Earlier in the season, we were letting that stuff stick with us too much. Today felt like a step in the right direction.”

Head Coach Alex Zuzek

The Hastings High School boy’s tennis team dropped a 1-6 decision to a strong St. Thomas Academy squad this week, but Head Coach Alex Zuzek saw reasons to be encouraged.
“St. Thomas got us,” Zuzek said. “They’re always tough — a lot of depth, and they play with confidence. For my money, they’re probably one of the top two teams in the conference this year.”
While the scoreline might suggest a one-sided match, Zuzek emphasized the competitiveness on the court. “We had one match go to three sets that we didn’t get, and we had a couple others that were close,” he said. “So one to six with a few competitive matches in there — I’m pretty happy with that.”
The lone win for Hastings came in a third-set victory, a notable breakthrough for the team. Until that match, the Raiders had yet to win a tiebreak this season.
“So far this year in second- and third-set tiebreaks, we’d been 0-7 or 0-8,” Zuzek said. “It’s a weird thing — part mentality, part luck, part staying calm. So breaking that streak is a step forward.”
Zuzek also praised the team’s resilience and mental toughness, particularly in adjusting to challenging wind conditions, which were more of a factor during recent tournament play.
“We’ve worked a lot on just staying mentally tough and bouncing back from frustration,” he said. “Earlier in the season, we were letting that stuff stick with us too much. Today felt like a step in the right direction.”
Hastings was scheduled to face Two Rivers on Thursday and Park High School the Monday after Easter. Zuzek expected both to be competitive matches. Unfortunately, results were not available at press time.
St Thomas Academy - 6, Hastings - 1,

Singles:
No. 1 - Drew Lindstrom, St Thomas Academy def. Micah Slapnicher, Hastings, 6-1 , 6-2
No. 2 - Dante Ziperstein, St Thomas Academy def. Ben Ruedy, Hastings, 6-1 , 6-3
No. 3 - Finn Ganje, St Thomas Academy def. Charlie Jensen, Hastings, 6-2 , 6-1
No. 4 - Bruce Sanborn, St Thomas Academy def. Gus Whitehill Conover, Hastings, 6-0 , 6-0

Doubles:
No. 1 - Britton Jarpe - William Bonfe, St Thomas Academy def. Malachi Beal - Eli Handrich, Hastings, 6-0 , 6-0
No. 2 - Declan Varley - Timothy Noonan, St Thomas Academy def. Tanner Mattila - Aidan Suarez Garcia, Hastings, 4-6 , 6-0 , 10-2
No. 3 - Fischer Kauffman - Quinton Heiman, Hastings def. Owen Weber - Michael Grady, St Thomas Academy, 6-4 , 2-6 , 10-6