Apr. 11—The Austin boys tennis team went up against an elite opponent, but each of the Packers top two singles players put up a solid effort in a 7-0 loss to Rochester Mayo in Paulson Courts Friday.
Austin's No. 2 singles player Nathan Danielson suffered his first defeat of the season when he lost to Noah Wisniewski 6-2, 6-2 and Austin's No. 1 singles player Cole Hebrink 6-1, 6-1 to Caleb Kennel of Mayo.
Danielson is now 3-1 overall on the season and he used the match against Mayo to make further improvements to his game.
"It's good to compete against someone like that. He put a lot of pressure on me, and I did some good stuff. But it was hard," Danielson said. "I worked hard over the summer and my confidence has gotten better. Cole and I push each other a lot in practice and we've had some good matches against each other."
Hebrink said he's seen Danielson grow as a player this season and that has made the team better overall.
"It helps a lot, especially when we're playing together," Hebrink said. "Nathan's gotten so much better from where he started and we always go out and play in the summer. He's gotten a lot better, and I'm really proud of him for that."
Like Danielson, Hebrink said it's always good to go against the top players that Mayo has to offer.
"He's really good," Hebrink said of Kennel, his opponent. "He hits every ball and he hits a lot of balls back. I just try to make him hit every single shot. I try to hit with him, because I know I can."
Hebrink is coming off a stellar basketball season where he led the Packers in scoring. He's still trying to get back in tennis mode and he's getting there fast.
"I'm not where I want to be yet," Hebrink said. "I still think I can get better. When we weren't so good in basketball, I was definitely looking forward to the tennis season. I like tennis a lot."
The Packer tennis team is now 1-3 overall.
Singles
No. 1 Caleb Kennel (M) def. Cole Hebrink (A) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 Noah Wisniewski (M) def. Nathan Danielson (A) 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 Al McKie (M) def. Michael Garry (A) 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 Max Rivera (M) def. Quinton Grimley (A) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 David Teng/John Trygstad (M) def. Kyler Flanders/Gavin Matyas (A) 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 Daniel McKie/Michael Teng (M) def. Samuel Mata/Aaron Danielson (A) 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 Nico Onigkeit/Noah Elder (M) def. Marcos Mata/Timothy Perez (A) 6-0, 6-0
