Tennis team wins playoff opener

It took more than four hours and a 35-minute bus ride in the middle of the match, but the New Prague Trojan boys tennis team defeated New Ulm 4-3 in the first round of the Section 2AA team tournament Tuesday, May 16.

With three matches complete, rain arrived at the New Prague courts. With more rain in the forecast, the teams reserved a court at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and drove 30 miles to complete the match, finishing after 8 p.m.

The Trojans swept the doubles and won at No. 2 singles to take the match. Eric Morris teamed with Kyle Schoenbauer to dominate their match at No. 1 doubles, 6-1, 6-0. Josh Kasendorf reunited with Evan Zimmer to win at No. 2 doubles 6-0, 6-2. Bryce Berglund and Carter Lowe played well in their first match together, winning at No. 3 doubles, 6-0, 7-6 (8-6).

Jacob Washa continued his strong play, winning at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-1.

Tony Larson, Alex Masberg and Logan Hallet all played very good matches, but were unable to prevail against New Ulm's strong singles line-up.

"We fought the weather all day, only finishing three of the matches before the rain started," Coach Robb Morris said. "Once we got down there, Berglund and Lowe won their match in a secondset tie-breaker to clinch the win.”

The Trojans, who were seeded No. 4 in the South Sub-Section, head to Prior Lake High School on Thursday, May 18, for their second round match.

"We are looking forward to a good match and hope to be able to steal a couple matches from their very strong singles players," Morris said.

The winner travels to Gustavus on Tuesday, May 23, for the section semifinals and finals.

The other South Sub-Section match on Tuesday saw...

To see more on this story pick up the May 18, 2017 print edition of The New Prague Times.