The Bulldogs faced the Brainerd Warriors last Friday with  Brainerd entering the tournament as the number one seed from the northern half of the section and Becker entering as the third seed from the southern half of section 8AA. 

 

The Warriors jumped out to a lead on all four courts right from the beginning with Becker trying to gain ground. All the first sets were dropped. The second set looked like much of the same. The Bulldogs just couldn't get into a rhythm. 

 

Blair Pappenfus playing number 4 singles found some shots that would work and started winning her second set. Courtney Nuest playing 3 singles was first off the court, falling to her Brainerd opponent and next were Ally Kangas and Julia Bengtson at 3 doubles dropping their match, followed by Payton Bernstrom and Alayna Lindquist at 2 doubles. 

 

“With Brainerd up 3-0 for the match score, things felt pretty bleak,” stated Coach Bucher.

 

The last three matches came with Anna Ritchie playing number 1 singles, Taylor Pawlicki at 2 singles, and Hannah Bengtson and Megan Nelson at number 1 doubles. 

 

Pappenfus looking to win the second set pushed a little momentum in Becker's way, and Pawlicki added to that with a quick win in the first set 6-0. 

 

Bengtson and Nelson came out trading games in the first set. Ritchie at 1 singles had suffered an injury the preceding days and was not in her top form but continued to fight through the pain to blast forehands. But as the second set started, Ritchie was forced to take a medical time-out, consisting of a 10-minute break for stretching. 

 

When Ritchie had returned to the court, everyone seemed to feel the weight of their opponents. 

 

1 doubles dropped their first set and were falling behind in the 2nd set. Pappenfus now in a third set was also trailing her opponent and now Pawlicki was also in a battle for the second. Number 1 doubles fell and soon after that Ritchie was forced to default her match. Pappenfus fell in the third set and Pawlicki dropped the second set, forcing a third set tiebreaker since the match had been decided in favor of the Brainerd Warriors. Pawlicki fought, but lost the tiebreaker and the match. 

 

"Obviously not the way we'd like to finish our season, but it's fitting it wasn't one position's fault. We've won as a team all year, and today we lost as a team. Brainerd is a good team that executed better than us today," said Coach Bucher.

 

Saturday the individual tournament found the team of Bengtson and Nelson with a rematch of the same Brainerd team from the previous night. Pawlicki and Ritchie had doubled up to enter this tournament and faced off against a doubles team from Bemidji. 

 

Ritchie and Pawlicki won the first set but couldn't get traction in the last two sets and fell to their opponents. Bengtson and Nelson also couldn't find their normal groove and lost in two sets. 

 

The winner of these matches went on to face the St. Cloud Tech teams the Becker teams had lost to the previous week, so the task was great even if the Bulldogs had beaten their first round opponents.

 

Coach Bucher states, "This was such a great season. We accomplished so much as a team on the court, and were all able to check off personal and team goals. This is a wonderful group of students. They have much to hold their head high for as they continue to lead in our high school. We will miss our seniors, but they always know they're welcome back to help out!"