The old adage says that in order to be the best, one must defeat the best. In the case of the Bulldog boys tennis team, that is exactly what they did in picking up a pair of wins over perennial tennis powerhouses in the past week before dropping a contest to the best team in northern MN. 

Last Friday, the Mississippi 8 Conference Champion Bulldogs took on the Foley Falcons —undefeated champions of the Granite Ridge Conference — and Becker came out on top with a convincing 7-0 win.

“This was a battle between the Champion of the Granite Ridge and the M8 Champion and our guys came out and played really well tonight,” Coach Hokan Bengtson said.  

Every match was a big match against the rival Falcons and the Becker players didn’t disappoint. 

Zach Bengtson won a first set tiebreaker and went on to dominate the 2nd set 6-0 against a veteran player from Foley to give Becker the win at #1 singles

Coach Bengtson also credited Luke Bordson, who “won a good match that was back and forth the entire 1st set — then Luke took control in the 2nd set” en route to the victory at #3 singles.

Match scores — Becker singles: Zach Bengtson 7-6, 6-0; Ryan Bengtson 6-1, 6-4; Luke Bordson 7-5, 6-2; Troy Nuest 6-0, 6-1. Doubles: Landon Peterson - Eli Scheideman 6-1, 6-2; Wyatt Hiltner - Sawyer Brown 6-1, 6-2; Bruce Kraemer - Nick Gruber 6-1, 6-0.

Tech Tigers

Monday, Becker took on perhaps the most storied tennis program in Central Minnesota and was able to secure a 4-3 victory over the St. Cloud Tech Tigers.

“Tech has been the class of Central MN tennis for decades,” Bengtson said.  “This 4-3 win was a good one for our team!”

Despite less than ideal conditions, the Bulldogs came out and played focused, determined tennis to pick up the big win.

“There were lots of great matches, especially 2 and 3 doubles,” Bengtson said.    “Wyatt and Sawyer played clutch as well as Bruce and Nick.  They both closed out big wins that helped secure the victory.”

In the singles matches, Ryan Bengtson (6-2, 6-2) was a winner at #2 singles, while 7th grader Troy Nuest (6-2, 6-4) took the #4 singles match win over a Tech senior.

In the doubles matches, the #2 duo of Hiltner - Brown (7-6, 6-4) won a nail biter, followed by the 6-3, 7-5 win at #3 by Kraemer - Gruber.

Duluth East

Tuesday, the Bulldogs took the long trip to face Duluth East and came up just a bit short, losing 3-4 to the Greyhounds.  

“Duluth East is the favorite to win section 7AA,” Bengtson said.  “They are very talented in singles and it showed today.”

Becker was unable to pick up any victories in the singles matches, going 0-4, but did run the table in the doubles matches to make the match close.

In #1 doubles, Peterson-Scheideman teamed up for a 6-3, 6-1 win followed by the #2 team of Hiltner-Brown who won 6-0, 6-4.  In the final match, the #3 team of Kraemer-Gruber was solid, winning 6-2, 6-2.

With the loss, Becker sits at 16-3 on the season and was scheduled for another tough match against Mound-Westonka on Thursday.  Friday they were to face Alexandria and Willmar before starting playoffs on May 24.