Staff photo by Travis Rosenau
New Ulm’s Charlie Weidman tips the ball during a No. 1 singles match against Mankato West’s Ian Kim in a nonconference boys tennis meet at New Ulm High School.
NEW ULM — With three matches going three sets in Thursday’s boys tennis season opener, Mankato West was able to get the edge over New Ulm late to earn a 5-2 victory in nonconference action at New Ulm High School.
The Eagles’ No. 2 doubles team of Wyatt Feucht and Thomas Lehne held their own and forced a third set late, but the Scarlets’ duo of Leighton Betters and Liam Schmidt was able to seal their team’s overall win with a controlling third set, winning 6-3, 4-5, 6-2.
Mankato West got on the board first in No. 2 singles action when Desmond Johnson defeated Ian Schotzko 6-1, 6-0 and went up 2-0 when its No. 3 doubles team of Kale Schmidt and Corban Oachs beat Heinrich Burrie and Hayden Owens 6-1, 6-2.
The Eagles got back into it when their No. 1 singles player Charlie Weidman took a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ian Kim. Kim was aggressive and made Weidman work for the win, but the New Ulm junior stayed composed for the victory.
“He hits really, really hard, so I tried to just deal with that with getting it in,” Weidman said. “And just countering his power, I guess, and that’s what worked.”
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau
New Ulm’s Isaac Dittmer returns a shot during his No. 4 singles match against Mankato West’s Colton Westberg on Thursday in a nonconference boys tennis meet at New Ulm High School. Dittmer won a tiebreaker in the third set to win the match.
Weidman, who played at No. 2 singles last year, has put in a lot of time in the offseason to develop further and got a good start to his season Thursday as a result. Weidman said his approach to the game, however, is what has changed the most since last season.
“I think just mentally, not caring as much about wins or losses, but how I just play overall and knowing that I’m playing good people,” he said. “I have to remind myself that and just do the best I can.”
Eagles head coach Pete Engeldinger said Weidman getting a solid win against West was big and exciting to see.
“The 1 singles, that’s always top-dog stuff, so you never know,” Engeldinger said. “I know West always has a really good 1 singles, if not 2, so to see Charlie win that in two, that was handled. That was pretty cool and he really had some nice composure out there.”
Mankato West’s No. 1 doubles team of Aiden Mock and Calvin Downs defeated Eli Dorschner and Nicolas Del Castillo Diez 7-5, 6-3 before New Ulm’s No. 4 singles player Isaac Dittmer won a tiebreaker over Colton Westberg, winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4).
Dittmer said Westberg had a good kick serve and made it tough for him to put the match away despite Dittmer’s solid 6-2 start in the first set.
“He had a really good kick serve, so it pushed me back a lot, so I couldn’t return it well,” Dittmer said. “Then he just got up at the net and finished off a lot of points.”
Dittmer’s win ended up coming down to playing steady and smart.
“Just keeping it consistent and not making a mistake,” Dittmer said.
West’s win at No. 2 doubles sealed the deal for the Scarlets, but they added another hard-fought win at No. 3 singles when 6-foot-4 Jackson Muehlenhardt got a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Dan Brownfield. Muehlenhardt’s power saw him take his share of second serves, but it ultimately got the job done over Brownfield.
Despite not getting the win, Engeldinger said he saw a lot of good things against a strong Section 2AA opponent.
“[Three] matches going to three sets, can’t get any closer,” Engeldinger said. “One with a tiebreaker, pretty exciting that way. Our 3 dubs, we’re still trying to figure that out, I know they struggled a little bit getting the ball in and getting their serves in and all that. Then at 2 singles with that Desmond, he’s a super sweet player. He was on and when he’s on, he’s pretty unstoppable around here.
“It was a great first meet because we weren’t sure, too, with the weather. We had some rain and today was chilly. We got some help getting the courts cleaned up from our support crew, so this was great. Great turnout, we had a lot of people turning out. With 30 guys, you’re going to get good fan support.”
The Eagles (0-1) host back-to-back home meets on Monday and Tuesday. First they host the Mankato East Cougars at 4:30 p.m. Monday before they welcome the Fairmont Cardinals for a 4:30 p.m. meet on Tuesday.
The Scarlets (1-0) are next at a Saturday morning triangular in Red Wing.