With the final week of regular season competition behind them, the Becker boys tennis team is spending the week polishing its game of anticipation of sub-section playoffs.

The Bulldogs finished the regular season 18-4, capturing the Mississippi 8 Conference championship in the process and earning the #1 seed in the south sub-section of 8AA.  The Bulldogs will open play on May 26, hosting the winner of the #4 and #5 seeded teams who were to face off on May 24.

White Hawks

Last Thursday, Becker traveled to Mound to face the White Hawks and dropped a closely contested match, 5-2.

“This was a great test for our team,” Coach Hokan Bengtson said.  “Mound is ranked #5 in class A, and has a very solid team — seven of their 10 players are seniors and they are the favorite to win their section in a couple weeks.”

Becker was able to pick up a couple of wins in the doubles matches, as Ryan Bengtson and Eli Scheideman teamed up at #1 to win 6-1, 6-2, while Bruce Kraemer and Nick Gruber picked up a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win in a back and forth match.

“We took them to the brink of an upset but couldn’t finish off a few key points,” Bengtson said.  

Playoff Preview

Last Friday, Becker took on Alexandria in a match that could preview the Section championship.

“This match was the #1 Seed in 8AA North — Alexandria — versus the #1 Seed 8AA South,” Bengtson said.  “There was very competitive play at all seven spots, our guys really locked in and showed their focus and mental toughness winning many of the close matches.”

Becker came out with a 5-2 victory, with Ryan Bengtson winning at #2 singles, 7-6, 6-1.  Luke Bordson played at #3 and came away big with a 6-2, 6-1 win, followed by Troy Nuest and his 6-0, 6-1 dominant win at #4.

In the doubles play, Wyatt Hiltner and Sawyer Brown teamed up at #2 to pick up a 7-5, 7-5 win, followed by the #3 team of Kraemer/Gruber who won 5-7, 6-2, 12-10 in a come from behind victory.

Bengtson was extremely pleased with how his young squad competed.

“Alex had six seniors and is the reigning Section 8AA champ from 2019,” Bengtson added.

In the second match of the day, the Bulldogs defeated their second group of Cardinals on the day — this time the team from Willmar by a score of 7-0.

“Willmar was the team that knocked us out of the playoffs in 2019,” Bengtson said.  “They graduated a lot of talent and are rebuilding this year.”

Winning singles matches for the Bulldogs in the shutout were both Bengtson’s, Bordson and Nuest, while the winning doubles teams were Scheideman/Landon Peterson, Hiltner/Brown and Kraemer/Gruber.  Becker lost just 10 games total in the rout.