The Becker Bulldog boys tennis team closed out their season in section play this week.
Section Team Play
In the first round, the Bulldogs easily dispatched of Big Lake 7-0 to advance to play Willmar in the quarterfinals.
Becker 7, Big Lake 0
The Bulldogs dropped four games in their match against Big Lake Wednesday at home.
#1 singles: Jackson Lefebvre (BB) over Spencer Mattson (BL), 6-1, 6-0; #2 singles: Brandon Roemer (BB) over Shane Moosai (BL), 6-1, 6-0; #3 singles: Jacob Lukkarila (BB) over Isaiah Storm (BL), 6-0, 6-1; #4 singles: Jordan Bonsante (BB) over Coy Bailey (BL), 6-1, 6-0.
#1 doubles: CJ Howard and Tyler Lindquist (BB) over Stefan Jones and Scotty Scharber (BL), 6-3, 6-1; #2 doubles: Brady Gruenhagen and Johnny Crocker (BB) over Eli Flicker and Alex Heltemes (BL), 6-2, 6-3; #3 doubles: Isaac Popp and Caleb Quernemoen (BB) over Jack Flicker and Zach Gibis (BL), 6-0, 6-2.
Willmar 5, Becker 2
“Willmar proved to be an excellent opponent,” said Head Coach Hokan Bengtson.
After losing the first two matches on the court (#3 doubles and #4 singles), Becker bounced back to win #2 doubles — probably their best win of the year at that position. Then, they dropped #2 singles and #3 singles followed by #1 doubles to end their quest for state.
“Jackson really finished his career well by beating a good player 6-0, 6-1,” said Bengtson. “We just didn’t finish points very well and that ended up costing our team in the long run.”
“Our guys competed well, I really take my hat off to the Willmar team. They didn’t flinch when we took a lot of the first sets and won probably our closest match of the year at six of the seven positions.
#1 singles: Lefebvre (BB) over Drew Corneih (WC), 6-0, 6-1; #2 singles: Roemer (BB) lost to Jarod Swoboda (WC), 6-6 (8-10), 2-6; #3 singles: Lukkarila (BB) lost to Manuel Obregon (WC), 6-3, 3-6, 3-6; #4 singles: Andrew Schneider (BB) lost to Peyton Fischer (WC), 6-2, 3-6, 2-6.
#1 doubles: Howard and Lindquist (BB) lost to Cole Eischeous and Tate Hovland (WC), 6-3, 4-6, 3-10; #2 doubles: Gruenhagen and Crocker (BB) over Hunter Fischer and Will Fischer, 6-4, 6-3; #3 doubles: Popp and Quernemoen (BB) lost to Nathan Ackerman and Ryan Ackerman (WC), 5-7, 2-6.
Section Individual Play
Gruenhagen beat Shane Moosai of Big Lake, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 at #2 singles in the Section 8AA sub-section match at home Wednesday afternoon. In the second round, Gruenhagen lost to Eric Inerieden of St. Cloud Tech, 0-6, 2-6 to end his bid for a state title.
In doubles, Howard and Lukkarila won their first round match over Big Lake’s Scotty Scharber and Eli Flicker, 6-2, 6-0. Howard and Lukkarila then lost to Luke Conboy and Nick Portz of Tech, 2-6, 5-7 to end their run in the playoffs.
Roemer lost his first round match to Willmar’s Peyton Fischer, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6 to end his season. Lefebvre and Lindquist lost their first round matchup at #1 doubles to Willmar’s Jarod Swoboda and Manuel Obregon, 4-6, 6-4, 5-7.
Becker finished the season with a record of 13-7.
