Far left: Senior Justin Goldstein displayed his powerful serve in a recent match. Above: Pete Summers, a 9th grader, got set to deliver a forehand return. Left: Isak Terrill, just a 7th grader, has played doubles and even filled in at No. 4 singles for the varsity this year. The boys’ team wrapped up its season on Wednesday, May 22 at Sections. Sophomore Lars Scannell advanced to the state tennis meet. More next week.
The Cook County High School boys’ tennis team traveled to Cloquet on Tuesday, May 14, to take on the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton tennis team. This was only the fourth match of the season for the Vikings, but it was their last regular season match before section team competition began the following Thursday. The poor spring weather has wiped out a lot of the matches and games for all of the spring sports, including tennis.
Tennis Coach John Muus said, “As in other matches this season, the CCHS boys’ tennis team played its experienced players in singles and the beginner players in doubles. This gave them their best chance to win the match.
“The Vikings have been very competitive in all of their singles matches this season, but, unfortunately, they haven’t been able to win all four of them at the same time against their competition. This match was no different,” said Muus.
Sophomore Lars Scannell cruised through his No.1 singles match, defeating senior Sean Kedrowski (Cloquet), 6-2,6-1. Cook County’s senior Justin Goldstein also won at No. 4 singles, defeating junior Ben Tomhare (Cloquet), 6-3,6-4.
Freshman Pete Summers split sets with sophomore Christian Pritchett (Cloquet) at No. 2 singles before losing 6-7 (5), 6-1,10-1 (tie-breaker). Sophomore Jamie Wick lost a heartbreaker at No. 3 singles to junior Ryan Lind (Cloquet), 6-1,3-6,6-4.
Liam Abelon (10th grade) and Lucas Phillips (9th grade) played No. 1 doubles for the Vikings, while Kayne Dahl (11th grade) and Andy Kern (7th grade) played No. 2 doubles and Caleb Phillips (7th grade) and Isak Terrill (7th grade) played No. 3 doubles.
Coach Muus said, “None of these doubles teams were able to win a game against their opponents, but they have shown steady improvement throughout the season.”
The final team results were Cloquet 5, Cook County 2.
The boys’ tennis team traveled to Eveleth on Thursday, May 16, to take on the second seeded Eveleth-Gilbert boys’ team in a Section 7A Team Tournament match. The Vikings had to compete without Justin Goldstein at No. 4 singles, but they gave it their best shot and showed improvement in their play. Eveleth-Gilbert prevailed, winning the match 5-2.
At No. 1 singles, Lars Scannell had little trouble with Colten Hennis (E-G), winning 6-1,6-0. At No. 2 singles, Pete Summers defeated Alec Richter (E-G), 6-1,6-3. At No. 3 singles, Jamie Wick lost another close match, 6-2,3-6,6-4 to Chad Heitala (E-G).
Seventh-grader Isak Terrill volunteered to fill in for Justin Goldstein at No. 4 singles and showed improvement despite not playing singles before. Isak ended up losing to Charley Kennedy (E-G), 6-0,6-0.
At No. 1 doubles, rookies Kayne Dahl and Liam Abelon lost to Miles Everson and Matt Erchul (E-G), 6-0, 6-0. At No. 2 doubles, Lucas Phillips and Colton Furlong, who both also play junior varsity baseball, lost to Dane Beise and Derek Boese (E-G), 6-0, 6-0. At No. 3 doubles, seventh-graders Andy Kern and Caleb Phillips lost to Niles Schechinger and Evan Brinkman (E-G), 6-0,6-0.
The beginner players on the team, playing doubles against much more experienced players, have been showing steady improvement in their skills, despite their inability to win games. Steady improvement is all the Viking coaches are looking for.
The four experienced players on the boys’ varsity tennis team traveled to Virginia on Tuesday, May 21, to compete in the Section 7A Individual Tennis Tournament. Lars Scannell and Pete Summers were slated to compete in singles while Justin Goldstein and Jamie Wick played in doubles. Those who made it to the semifinals competed on Wednesday, May 22, for the opportunity to go to the State Class A Tennis Tournament in Minneapolis.
As of the News-Herald press deadline it was learned that Lars Scannell defeated Jack Dodd of Marshall 6-2, 6-3 in the final match of the Section 7A tournament to earn a berth to the State Class A Tennis Tournament.
A sophomore, Scannell was seeded second and Dodd first in the section. Lars is the son of Tim Scannell and Lynn Swanson of Grand Marais.
Scannell is the second individual in a row to represent Cook County High School at state. Last year David Bergstrom qualified for state. This year Bergstrom is playing Division 1 tennis in North Dakota.
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