Asher Dannenbring claims Flight 6 singles title as Kernels finish fourth at ESD boys tennis tournament
May 7—SIOUX FALLS — Asher Dannenbring's Flight 6 singles title headlined the Mitchell High School boys tennis team's finish at the Eastern South Dakota Conference tournament on Tuesday.
Mitchell took fourth place as a team with 184 points, with Harrisburg winning the team title at 335.5 points. Yankton (310.5) and Brandon Valley (209.5) were second and third, respectively. The tournament — previously scheduled to be played in Pierre — was contested indoors at the Huether Match Pointe facility due to the weather on Monday and Tuesday.
Dannenbring dropped six total games in dispatching of Huron's Ler Hai Moo in the quarterfinals and Brandon Valley's Ryley McKeown in the semifinals before taking down Yankton's Ethan Marsh 10-7 in the Flight 6 championship match.
Matthew Mauszycki knocked off Yankton's Chris Rockne 8-6 for third place at Flight 3 singles. After a quarterfinal win over Brandon Valley's Lucas Fogarty, Mauszycki was defeated by eventual champion Cooper Rott, of Harrisburg, in the semifinals.
Cooper Star finished fourth in Flight 4, defeating Pierre's Weston Northrup in the quarterfinals. He fell to eventual champion Luke Moeller, of Yankton, in the semifinals, and was bested by Brandon Valley's Will Jensen in the third-place match.
Jager Juracek, at Flight 1 singles, and Levi Loken, at Flight 5 singles, both earned consolation bracket champion status. In their placement matches, Juracek cruised past Aberdeen Central's Anderson Prehn 8-2, while Loken eked past Harrisburg's Evan Miller 9-7.
At Flight 2 singles, Luke Jerke reached the consolation title match but was edged out by Aberdeen Central's Mason Ligon 9-7, taking sixth place.
Yankton had a singles finalist in all but Flight 3, finishing with three champions in Harrison Krajewski (Flight 2), Luke Moeller (Flight 4) and Miles Krajewski (Flight 5). Meanwhile, Harrisburg had a finalist in each of the top four flights, with Alexander Rallis (Flight 1) and Cooper Rott (Flight 3) earning first place.
In doubles play, the Kernels finished as runners-up at Flight 2 and Flight 3.
A Flight 2, the pairing of Mauszycki and Loken advanced past opposition from Brandon Valley and Watertown. In the championship match, Harrisburg's Brayden Rausch and Cooper Rott were victorious 10-7.
Star and Sutton Thompson took down duos from Brookings and Harrisburg en route to the Flight 3 title match, where Yankton's Miles Krajewski and Ethan Marsh won 10-8.
The Class AA boys' tennis state tournament is set for May 16-17 at the Sioux Park and Parkview Tennis Complex in Rapid City.
