered a pretty big upset, losing to 23rd seeded Vincent Zarletti of Princeton in the opening round.

In the doubles portion of the tourney, Hanson and Kern had a nice run, getting the to quarterfinals, but in a show of how strong Elk River is, they fell to the 13th seeded Elk duo, who ended up in fourth in the sections.

Hanson and Kern were seeded fifth, so like Olson, they earned a first round bye. They beat 12th seeded Logan Lundseth and Grayson Dunigan in the second round, 6-4, 6-1. On the other side of the bracket, Elk River’s 13th seeded team of Jack Gangl and Myles Thompson had upset the fourth seed, so the CL tandem was hopeful to move on.

But, Gangl and Thompson kept rolling, upsetting the Wildcat pair 6-2, 7-5, ending their individual seasons. Gangl and Thompson eventually fell to their top-seeded teammates before losing in the third place match.

Will Hennen and Jacob Peterson went 1-1 for Chisago Lakes as the other doubles team. They were the 14th seed and beat the 19th seeded pair from Grand Rapids in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to move onto the second round. They unfortunately ran into the third seeded pair of Malachi McKinnon and Frank Kerkow from Forest Lake, and the Ranger team won 6-1, 6-0. McKinnon and Kerkow eventually finished third in the section.

“This was such a nice club and we had a very good year,” Gillach said after the season was all said and done. “It’s the first time we got to the final four in almost a decade, and the guys just grew and learned every day.”

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