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Photos by Uncle Stan
Senior Captain Sean Bowerman returns a volley in yesterday's semis.
He's older than most of the lads on Ford's amazing team, which
includes talented and motivated freshmen and eighth graders. Two of Ford's eighth graders beat upperclassmen yesterday. Read the story, below. |
Will face Mankato East at Final Four next Tuesday!
By Todd Abeln -- Shakopee Valley News Scoreboard
tabeln@swpub.com
A great season got even better on Thursday afternoon for the Shakopee boys tennis team.
The Sabers advanced to the Class 2A, Section 2 final four on Thursday when they defeated Eden Prairie 4-3 for the first time in school history.
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| It was a nail-biter for Coach Ford Rolfsrud yesterday as his boys tied the match, then took it all. With seven courts to watch simultaneously, there's action everywhere. |
With the match tied at 3-3, everyone turned their attention to the No. 1 doubles match that had Shakopee freshmen Steffon Mitchell and Raghu Inturi take on Eden Prairie seniors Branson Wetmore and David Hagberg.
They split the first two sets with Mitchell and Inturi winning the first set 6-4 and Wetmore and Hagberg grabbing the second set, 3-6.
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| Coach Ford with his five-year volunteer assistant Kevin Hamlin. If you work hard, you can win, coach says. |
That win sends the Sabers into Tuesday's section final four along with Minnetonka, Hutchinson and Mankato East.
Those matches will be played at Gustavus Adolphus College beginning at 9 a.m. with the championship matches taking place soon afterward.
Shakopee will play Mankato East in the section semifinals. [Ford played for Mankato East during his high school years there.]
In the win against Eden Prairie, Shakopee eighth-grader Jackson Allen topped Eden Prairie senior Salem Bachour 6-2, 7-5 and another eighth-grader, Alex Exsted, won 6-2, 6-2 against junior Kevin Bu.
The other point won by Shakopee came at No. 2 doubles where seniors Griffen Anderson and Sean Bowerman won 6-1, 6-4.
Eden Prairie won at No. 2 and 3 and No. 3 doubles in straight sets.
Ford's former doubles partner at Mankato East dropped by to
support his old pal, but that's as far as it went. Tony Schmidt
now lives in Eden Prairie, works for Signa and is an EP Eagle
through and through. The two went to school together from
K-12 and 5 years of college. They were each other's best man
at their weddings. As doubles partners, they went to state twice in
High School and were teammates for four years in college
High School and were teammates for four years in college
as well. Tuesday Ford takes on their alma mater, where
his sister is now the assistant varsity coach.
his sister is now the assistant varsity coach.
