The Becker Bulldog boys tennis team made the Section 8AA finals only to lose a close, well-played match to St. Cloud Tech Tuesday afternoon.

 

The #1-seeded Bulldogs in the south region started the tournament with a bye in the first round, then beat a tough Buffalo team, 5-2, May 18 to make the semi-finals.

 

Tuesday, Becker took on the #3-seeded Brainerd Warriors at Sartell. Brainerd had beat the #6-seeded Moorhead Spuds by a score of 7-0, then beat #2-seeded Bemidji the same day, 5-2.

 

The Bulldogs showed why they were the #1-seeded team out of the south as they easily took care of business against Brainerd, whooping them 7-0 Tuesday.

 

Dawson Brown continued to dominate at #1 singles, beating Tanner Lundberg, 6-4, 6-0. Josiah Borst had little trouble with Jordan Kleist at #2 singles, beating him by a score of 6-2, 6-0. At #3 singles, Jackson Lefebvre battled and won over Patrick Meyer, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-3). Finally, at #4 singles, Josh Duke knocked off Eric Stout, 6-3, 6-1 for the sweep in singles play.

 

At #1 doubles, Becker’s Austin Hill and Branden Roemer beat Travis Goeden and Joe Anderholm of Brainerd, 6-2, 6-2. At #2 doubles, C.J. Howard and Tyler Lindquist went three sets to beat Cole Kalenberg and Landon Rivard, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4. At #3 doubles, Joe Gudim and Andrew Schneider also went three sets to beat Garrett Goeden and Brayden Mick, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

 

The win moved Becker into the finals to play the #1-seeded north team of St. Cloud Tech. Tech had beaten Sauk Rapids (7-0), Alexandria (7-0) and STMA (7-0) to gain the championship match against the Bulldogs.

 

Becker gave them all they could, eventually losing the match, 4-3.

 

Brown stayed unblemished, beating Tech’s #1 singles player, Riley Peterson, by 6-4, 6-3. Duke was outmatched at #2 singles, losing handily to Luke Conboy of Tech, 6-0, 6-0. At #3 singles, Head Coach Hokan Bengtson moved Gudim up to take on Tech’s Sam Nelson, but he lost in two sets, 6-3, 6-0. At #4 singles, Bengtson inserted Schneider in the role of spoiler, but he lost to Tech’s Nathan Jordve, 6-0, 6-0.

 

Becker had better luck at doubles as the duo of Borst and Lefebvre beat Tech’s Landon Rodpath and Jesse Amdahl, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1). At #2 doubles, Hill and Roemer lost a tight match to Nick Poltz and Kevin Heller, 6-4, 7-5. At #3 doubles, Howard and Lindquist lost a three set match to Scott Kippley and Luke Heller, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.

 

Thursday, Dawson Brown and Josiah Borst began individual play Wednesday at South Junior High.

 

Borst lost his first round matchup against Tanner Lundberg of Brainerd by a score of 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3 and was eliminated.

 

Brown beat #4-seeded Sam Nelson of Tech, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, then lost to Tech’s  Conboy 6-1, 6-4 in the semis. Brown wasn’t done and advanced to the next round due to an injury to Bemidji’s Matt Hokanson. Brown then beat Brainerd’s Lundberg — who had just lost the championship match to Tech’s Conboy. Brown’s 6-0, 6-1 true-second place win gave him a trip to state.

 

Brown will compete Thursday at the University of Minnesota’s Baseline Tennis Center against Monds View junior Jake Trondson at 8 a.m. The winner will advance to take on the winner of Jackson Allen of Shakopee and Eshan Varma of Eastview.