The Becker boys tennis team has a familiar goal as it enters the 2025 season, as Coach Hokan Bengtson and his charges have their sights set on qualifying for a fourth straight MSHSL State Team Tournament.

“Our team has been a state entrant the past three seasons and our best finish was fourth in 2023,” Bengtson said.  “We have also sent an individual to state the past five years.”

What makes the Bulldogs’ run of success even more impressive is that they have to do it in the largest class in Minnesota, meaning they have to take out schools with three and four times the enrollment as Becker.

While the Bulldogs did lose some key players from a year ago, they return a solid core of tennis junkies who will look to keep the winning tradition alive.

Garett Lane, Troy Nuest and Adler Herdina will serve as captains for the team, as the Bulldogs also have their sights set on winning yet another Mississippi 8 Conference title.

In addition to the team’s three captains, there are numerous other returning letter winners from the 2024 campaign that should help Becker stay in the mix for the conference and section titles: Sawyer Brown, Landon Peterson, Jon Drury, Brock Herdina, Nathan Weiss, and Carter Ager.

Bengtson said one of the team’s strengths will be this year’s seniors, an “an excellent group” including: Lane, Drury, Matthew Warhol, John Boecker, Ryan Zabinski, and Max Mussner.

Bengtson is entering his 25th year as head coach and his teams have compiled an incredible record of 65-14 the past three seasons.

“This team will look to build on that success with the toughest schedule we have had in many years,” Bengtson said.

He expects STMA, Sartell,  Bemidji and Alexandria to be tough this year in section play, but as always, his team will focus on continuous improvement to reach their potential by section tournament time.

“We have a short spring season,  so our goal is to get better every day,” Bengtson said.   “We try to ‘change our best’ every day and this group has been aggressive to learn in the first few days of practice.  It will be fun to see how good we can get!”

Perhaps good enough for a fourth straight trip to the state tournament?

It won’t take tennis and Bulldog fans long to find out, as the regular season will conclude on May 6 with a match in Princeton.  From there it will be team and individual section tournaments and the chance for the team’s four-peat.

First Matches

The Becker boys tennis team opened play Saturday, earning a 2-1 record over excellent competition.

Becker opened with a 7-0 blanking of the Delano Tigers, as the singles lineup lost just two games total in their four matches.

Singles: Landon Peterson 6-1,6-0; Troy Nuest 6-0,6-0; Sawyer Brown 6-0, 6-0; and Adler Herdina 6-0, 6-1.  Doubles: Garett Lane, Jon Drury 6-4, 6-1; Carter Ager, Brock Herdina 6-1, 6-4; Nathan Weiss, Matthew Warhol 6-0, 6-0.

In the second match, Becker fell to STMA 3-4 in a tightly contested affair.

“This was a preview of a couple of the top teams in the section and STMA has four seniors and a lot of experience,” Coach Hokan Bengtson said.  “They showed why they are one of the favorites in Section 8AA.” 

Nuest had a great match in defeating a player who ended his season a year ago, winning 6-4, 6-2 at #2 singles.  Adler and Brock Herdina each picked up solid wins in the singles matches, as the Dogs couldn’t muster a win in the doubles.

In the final round, the Bulldogs bounced back and earned another shutout, 7-0 over Brainerd.

“It was another nice win, sweeping singles and doubles in straight sets,” Bengtson said.

Singles winners included Peterson, Nuest and the Herdina brothers, while Brown/Lane, Drury/Ager and Weiss/Warhol teamed up for the doubles wins.

This week the Bulldogs take on Chisago Lakes, Alexandria, and Pine City.