The Ellsworth Panthers boys’ tennis team played its second and third meets this week, losing 6-1 to Osceola Chieftains on Monday and 7-0 to Lakeland Union on Thursday.

It has been a work in progress for this year’s tennis team, as the Panthers have a lot of new faces this spring.

Ellsworth hasn’t always had enough kids for a full team, so Head Coach Beth Friedrichsen is pleased with the turnout this season.

“This is truly a building year for the Ellsworth boys' tennis team. We have 12 boys out this year and of those 12, only three have played tennis in the past,” Friedrichsen said. “We are very grateful to Lander Levers, Carter Price and Jacob Molter for their knowledge and leadership on the courts, and we are excited about the possibilities that the nine new kids are bringing.” 

With the more experienced players taking on the top players from their opponents’ teams, it was one of the rookies who tallied the Panthers’ lone win in his second ever tennis match. The victory came on Monday in Osceola when number four singles player Adan Benitez Mendez defeated Andre Valbuena of the Chieftains. After falling behind early with a 2-6 loss, Mendez came back and won the final two sets, 7-5 and 10-5 to secure his first career win as well as Ellsworth’s first victory of the season.

“Lander is playing the 1-singles position, and that is a tough position because he has to play all the best kids at each school. He has worked hard in the off season with Carter Price,” Friedrichsen said. “Tennis is one of those sports that demands much from the players. These two have been working hard and are showing the other players what it is going to take.” 

With just three weeks left before the conference tournament in Baldwin on May 14, Coach Friedrichsen says the team is excited for a busy slate of matches this week with three days of tennis on tap.

“Tuesday we play Eau Claire Regis, which is always a tough school to play. Thursday we head over the river to play Lake City and then on Friday we are in a triangular in Amery,” Friedrichsen said. “The best way to get better at tennis is to play, so I am looking forward to all these opportunities that the boys have coming up.”

The conference championship is determined by combining teams’ head-to-head matches in addition to the results on the day of the event. As far as Coach Friedrichsen knows, the Panthers boys’ team has never won a championship or sent a team or individual to the state tournament. However, with the injection of youth into their squad, the guys could soon join the Ellsworth girls’ team in having reached those plateaus.

“Yes, we are young, but my goals are to get them to enjoy the awesome lifetime sport of tennis, for them to not get too frustrated this first year and enjoy the small victories,” Friedrichsen said. “In the past few years, the Ellsworth boys' tennis has not had strong numbers nor a full team, so I'm pretty excited and grateful to have what we have.” 

In hopes of building on this numbers and improving the program overall, Ellsworth will have a youth tennis camp for students starting July 23. The session will include high school, middle school and incoming fourth and fifth graders.

River Falls

The River Falls Wildcats tennis team played six matches this week, including one conference match on Thursday at UWRF against Hudson and then five non-conference matches at a tournament at De Pere High School on Friday and Saturday, finishing 1-5 over this span.

The Wildcats got off to a great start to the season in week one, beating Chippewa Falls 7-0 with a clean sweep in both the singles and doubles portions of the contest. This week was much busier with six total matches over the course of three days.

Thursday’s single contest ended in a 6-1 loss to Hudson, marking the only Big Rivers play of the week, while Friday and Saturday’s tournament was a bit of a marathon for the Wildcat players.

They took a 6-1 loss in the first round on Friday to West De Pere with doubles players Henry Whickey and Sam Majerus bringing home the lone victory in the match.

Round two versus Pulaski went a bit better for River Falls with a close 4-3 loss. Pulaski swept the singles play while the Wildcats swept the doubles portion of the contest with Whickey and Majerus, Owen Nygaard and Lincoln Tremain, and Avery Stacy and Ben Huttemier winning every set they played.

Their final round of play on Friday against De Pere and their first round of play on Saturday against Mukwonago didn’t go nearly as well, unfortunately, and they got swept across the board at 7-0 in both matches.

The Wildcats bounced back in spectacular fashion in their final tilt of the week versus Ashwaubenon, winning 6-1.

They switched things up in this one with Majerus, Whickey and Nolan Tody taking the #1, #2 and #3 singles duties for the round, which they dominated winning six sets in a row to win that half of the bracket.  Jackson Gulick and Carson Stacy played #1 doubles, Rowan Jacquart and Avery Stacy slotted into the #2 spot and Nygaard and Gus Johnson paired up for the final doubles team. All three duos won in the minimum number of two sets, and none of them were close.

Head Coach Joe Young says he’s pleased with the team’s performance in the early goings.

“We have been competitive in most of our matches so far,” Young said. “I expect my players to compete hard for every point. My goal is to develop healthy young men with the skill to enjoy the game and compete at the level of the state tournament.” 

The Wildcats had very little turnover in between seasons due to graduation last spring, so although none have made it as far as sectionals or the state tournament, Young expects big things from his top-heavy roster this year.

“Our #1 and 2 singles are set. Still looking to determine our 3 and 4 singles and doubles combinations,” Young said. “We lost three starting seniors last year. This season half of the team and most of the varsity are seniors, but we have some promising freshmen and sophomores developing into strong players.” 

The tennis season continues this week when the Wildcats play a Big Rivers Conference match at Eau Claire Memorial on Tuesday before returning home to play Menomonie at UWRF Perkins Stadium; both matches begin at 4 p.m. They finish up on Friday with a trip to Osceola where play will begin at 4:15 p.m.