Playing at No.1 singles, Lars Scannell is 1-1 in matches this year for the Cook County High School tennis team. Scannell, a sophomore, lost a tie breaker to Virginia’s Tom Prittinen (7-6, 5-7, 10-8) before coming back to shut out Eveleth Gilbert’s Colten Hennis 6-0, 6-0 last week in his first action of the season. As a ninth grader, Scannell finished third in the Section 7 finals and missed qualifying for state by one spot. He’s bigger, stronger and faster this year, which bodes well for him as the season progresses, said Head Coach John Muus.
The Cook County High School boys’ tennis team traveled to Virginia, Minnesota last week to face the Virginia Blue Devils and the Eveleth-Gilbert Golden Bears at Virginia’s indoor tennis facility.
First up for the Vikings was the alwaystough Virginia team. Playing at No. 1 singles, Lars Scannell squared off against the Blue Devils’ Tom Prittinen in a tight match, losing 7-6, 5-7, and 10-8.
“It was a tough loss for Lars,” said Head Coach John Muus. “He had the break point once, but Prittinen came back to win the match. All of the sets were close.”
Playing No. 2 singles, Pete Summers lost to Rickey Sipila 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Down 2-0, No. 3 singles player Jamie Wick got the first win of the season for the Vikings when he beat Virginia’s Jake Seitz 6-1, 2-6, 6-5.
No. 4 singles player Justin Goldstein evened the match 2-2 when he beat Jason Murray 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
The Vikings’ doubles teams are all very young, inexperienced players, said Muus. “For some of these guys, it was their first match ever, but I thought they played very well.”
The Vikings’ No.1 doubles team of Lucas Philips and Kayne Dahl lost to Virginia’s Cole Babiracki and Dominic Pauling 6-0, 6-0. Liam Abelon and Colton Furlong teamed up to face Virginia’s No. 2 doubles team of Connor Croft and Olin Lundgren and lost 6-2, 6-0.
Caleb Philips and Isac Terrill faced Grady Maloney and Ethan Youjo in the No. 3 doubles match and lost 6-0, 6-0.
With little rest, the Vikings took to the court to play Eveleth-Gilbert. Lars Scannell got the team’s only win at No. 1 singles when he shut out Colten Hennis 6-0, 6-0. Pete Summers lost at No. 2 doubles 6-1, 6-1 to Chad Hietala, but as Muus noted, “Pete had blisters on both of his hands. He was really hurting, and the other kids were clearly tired from their first match.”
Jamie Wick lost 6-3, 6-4 to Derek Boese at No. 3 singles and Justin Goldstein lost at No. 4 singles to Dane Beise 6-2, 6-4.
Kayne Dahl teamed with Liam Abelon at No. 1 doubles and lost 6-0, 6-0 to Alec Richter and Matt Erchul. Lucas Philips and Colton Furlong played the Golden Bears’ No. 2 doubles team of Niles Gehechinger and Evan Brinkman and lost 6-1, 6-1. And Caleb Philips and Isak Terrill lost 6-0, 6-0 to Jake Obey and Luke Roninka at No. 3 doubles.
“Overall I thought we played okay,” said Muus. “The second match was kind of tough; our kids were tired. But it was really good for the kids to get some matches in. It was good practice. I told the coach from Eveleth Gilbert that our doubles teams were young and inexperienced and he had his kids hit with our kids. They were good sports and it made it fun for our kids.
“All in all I was pleased with how we played, and if we had won the first two singles matches against Virginia we would have won that match. That’s exciting to think about. We play Eveleth Gilbert again and that will be interesting because we will only play one match and won’t be playing tired,” said Muus.
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