The Section 8A Boys Tennis individual tennis tournament moved indoors to Choice Fitness in Grand Forks, North Dakota, because of the threat of rain on Wednesday.
Crookston junior, Isaac Thomforde (#3 seed) was the only Pirate left on the final day of the individual tournament after winning two matches on Tuesday in Crookston.
On Tuesday, Thomforde beat #14 seed Lucas Rantanen of Thief River Falls 6-1, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, Thomforde beat #6 seed Jowell Gamez of New London-Spicer 7-5, 6-3.
On Wednesday, Thomforde took on #2 seed Jett Cornelius of Thief River Falls in the semi-finals. Isaac had a great first set and won by an impressive 6-1 score. The second set was an exciting back-and-forth battle, but Cornelius outlasted Thomforde to win the set 7-5, forcing a third and final set. The momentum Cornelius had going into the third set was obvious as he cruised to a 6-1 victory to win the match and advance to the championship.
THIRD-PLACE MATCH-
Thomforde took on #4 seed Kenneth Schmiesing of New London-Spicer in the third-place match.
The first set was another back-and-forth battle for Isaac as he lost a heart-breaker 7-6 and 7-1 in the tie-breaker. Isaac bounced back with an impressive second set as he won 6-3 to force a third and final set.
Unfortunately, during the match, Cornelius lost the championship match, and Isaac knew he wouldn’t get a true second match, but his opponent would get one if he won. That seemed to play a factor in the third set as Schmiesing won the third set 6-3 to win the match and play in a true-second match for a trip to state.
Thomforde’s season came to an end with a fourth-place finish.
FOR COACH NICK GARMEN’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW-
