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FF downs LP-GE, falls to Tech
Published 11:08am Friday, April 20, 2012The Otter boys tennis team played two matches on Thursday, and came away with a convincing win and a narrow loss. The win was against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, the Otters’ first match against an opponent in their new 6A section. Fergus Falls juggled their lineup a bit and still came away with victories at every position for a 7-0 team match win in Fergus Falls.
Jake Anderson played at the first singles slot and controlled his match throughout for a 6-0, 6-2 win. Jordan Schneeberger played at the No. 2 singles position and had a back and forth match. He was down early 0-3 before finding his range and reeling off the next six straight games to take the first set 6-3. The second set was even throughout but Schneeberger was more consistent on the big points late in the set and won that one 6-4 to take the overall match. Sam Rausch stepped into his first foray at singles and played well throughout his match against an equally accomplished player. They had a number of good points from the baseline and at the net, but Rausch had a few more good ones in each set to take the match 6-4, 6-3. Sam Steen saw his first varsity action of the year at 4th singles and started slowly in his match, hanging on for a 6-4 first set win. In the second set, he came to the net frequently and put the pressure on his opponent and ended up with numerous put-away shots to handily win that set 6-1, completing the singles sweep for the Otters.
In doubles action against Long Prairie, Ben Ronning and David Schneck handled the number one doubles duty and won their match 6-2, 6-3, getting up early and staying in control of the match throughout. Jesse Schneeberger and Jason Burns took a while to get warmed up and were 3-3 when they won the next 9 straight games to win their match going away, 6-3, 6-0.
Matt Jacobson and Jake Fisher dropped only one game in sweeping their 3rd doubles match 6-0, 6-1 and giving the Otters the overall 7-0 team victory.
In their second match of the day, Fergus Falls met their Central Lakes Conference nemesis St. Cloud Tech, the only team to beat them last year. Tech has five strong singles players and they put their best player in at No. 1 doubles to strengthen their doubles.
Their strategy worked, but just barely, as they nipped the Otters by a 4-3 team score, winning all three doubles matches. The Otters took the top three singles matches and played a three-set match at 4th singles to make the match as close as it could be.
Again at first singles, Jake Anderson took care of business, playing a workman-like match in dispensing of Tech’s Luke Zweiner, who Anderson beat in a three-set match in section 8AA last year to go to state.
This time, Anderson was in control much of the match and came away with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. David Schneck played at 2nd singles for the Otters and started out struggling to find his shots, dropping his first set 6-2. But he found the range, stayed aggressive in attacking the net, and overtook the match to win the next two sets 6-4 and 6-2 to get the second point for the Otters.
Jesse Schneeberger played at third singles and was in full form and controlled play throughout for the biggest win of the day, a 6-1, 6-1 throttling of Wyatt Pauley.
Jordan Schneeberger at 4th singles had the Jekyll and Hyde match of the day, as Jordan was making all his shots early in the match and his opponent wasn’t, and Schneeberger sprinted to a 6-2 first set win. But Riley Peterson of the Tigers started won 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.
SCORING SUMMARY:
Fergus Falls 7,
Long Prairie 0
1 Singles – Jake Anderson (FF) 6-0, 6-2 over Laine Larson (LP)
2 Singles – Jordan Schneeberger (FF) 6-3, 6-4 over Shoshida Ruoma (LP)
3 Singles – Sam Rausch (FF) 6-4, 6-3 over Trevor Bergmann (LP)
4 Singles – Sam Steen (FF) 6-4, 6-1 over Justin Brever (LP
1 Doubles – Ben Ronning & David Schneck (FF) 6-2, 6-3 over Cory Graves & Jacob Atkinson (LP)
2 Doubles – Jesse Schneeberger & Jason Burns (FF) 6-3, 6-0 over Travis Bergmann & Paul Chan (LP)
3 Doubles – Matt Jacobson & Jake Fisher (FF) 6-0, 6-1 over Mitch Welters & Robert Pachen (LP)
St. Cloud Tech 4, Fergus Falls 3
1 Singles – Jake Anderson (FF) 6-3, 6-2 over Luke Zweiner (STC)
2 Singles – David Schneck (FF) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 over Chris Mavetz (STC)
3 Singles – Jesse Schneeberger (FF) 6-1, 6-1 over Wyatt Pauley (STC)
4 Singles – Riley Peterson (STC) 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 over Jordan Schneeberger (FF)
1 Doubles – Riley Bates & Andy Foley (STC) 6-1, 6-2 over Ben Ronning & Jason Burns (FF)
2 Doubles – Alex Matchinsky & Dan Schuettler (STC) 6-0, 6-1 over Matt Jacobson & Jake Fisher (FF)
3 Doubles – Jay Kedrowski & Sam Eggers (STC) 6-0, 6-0 over Chris Rausch & Sam Vatnsdal (FF)
