REDWOOD FALLS -- All four Luverne participants and one Worthington player advanced in the Section 3A boys tennis tournament on Thursday.
The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Tuesday at Redwood Falls.
Worthington’s Blaine Doeden, the section’s No. 2 seed, won twice to qualify for the section semifinals.
Doeden defeated Lucas Holum (Montevideo) 6-0, 6-0 in the first round before taking care of Noah Lusti (Yellow Medicine East) 6-4, 6-3 in a close second round match.
Doeden’s next opponent is sixth-seeded Jim Erickson from Luverne. Erickson won his first match 6-1, 6-0 over Gabe Sparks (MACCRAY) and then defeated third-seeded Matthew Virnig (YME) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
ADVERTISEMENT
The other semifinal matchup is fourth-seeded Ryan Borstad (Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd) and Luverne’s Mark Robinson.
Robinson, who is the top seed, won 6-0, 6-0 against MACCRAY’s Andrew Johnson in the first round and 6-1, 6-3 against LQPV/DB’s Gavin Olson in the second round.
Worthington’s Sully Merrigan won 6-1, 6-0 in the first round as the No. 5 seed. He then lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 to Borstad.
In the doubles competition, the top-seeded team of Cade VerSteeg and Trey Baustian from Luverne advanced to the semifinals. They won their first match 6-1, 6-0 and their second 6-2, 6-3.
The Cardinal duo will take on Montevideo’s Henry Strunc and Christopher Erickson.
The other semifinal will also feature a Cardinal pair. Third-seeded Luke Jarchow and Matt Jelken won 6-0, 6-0 in the first rond and 6-1, 6-2 in the second. They will face LQPV/DB’s Blake Buer and Jeraco Parsa in the semifinals.
Worthington’s Pokwar Taw and Kyle Janssen won their first match, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. They suffered a 6-0, 6-3 loss to Strunc and Erickson in the second round.
Entering as the 12th seed, Trojans Kipton Jenson and Cade Lindner won 6-2, 6-3 over their seventh-seeded opponent in the first round. Buer and Parsa defeated them 6-2, 6-3 in the next round.
