Tigers still alive in bid for third straight state tourney

As a team, Spencer is still alive for its third straight trip to the 1A State Tennis Tournament.

As a doubles duo, Taylor Harman and Drew Jacobsen are already making reservations for their first appearance at state.

Harman and Jacobsen finished second to Taylor and Carson Anderson of Storm Lake in Thursday's district doubles tournament, leading the Tigers to a runner-up performance behind Cherokee.

Photo by Michael Fischer Spencer junior Drew Jacobsen hits a forehand volley during Class 1A District Tournament competition Thursday, May, 14, 2009, in Spirit Lake. Jacobsen and partner Taylor Harman finished second in doubles, qualifying for the state tournament for the first time in their careers.

"We're really pleased with the results of the team competition, particularly because we didn't know for sure if we had anyone who could score a large chunk of points," said Spencer coach Joe Steele. "We've been fortunate in the past where we've had one player or a doubles team that we knew would have a good day, but we didn't have that today. We were looking for a complete team effort and we got it."

The Braves won seven singles matches and three doubles matches, scoring 23 points to deny the Tigers a third straight district championship.

Two points are awarded for singles wins, three for doubles. As a district champion, Cherokee automatically advances to team substate.

Spencer will host Storm Lake Saturday in one of eight 1A preliminary substate meets. The Tornadoes were third in the district, one point behind Spencer. The winner of that meet will advance to substate with Cherokee to take on Fort Dodge St. Edmond on Saturday, May 23 in Fort Dodge.

"I don't think it could be a closer matchup," Steele said of Saturday's preliminary meet with Storm Lake. "We split during the season, we finished two points ahead of them at conference and one point ahead of them today.

"It's about as close as it can be, and we are really going to have to play well to get through to substate," Steele commented. "It will just come down to what team plays better on Saturday."

Gregor Pritzlaff and Cole Egger led Cherokee to its title, finishing first and second in the singles' bracket. Pritzlaff beat Egger 6-2, 7-6 in the championship match. Both advance to state singles.

Spencer won two singles matches and four doubles matches, scoring 16 points. The Tigers won all four of their first-round matches; Cherokee was the only other team to accomplish a first-round sweep.

Harman and Jacobsen produced three of Spencer's wins, garnering nine points. As the second seed, the duo received a first-round bye before defeating teams from Storm Lake and Cherokee in straight sets.

The Tigers eventually dropped a 6-4, 7-6 match to the Anderson brothers of Storm Lake.

"They were happy to win that semifinal match against a good Cherokee team, but they didn't allow themselves to celebrate because they wanted to win a district championship," Steele said. "From a coaching standpoint, I thought that was good to see -- that they didn't celebrate making it to state because they had another match that they really wanted to win.

"Taylor and Drew really played well. They deserve that trip to state. Knowing that they had a shot at beating Storm Lake, they were disappointed not to win," Steele added, "but they've got another shot on Saturday."

Waylon Glienke and Mark Wakefield won their first of two matches -- 6-2, 6-4 over a Spirit Lake/Okoboji duo -- before falling in straight sets to the Andersons.

Singles players Joel Kaldahl and Drake Swanson also earned wins for Spencer. Kaldahl defeated Storm Lake's Jesse Kavan 6-2, 6-4 and Swanson beat Storm Lake's Vista Souvandy 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

"Those two wins, although they were in the first round ... allowed us to finish second ahead of Storm Lake," Steele said. "Both of those wins were big for our team because they came head-to-head against Storm Lake."

"Our goal coming into the day was to win all of our first round matches and we were able to do that," Steele added. "It's really nice when everybody on the team scores you points at districts."

Class 1A District Tennis Tournament

(** -- denotes substate qualifier, * -- denotes preliminary substate qualifier)

Team Standings -- 1. Cherokee 23**, 2. Spencer 16*, 3. Storm Lake 15*, 4. Le Mars 9, T-5. Spirit Lake/Okoboji 6, T-5. Sioux City Heelan 6, 7. Estherville-Lincoln Central 0.

Singles

(two team points per singles win)

First Round

Drake Swanson (S) d. Vista Souvandy (SL), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3

Joel Kaldahl (S) d. Jesse Kavan (SL), 6-3, 6-4

Quarterfinals

No. 3 Mike Ahlers (LM) d. Kaldahl (S), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

Blake Kliegl (SLO) d. Swanson (S), 6-1, 6-3

Doubles

(three team points per doubles win)

First Round

Waylon Glienke and Mark Wakefield (S) d. Mitch O'Neill and Maxwell Simonsen (SLO), 6-2, 6-4

No. 2 Taylor Harman and Drew Jacobsen (S) receive bye

Quarterfinals

No. 1 Taylor Anderson and Carson Anderson (SL) d. Glienke and Wakefield (S), 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 Harman and Jacobsen (S) d. Tommy Nasirichampang and Sheldon Lovan (SL), 6-0, 6-2

Semifinals

No. 2 Harman and Jacobsen (S) d. No. 3 Cole Renken and Nick Parker (C), 6-2, 6-4

Finals

No. 1 Anderson and Anderson (SL) d. Harman and Jacobsen (S), 6-4, 7-6 (Both teams advance to Class 1A state doubles)