ST.PETER, MN – The Viking Club Tennis team traveled to St. Peter, MN this weekend for the Gustavus Invitational finishing 3-1 and taking 3rd place overall. The Vikings went into the tournament with a 2-3 record so far on the season and having taken 5th place in the Viking Invitational.
The first match of the tournament was against the MSUM Dragons, one of the top teams this season in the Northern Section and the Vikings struggled to get things going including Junior Dalton Ondracek’s (Valley City, ND) first match back after shoulder surgery and it took him a set to shake the rust off, with the team dropping the match 12-30.
After the first match however the Vikings started to fire on all cylinders with team captains Caitlyn Hunter (Williston, ND) and Dalton Ondracek playing some great tennis and teaming up for the mixed doubles match and an exciting finish over a tough Gustavus Black team 26-25.
Our last pool match feature some great tennis from Freshman Zack Baumgartner (Valley City, ND) and Sophomore Angela Larson (Valley City, ND), Zach winning the singles match big 6-0 and then teaming with Angela in the mixed for another 6-0 win and an overall team win 30-5. Going 2-1 in the pool play put the Vikings playing for 3rd/4th for the tournament against the Gustavus Black team. Sophomore Riley Miller (Valley City, ND) teamed up with Dalton Ondracek in the men’s doubles to get the Vikings going, winning 6-2. Riley, who played amazing tennis all weekend teamed up with Angela Larson in the mixed doubles round and they pulled out the team victory in overtime play 22-20.
The Vikings are now 5-4 on the season head to the NDSU Bison invite November 16th at Fargo’s Courts Plus.
Coaches Comments: We are a young team this year with some great potential and fortunate to have great leadership from Junior’s Caitlyn Hunter and Dalton Ondracek. I think we showed that this weekend with Zach, Riley and Angela all playing amazing tennis and being able to close out the big points when we needed them.
Individual match scores:
Pool Match 1
VCSU Vikings: 12
MSUM Dragons: 30
Pool Match 2
VCSU Vikings: 26
Gustavus Black: 25
Pool Match 3
VCSU Vikings: 30
Gustavus Gold: 5
3rd/4th Place Match
VCSU Vikings: 22
Gustavus Black: 20
Photo (L to R): Junior, Caitlyn Hunter (Williston, ND), Junior, Dalton Ondracek (Valley City, ND), Sophomore, Riley Miller (Valley City, ND), Freshman, Zach Baumgartner (Valley City, ND), Sophomore, Angela Larson (Valley City, ND)