The River Falls Wildcats advanced their number one doubles team out of the sub-sectional round of postseason play on Monday, May 20, advancing them to the sectional round of play this Wednesday.

It was a busy week of tennis for the Wildcats as they played five times ahead of Monday’s sub-sectional competition. First, they took third as a team in a tournament on Tuesday, then beat Baldwin-Woodville on Thursday. They went 2-1 in a quadrangular on Saturday, defeating New Richmond and Superior but losing to Hudson.

Throughout the season, players will jump back and forth from singles to doubles as the coaches try to put the team in the best position to win. So, while Sam Majerus and Henry Whipkey typically play #1 doubles together, they still went 2-0 in singles this week. Owen Edmundson also had a nice series of outings as well, finishing 2-1 in the final week of regular season play.

Whipkey and Majerus also continued their impressive doubles season, going 3-0 together with a win on Tuesday and two wins on Saturday. Nolan Tody turned in some good performances in doubles competition, going 3-1 with four different partners. Finally, Carson Stacy and Avery Stacy also each had a couple doubles wins this week, once with each other and the other playing with a different partner.

​Head Coach Joe Young was pleased with the outcomes.

“Big day yesterday at the BRC tournament. Overall, the team tied for second or third place, the contest is still being tallied,” Young said. “One doubles, seniors Sam Majerus and Henry Whipkey, won the championship. They are still undefeated as a team at 11-0. Number four singles, sophomore Avery Stacy, and 3 doubles, seniors Jackson Gulick and Josiah Domeyer, both got third place in conference. This gives us higher seeds at the sub-sectional playoffs next Monday.” 

Then came regionals where the guys needed to be at their best to advance to Wednesday’s sectional round of play. Unfortunately, the team did not move on as a unit and only a few of the guys advanced as individuals.

“Sam and Henry move on at number one doubles. They must win their first match Wednesday at sectionals to move on to state,” Young said. “Number three doubles Josiah Domeyer and Jackson Gulick won their first match but lost in the second round to Menomonie. All other players were eliminated in round one.”

It wasn’t the end that the guys were hoping for, but Majerus and Whipkey will press on in the hopes of representing River Falls in the state tournament. The next round of the tournament will come quickly, taking place at 9 a.m. at John and Fay Menard YMCA Tennis Center in Eau Claire on Wednesday.

Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers played six times this week ahead of Monday’s regional competition. Although they lost each one as a team, there was some individual success, and the experience is what counts at this stage for the developing program. It was important for them to get their reps in before the postseason to put the team in the best possible position to try to advance out of the first round and for everyone to enjoy some good competition in case they didn’t.

The week started with a tournament on Tuesday. Jacob Molter lead the way in this one for Ellsworth, playing two strong singles matches as the #3 player and winning one of them. After nearly pushing Amery to a third set and coming up just short, Molter took the victory in round two, beating Baldwin-Woodville’s #3 singles player.

Saturday’s triangular was much of the same. The Panthers got swept by Regis in round one, but a few of the players had some better luck in the later rounds.

Max Olson and Landen Lee won their #3 doubles match in round two against Osceola in three sets. After set one and two both went to extras, with Ellsworth losing 7-5 in set one but rallying to win 7-6 in set two, the match came down to a sudden death set three where they narrowly edged out the victory at 10-8.

Lander Levers also had a nice day against Osceola, although he did not come away with a victory. As the #1 singles player, he will always be taking on the best an opposing school has to offer, and in this case, he played very competitively, losing 6-4 in set one and 7-5 in set two.

Levers also had a near win against La Crosse Logan’s #1 in the final round on Saturday. After losing a tight set one at 6-4, he rallied to win 7-5 in set two for a race to 10 set three. He kept it close all set, but his adversary pulled away at the end, and he ultimately came up short losing 10-7.

Finally, Matthew Lundstrom got a victory on the day, operating as the number four singles player for Ellsworth. It was competitive, but he did it in just two sets, beating West Salem’s number four 6-4 and 6-3 to earn the victory.

That would be the last of the success for the Panthers this year as they got swept out of the sub-sectional tournament on Monday in La Crosse, with nobody advancing to the sectional round of play.

It was a productive and well attended season of tennis for the Ellsworth program that boasted its biggest team numbers in years. Head Coach Beth Friedrichsen was both surprised and delighted at the turnout and looks forward to their youth summer camp in July where they will look to recruit future iterations of Panthers for the burgeoning program.