Albert Lea sweeps Austin, gets swept by Rochester Mayo

Published 8:00 pm Sunday, April 17, 2016

The Tigers recorded their first loss of the season after spitting a triangular over the weekend. 

The Albert Lea boys’ tennis team swept Austin 7-0 before being swept 7-0 by Rochester Mayo Saturday in Rochester.

“We had a great Saturday morning of tennis,” said Albert Lea coach Tom Dyrdal. “The guys came out strong against Austin. We were able to pick up our first win against them in a few years.”

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Taylor Herfindahl, Schafer Overgaard and Grant Herfindahl each won their matches in two games in the singles category. Foster Otten lost his second game before winning his third to win his match.

In doubles, Austin Dulitz and Nikk Christianson, Michael Savelkoul and Sam Ehrhardt, and Andrew Huerta-Ortiz and Keith Grzybowski won each of their matches in two games.

While Albert Lea played with force against Austin, the team didn’t fare as well against Rochester Mayo.

“Mayo is one of the top teams in the state,” Dyrdal said. “We played well against them even in the matches where the score doesn’t reflect it.”

The only Albert Lea singles player to take his match to three games was Overgaard. In doubles, the only Albert Lea duo to do the same was Huerta-Ortiz and Grzybowski.

“Schafer Overgaard had a great day, extending Mayo’s No. 3 player to a third set,” Dyrdal said. “Our No. 3 doubles team of Andrew Huerta-Ortiz and Keith Gryzbowski nearly picked up a win over Mayo, losing 8-10 in a super tiebreaker.”

Next, Albert Lea (3-1 overall, 3-1 Big Nine Conference), will host Blue Earth at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

About Colleen Harrison

Colleen Harrison is the photo editor at the Albert Lea Tribune. She does photography and writes general-assignment stories.

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