Cardinal tennis team falls to Tech

Talk about it

The Cardinal tennis team lost another heartbreaker to St. Cloud Tech in a 4-3 match last Thursday night.

Alexandria got wins from Reggie Ronning and Connor Illies at Nos. 1 and 2 singles. The second doubles team of Matt Peterson and Ben LeVahn also picked up a win in three sets to earn the third point for Alexandria.

Both teams were tied 3-3 with the third doubles match left to be decided. Cody Nelson and Thomas Williams overcame a loss in the first set to take the second in a tiebreaker. They then took a 4-1 lead in the third before Tech’s Taylor Lovaas and Alex Matchinsky came back to win 7-5.

“The Tigers came ready to play, and I have to give them credit,” head coach Dave Ronning said. “We played pretty well but just missed on some very important points at key moments in the matches.”

Eleven seniors were recognized as the Cardinals celebrated senior night against the Tigers.

“This is a great group of guys,” Ronning said. “They have done wonders for the program on and off the courts. Their hard work and dedication will be missed, but they have helped build a great program.”

The Cardinals fell to 17-4 overall and 9-3 in the Central Lakes Conference with the loss. That is good for a third-place finish in the CLC.

MATCH RESULTS

St. Cloud Tech 4, Alexandria 3

SINGLES – No. 1 – Reggie Ronning (A) def. Jordan Feddema, 6-0, 6-1; No. 2 – Connor Illies (A) def. Myles Bates, 6-4, 7-5; No. 3 – Riley Bates (T) def. Luke Eberly, 6-4, 6-1; No. 4 – Luke Zwiener (T) def. Kevin Desautels, 6-2, 6-2

DOUBLES – Nate Wolters/Tyler Bates (T) def. Jacob Otterness/Marvin Wensman, 6-4, 6-4; No. 2 – Matt Peterson/Ben LeVahn (A) def. Matt Deleo/Billy Zins, 6-1, 7-5, 6-1; No. 3 – Taylor Lovaas/Alex Matchinsky (T) def. Cody Nelson/Thomas Williams, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, tennis, boys, cardinals, st, cloud, tech