Aberdeen Roncalli won a pair of super-tiebreakers on the way to claiming its first tennis dual victory 9-0 over Rapid City Central Friday afternoon at the Northern State Courts.
“It’s definitely a good feeling and definitely a good confidence boost for the kids. I think overall, I was really happy with the performance,” said Roncalli coach JD Carrels. “Obviously, it always feels good to get a win, but to get a win 9-0, it always feels better to know that every player at every position won.”
Cason Hellwig at number two singles and Gannon May at number three singles each won super-tiebreakers 10-6 to help record the shutout.
“Those are always tough when you see your kids going into them, because you want to see how they handle the pressure because each point is so important,” Carrels said. “So for each of the super-tiebreakers that we went into today, for both of those kids to win was definitely a great thing for me to see as a coach.”
Carrels said it will be interesting to see how the players respond after getting their first dual win of the season.
“I think it will be a confidence boost throughout the weekend,” he said. “I’ll be interested to see how we handle practice the next couple of days.”
The Cavaliers were also scheduled to play Aberdeen Central but the match was moved to May 6 because of cold and wind. Those conditions are something Roncalli has gotten used to the past couple of weeks to start its season.
“I think playing in this cold will definitely help us in the long run,” Carrels said. “If you’re going to play tennis in South Dakota, if you can’t play in the cold and wind you definitely need to pick a different sport, because it always seems to happen.”
Roncalli plays Sioux Falls Roosevelt at 1 p.m. and Milbank at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the NSU Courts.
SINGLES
Gray Imbery, AR, def. Rhett Svarstad, 6-2, 6-3.
Cason Hellwig, AR, def. Taite Sumption, 6-2, 3-6, (10-6).
Gannon May, AR, def. Carson Versteeg, 3-6, 6-1, (10-6).
Mason Carrels, AR, def. Matt Cuny, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
AJ Prehn, AR, def. Cole Jandreau, 6-3, 6-2.
Palmer Johnson, AR, def. Thane Neiman, 6-1, 6-3.
DOUBLES
Imbery-Carrels, AR, def. Svarstad-Versteeg, 6-2, 6-3.
Hellwig-Johnson, AR, def. Sumption-Cuny, 6-4, 6-3.
Prehn-May, AR, def. Jandreau-Josh Murphy, 6-2, 6-2.
Aberdeen Roncalli exhibition winners: Singles, Landon Zikmund, Sawyer Henrich, Parker Grieben; Doubles, Zikmund-Henrich, Grieben-Eza Feickert, Jayden Reecy-Ben Goebel.
