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Plenty Of Momentum For The Postseason

By Tom Schardin, 05/13/18, 6:45PM CDT

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The Prior Lake boys tennis team is taking a six-match winning streak into the Section 2AA playoffs.

The Lakers ended the regular season May 11 with a 6-1 win over Chaska, sweeping all three doubles matches. Prior Lake ended the South Suburban Conference season the day before with a 7-0 win at Farmington.

Prior Lake also beat Shakopee 4-3 in league play May 9 and earned a 4-3 home win over Chanhassen May 7.

The Lakers (10-5 overall, 5-4 in the SSC) earned the No. 1 seed in the Section 2AA South Sub-Section. The team will be home in the first round May 17 against the winner of fourth-seeded Mankato East of fifth-seeded New Prague at 4 p.m.

Mankato West is seeded No. 2 in the south and gets the winner of third-seeded Hutchinson and sixth-seeded New Ulm.

In the north sub-section Orono, ranked No. 4 in the state, is the No. 1 seed, while eighth-ranked Minnetonka is seeded No. 2.

For complete brackets, go to www.mshsl.org. The top two teams from the two sub-sections advance to the semifinals, which are May 22 at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. The title game is played right after the semifinals.

Minnetonka is the defending champion. Prior Lake has lost in the semifinals the last two years.

In beating Chanhassen, the Lakers won three of four in singles. The match was decided at the No. 1 spot with junior Max Hall winning in three sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-2).

Juniors Jaydon Olson and Jake Welke also won a three-setter at No. 1 doubles (6-4, 2-6, 6-2).

Senior Aditya Acharya (6-2, 6-4) and junior Michael Johnson (6-2, 6-1) earned wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively.

“Max and Aditya are leading the team at one and two singles,” Lakers coach PJ Priest said. “Both players have spent time at one and two.”

In beating Shakopee, Prior Lake won two of three in doubles with Olson and Welke winning at No. 1 (6-2, 6-3) and juniors Matthew Riley and Matthew Baer winning in three sets at No. 3 (6-3, 2-6, 6-2).

Acharya (6-1, 6-2) and Crowell (6-7, 6-4, 6-4) won at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively for Prior Lake.

In beating Farmington, Prior Lake didn't lose a set in the seven matches.

Singles wins went to Acharya at No. 1 (6-0, 6-1), Olson at No. 2 (6-1, 6-0), Crowell at No. 3 (6-0, 6-0) and junior Cooper Danielson at No. 4 (6-2, 6-2).

In doubles, Hall and Baer rolled at the top spot (6-1, 6-0), followed by Welke and Johnson at No. 2 (6-0, 6-0) and junior Riley Rose and Riley at No. 3 (6-0, 6-0).

Against Chaska, Welke and Rose won at No. 1 doubles (6-4, 6-1), while sophomore Carter Mong and Danielson won in three sets at No. 2 (4-6, 6-1, 6-3) and Baer and Riley cruised at No. 3 (6-3, 6-1).

Singles wins went to Olson at No. 2 (6-2, 6-1), Johnson at No. 3 (6-2, 6-0) and Crowell at No. 4 (6-1, 6-0).

“Our team is looking good,” Priest said. “We had a tough stretch with some top teams, [but have finished strong].”

This year’s Class AA state tournament is set for June 5-8 at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.