Becker sophomore tennis player, Jacob Lukkarila entered the stage of state tournament tennis Thursday at the University of Minnesota, only to find discouragement and heartbreak.
Lukkarila was seeded #8 in the top bracket and was set to play Petro Alex of Mounds View Thursday morning. Alex was seeded #4 with the winner of the Lukkarila/Alex match to most likely play the #1-seeded player in Ben van der Sman of East Ridge High School.
Just before play Thursday, Lukkarila was informed he was moving on to the quarterfinals after Alex was forced to withdraw due to an irregular heart beat while he played in the team tournament the night before.
Because of that, Lukkarila won by default but then had to face Van der Sman after van der Sman beat Thomas Gillach of Chisago Lakes by a 6-0, 6-1 score.
Lukkarila’s taste of the state tournament was soured by van der Sman as the #1-seed clobbered Lukkarila, 6-0, 6-0.
“It was an amazing season for Jacob, finishing 32-3 on the year,” said Head Coach Hokan Bengtson.
Banquet
The boys tennis team held their annual end-of-the-season banquet last week and handed out much-deserved awards for a solid season.
Lukkarila was named the team’s most outstanding player. Branden Roemer was named most dedicated and Jordan Bonsante most improved.
The Lady Hladky award was presented to CJ Howard and Johnny Crocker was named academic all state.
The players named academic all conference were, Crocker, Brady Gruenhagen and Caleb Quernemoen. The players named honorable mention all conference were Andrew Schneider, Crocker, Quernemoen and Daniel Garcia. All conference went to Tyler Lindquist, Roemer, Howard and Lukkarila.
Lindquist moved up to #5 on the most career wins in school history category with 74. Howard and Roemer also joined that list with their 66th wins this year.
Lindquist’s career .787 winning percentage puts him at #3 on the school records list. Crocker moved to the #6 spot with his .746 percentage.
Lukkarila now holds the school record in tennis for most single season wins with 31. Garcia moved to the #7 spot on that list with his 24 wins and Lindquist is at #10 with 23.
Garcia’s single season winning percentage of .889 puts him in the #5 spot on the school records with Lukkarila right behind him at #6 (.886).
Lukkarila now is at #1 for holding the longest winning streak at 26. Lindquist moved up to #3 on that list with 20 wins in a row and Gruenhagen is at #5 with 17.
Roemer is now in fifth place on the most matches played in a career with 102. Howard made the list at #7 (98) and Lindquist at #8 (94).
Next year’s captains were announced and they are Quernemoen, Lukkarila and Gruenhagen.
The team finished 20-4, two better than the team’s best previous record. Bengtson’s team finished 5-0 in the Granite Ridge Conference.
