Rainfall created havoc with the Cardinal boys tennis schedule this week, m a kingfora change of plans.

The boys hosted Aitkin on Monday, May 3, four days later than initially scheduled. They were rained out the previous Thursday/

A meet at Hibbing on Saturday was an abbreviated affair, due to the weather.

The Aitkin Gobblers captured four wins, taking the meet with two wins in doubles and winning the third and fourth singles .

Three of the Cardinal losses went into tie breaker sets. Austin Hirschey at third followed up a 3-6 first set loss with a 6-3 win. Then Alex Anderson of Aitkin claimed the team point with a 10-1 tie breaker.

Likewise in the second doubles match, where Josh Solway and Shane Suess came back after a first set loss with a 6-3 win, only to suffer a 10-1 loss to the Aitkin duo.

At third doubles Robin Melse and Nick Johnson had a similar round, losing 10-7 in a tie breaker after a 7-5 second set win.

The three Cardinal wins all came in two sets. Jordan Peterson once more was 6-0, 6-0 at first singles; Guthrie Coughlin went 6-2,6-1 at second singles and the first doubles team of Derek Wolhowe and Anthony Duhn won 6-2, 6-3.

“It is apparent that we need to get tie-breaker tough. We looked rather tight in each of those split set tie-breaks even when we had the momentum from coming back with a second set victory,” Coach Kevin Coughlin said.

Saturday the tennis squad played in a very competitive eight-team tournament in Hibbing that included Class AA schools Hibbing, Andover, Grand Rapids, St. Thomas Academy and Virginia,

At Hibbing all matches were shortened due to weather conditions and restricted time and space at indoor courts. Most players got two matches in, going one and one for the day.

Jordan Peterson dominated the one singles with three wins.

Matt Spar stepped up from four singles to three and also brought his game up a notch too..

Austin Hirschey struggled to get a victory on the day at two singles, but improved his level of play by moving his feet more w/ the level of demand that higher in the singles line up demands.

The doubles teams played impressive tennis moving into positions of advantage. “We executed very well, but not consistent enough to excel,” Coughlin said.

It took a while for Derek Wolhowe and Guthrie Coughlin to get in the groove together at one dubs, but their skill and athleticism came through with great play.

Anthony Duhn and Grant Longbella made great adjustments to a variety of styles of play at two dubs, while playing forward and strong at the net.

An abridged match at Virginia’s new indoor courts found the Cards deadlocked against Class A’s fifth ranked Virginia. Virginia proved to be strong nudging out the Cards 4-3 The singles line up got off to a strong start paving the level of play for the team. “Jordan Peterson not only put on a display of high level tennis for the crowd, but also modeled the composure and focus of a champion that was quite apparent to his teammates.”

This week the boys were set to host Foley on Thursday and head to Thief River Falls on Monday, May 10 for a quad meet