Boys tennis has had quite the wacky few weeks to start the 2023 season according to Head Coach Alex Zuzek.

“We were out shoveling the courts last week hoping to get some practice time and we finally did on Friday,” laughed Zuzek as he stood talking in near 90-degree heat.

That near 90-degree heat was on Wednesday, April 12, and the Friday he was referring to was April 7, just five days prior. The snow on Easter weekend really messed with the spring sports seasons and the Raiders were still feeling the effects almost two weeks later.

“This is our first match of the season,” added Zuzek. “We were scheduled to play at South St. Paul yesterday, but they did not have enough guys to go for multiple reasons, so it was cancelled.”

The Raiders were actually enroute to the tennis courts when Zuzek got the call, which likely makes that match a forfeit.

That means the boys have had all of two days of practice on actual tennis courts before making the road trip up to Park of Cottage Grove where they lost 6-1.

The boys played well even with the rust they were knocking off. Some played less rusty than others, but Zuzek believes that will even out fairly quickly now that they should have more time outdoors. Even if Mother Nature has different plans for them this week with the mid-April snowstorm that added to the wackiness of the season. The weird start to the season has forced a lot of the practices to be held inside the field house on the hardwood floors. Practicing any outdoor sport on a hard gym surface changes the speed and angle of ball bounces and reactions to spins, so there was really only so much the guys could do.

Here is how the first set of matches went at Park on Wednesday, April 12th.

Park - 6, Hastings - 1,

Singles:

No. 1 - Caleb Swigart, Park def. Michael Johnson, Hastings, 6-3, 6-2

No. 2 - Joshua Hess, Park def. Devon Yang, Hastings, 6-2, 6-4

No. 3 - Tom Lucas, Park def. Micah Slapnicher, Hastings, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1

No. 4 - Andrew McDonald, Park def. Matt Darst, Hastings, 6-3, 6-2

Doubles:

No. 1 - Robert Menard- Parker Jeseritz, Park def. Nathan Welt - Charlie Jensen, Hastings, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0

No. 2 - Noah Holmgren - Ethan Lo, Park def. Quinton Heiman - Maddox Repke, Hastings, 6-4, 6-3

No. 3 - Tanner Mattila - Riley Ries, Hastings def. Mason Natterstad - Bailey Lane, Park, 2-6, 7-6, 10-1

Hastings then played host to Simley on Thursday, April 13th winning 6-1.

Singles:

No. 1 - Michael Johnson, Hastings def. Ryan Leonard, Simley, 6-1, 6-0

No. 2 - Charlie Jensen, Hastings def. Alex Anaya, Simley, 4-6, 6-0

No. 3 - Quinton Heiman, Hastings def. Ana Alvear, Simley, 6-2, 6-1

No. 4 - Rachael Scufsa, Simley def. Nathan Welt, Hastings, 4-6, 3-6

Doubles:

No. 1 - Micah Slapnicher & Devon Yang, Hastings def. Tshwane Yengistic & Shane Gorr, Simley, 6-4, 6-1

No. 2 - Matt Darst & Maddox Repke, Hastings def. Brandon Kruse & Cameron Rieck, Simley, 6-3, 6-2

No. 3 - Fischer Kauffman & Tanner Mattila, Hastings def. Johan Padaong & Leo Cox, Simley, 6-0, 6-0

The next chance to catch the boys in action is on April 20th at 4:00 p.m. at South St. Paul. They return home on April 22nd at 9:00 a.m. for their invitational tournament.