Brainerd teams 2nd, 4th

It was a bittersweet day of tennis for two Brainerd teams Monday at Brainerd High School.

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The Brainerd Smashes, made up with returning varsity players from both the boys' and girls' high school squads finished second behind the Hibbing Lobsters during the United States Tennis Association Northern Junior team area championships.

Brainerd Smashes' Taylor Headlee returned the ball Monday at the USTA Team Tennis Championships at the Brainerd High School courts.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.

In head-to-head competition, the Smashes fell to the Lobsters 32-22, but after the five-team, round-robin tournament Hibbing's winning margin was only four.

The Brainerd Aces, a team of younger varsity and junior varsity players, placed fourth with 68 points or 78 points behind the Lobsters and 74 behind the Smashes.

With the win the Lobsters will advance to the USTA Northern JTT Section Tournament at the Baseline Tennis Center at the University of Minnesota.

Making up the Smashes were Chris Rud, Garth Askegaard, Jordan Goos, Taylor Headlee, Mackayla Headlee, Sam Kletscher, Mikinzee Salo, Cold Sundquist, Jordan Shiltz and Zoe Houle.

"I think I've played better tennis," said Houle. "Overall we did pretty good. I wish we could have gotten more games off of the Lobsters, but, oh well it happens."

Houle said the Lobsters were the team to beat heading into the tournament. But it took the Lobsters a bit of roster strategy to knock off Brainerd.

Hibbing used two players twice during their round. Each round features one male and female singles match one male and one female doubles match and one mixed doubles.

Aside from the one set back, the Smashes dispatched it's younger teammates the Aces 40-7, the Hibbing Spinners 40-11 and the Duluth/Longview Aces 40-4. The Smashes were the only team to pick up three clean sweeps of 40 points.

"I thought we played pretty well around the board during those three matches," said Jordan Goos. "Against Hibbing we struggled in a couple of areas. They had a pretty good couple of singles players that pulled it out for them."

Last year the Smashes advanced to the U of M. For Houle it would have been her fourth trip while the others would have enjoyed trips two or three.

"I wasn't on the team that went last year, but I went the year before," said Goos. "It would have been nice to go again this year, but that's the way it goes."

The Aces topped Duluth 29-16, but fell to the Spinners 36-24 and the Lobsters 40-9.

Members of the Aces were Timmy Dewey, Bobby Posch, Gunner Askegaard, Ryan Goos, Ben Anderholm, Kyle Johnson, Briana Rademacher, Zoe Wolhart, Alex Williamson and Kayla Kraemer.

While Houle wasn't pleased with her play, she said tournaments like this help ease into the high school season.

"These tournaments are pretty important to get back into the swing of things," said Houle. "You can work on things you need to improve on so you're better for the season.

"I play year round, but summer is kind of when I get into better shape and switch some things around."

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.