ST. PETER, Minn. – The Bethel University men's tennis team had a good showing at the USTA/ITA Midwest Championships this past weekend at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. The Royals had a total of six athletes compete in the two brackets; with five of the six winning their first round singles matches, and two of the three doubles teams winning their first round match. Over 145 of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest and 23 of the top small college programs took part in the tournament.
The individual performances were highlighted by senior Tucker Morris (Arden Hills, Minn.) who won his first two matches Friday in the USTA/ITA bracket, which is the top draw. In the second round he defeated the #18 seeded player 6-1, 2-6, 10-8. In the third round Morris fell to Juan Luis Chu of Gustavus 6-1,6-1. Chu would advance all the way to the finals before being defeated. Morris was then placed into the back draw bracket where he proceeded to win his first five matches Saturday before losing in the championship of the consolation, which was his sixth match of the day. For the tournament he had a 7-2 record.
“Tucker is definitely our leader,” said Royals head tennis coach Drew Fernelius. “He played a lot of tennis at the highest level and was very impressive. Saturday he started at 9am and finished at 8pm with very little breaks.”
Reggie Ronning (Sr., Alexandria, Minn.) also competed in the USTA/ITA bracket and lost his tightly contested first round match 7-5, 7-5 to a seeded opponent. Ronning and Morris also competed in the double championship and won their first round match 8-2 before being defeated in the second round.
In the Midwest Open bracket junior Steve Shull (Eagan, Minn.) won a pair of matches before losing a tough third round match 7-6, 4-6, 11-9. Brett Lizotte (So., Chisago Lakes, Minn.) won his first round match in exciting fashion by scores of 3-6, 6-1, 10-6. He then received a bye in the second round before losing a hard fought match 4-6, 7-6, 10-4 in the third round. Luke Palmquist (So., South St. Paul) won his first round match when his opponent withdrew. He lost his second round match 6-1, 6-2. Kirby Ronning was the other Bethel competitor, winning his first round match 6-1, 6-3, before falling in the second round.
The doubles team of Lizotte/Palmquist won their first round match 8-3 before falling in the second round 8-5. Ronning and Shull were defeated in their first round match.
“Overall I was really impressed with how they all competed at this level,” coach Fernelius said. “Things are moving upwards with Bethel University tennis.”
The Royals men will wrap up their fall schedule when Northwestern College and Bethany Lutheran come to the Ona Orth Athletic Complex Wednesday afternoon. The match was originally scheduled of Thursday at 4 p.m. but has been changed to Wednesday at 3 p.m. because of the expected poor weather on Thursday.
