Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Thursday, June 05, 2008
Bodin and Pedretti 0-2 at tennis sectional
Holmen High School boys tennis coach Greg Jameson and Onalaska head coach Kurt Gutknecht both lauded the strength of the Waunakee subsectional entering the May 21 sectional at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. That played out throughout the sectional, but also at No. 3 doubles, where the Holmen team of juniors Ethan Pedretti and Trent Bodin lost each of their matches.
Pedretti and Bodin (12-8) opened with the Madison West duo of seniors Arthur and Warren Clauss (15-2). The Clausses won the sectional championship 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 over Middleton's Ian Markson and Adam Desousky, which also clinched the team title for West.
“The first match they actually played pretty well,” Jameson said of Pedretti and Bodin. “They didn't make a lot of errors, but they were by far the best No. 3 doubles team I've seen.
“It didn't matter a lot what we did. They made amazing shots. They were better than a lot of the No. 1 teams we played against.”
Pedretti and Bodin saw a familiar foe in the third-place match, Onalaska's Alex Aschenbrenner and Nick Klos, who they also played as recently as a week earlier. Aschenbrenner and Klos (13-2) beat Pedretti and Bodin in straight sets.
“If they'd have played like they did in their first match, they'd have been in it,” Jameson said. “But they didn't play well at all. It was probably their poorest match going back at least a month.”
The further strength of the Waunakee sectional was played out in two areas. The Central subsectional won just one 1st-round match, with Central's Victor Mirasola (14-5) beating Verona's Adam Means (8-13) in a No. 1 singles quarterfinal. The two extra doubles qualifiers from the sectional to state were Verona No. 2 doubles runner-up Sam Schmidt and Kevin Reinke (19-4) and Madison Memorial No. 2 doubles team Ben and Jake Wolf, though the Wolf's did not advance to sectionals. Both teams made it over Onalaska No. 1 doubles team and Mississippi Valley Conference tournament champions Alec Bronston and Ben McClellan (17-5).
Jameson was hoping to make a larger dent into the MVC this year, but the Vikings matched their fourth-place league finish of a year ago.
“We had the potential to do a little better in the conference,” Jameson said. “We have depth, but don't have the premium player, and it might be the same next year. We played well in some tough situations, but I thought we'd better in some of the singles flights.”
So what will it take for HHS to catch up to Onalaska, Aquinas and Central? The window for Holmen to catch Central looked widest this year, with the Red Raiders playing four freshmen in their lineup.
“We have to improve our overall games and not just rely on what we've done to this point,” Jameson said. “We have to develop variety and flatten angles on our ground strokes if we've going to consistently beat the better players. It takes playing the best players in the state in the summer.
“We have a chance to be one of the best boys tennis teams at Holmen next year if we decide we want to be. We'll have as much talent as we've ever had.”
The Vikings should have a similar roster to make those changes. HHS graduates just No. 1 doubles player Tyler Kerska, and its No. 2 doubles team of Pheng Lee and Vue Lor. In addition to Bodin and Pedretti, among those eligible to return are Xa Xiong at No. 1 singles, Matt Jameson at No. 2 singles, Mike Yang at No. 3 singles, Isaiah Vang at No. 4 singles and Cole Wittwer at No. 1 doubles.
“I couldn't have asked for anything more from our seniors,” Jameson said. “Pheng and Vue had a tough end to their careers, but they still ended in a sportsmanlike fashion. The seniors are the best leaders we've had in my time here.”
Dan Larsen of the Wisconsin State Journal contributed to this article.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.