State Boys Tennis: Litchfield doubles duo advances to semifinals

Joe Brown, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read

Jun. 11—ST. CLOUD — The Litchfield doubles team of Alex Draeger and Tyson Michels had a successful first day of the state Class A individual tournament Thursday.

Draeger and Michels won two matches to advance to the state semifinals Friday at St. Cloud Tech High School.

They'll play top-seeded Ishan Nadkami and Zach Piehl of the Breck School at 8 a.m. The other semifinal features second-seeded Liam Lynch and Luka Shaker-Check of St. Paul Academy and unseeded Dylan Hahn and Jack Onkka of Thief River Falls, also at 8 a.m.

Semifinal winners are scheduled to meet at 11:30 a.m. with a third-place match also taking place at 11:30 a.m.

Draeger and Michels are the tournament's fourth seed. They beat Ethan Leeser and Easton Blissenbach in the first round 6-3, 6-3. In the second round, the Dragon duo knocked off fifth-seeded Jake Welsh and Luke Schaefer of Totino-Grace 6-4, 6-4.

Winning one match Thursday in Class A singles was Minnewaska's Tate Reichmann. Reichmann defeated Minnehaha Academy's Aiden Keef 6-0, 6-1 before falling to Breck's Clayton Haberman 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. That ended Reichmann's state meet run.

Yellow Medicine East's Ean Clarke lost in the first round of singles play to Evan Fraser of Mounds Park Academy. The scores were 6-1, 6-1.

In doubles, the Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg duo of Peyton LeClair and Taylor Duncan fell to Breck's Nadkarni and Piehl, 6-0, 6-3.

On Wednesday, Breck beat Mound-Westonka 6-1 to win the Class A team title. Rochester Lourdes defeated Mounds Park Academy 4-3 for third place.

In Class AA at Prior Lake, Edina won the team title with a 4-0 win over Wayzata. Orono beat Rochester Mayo 4-3 for third place.

Class A Championship

Singles

Tate Reichmann, Minnewaska

First round: Reichmann def Aiden Keefe, Minnehaha Academy, 6-0 6-1

Quarterfinals: Clayton Haberman, Breck, def Reichmann 6-1 6-3

Ean Clarke, YME

First round: Evan Fraser, Mounds Park Academy, def Clarke 6-1 6-1

Doubles

Alex Draeger/Tyson Michels, Litchfield

First round: Draeger/Michels def Ethan Leeser/Easton Blissenbach, Rochester Lourdes 6-3 6-3

Quarterfinals: Draeger/Michels def Jake Welsh/Luke Schaefer, Totino-Grace 6-4 6-4

Peyton LeClair/Taylor Duncan, Benson/KMS

First round: Ishan Nadkarni/Zach Piehl, Breck, def LeClaire/Duncan 6-0 6-3