WASECA &045; When the Albert Lea High School boys’ tennis team faced Faribault a couple weeks back, Tigers coach Sean Gillam said he got the feeling it was two programs moving in opposite directions.

On Monday, Gillam got a glimpse of where he’d like his program to be.

The Tigers traveled to Waseca and lost 7-0 to the perennially strong Bluejays.

&uot;Waseca shows you what happens when you have a committed program,&uot; said Gillam, who is trying to rebuild Albert Lea’s program. &uot;You see an excitement and passion for the game that’s missing here right now.&uot;

But the Tigers are making progress, evidenced by their early success at singles.

&uot;All four of our singles players led in the first set,&uot; said Gillam. &uot;Obviously we did not play that well after that, but give Waseca credit for being able to change their game. They were able to adapt better than we were to the situation.&uot;

Adam Luebke, still not completely recovered from an injury, lost 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Conner Keyeski fell 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2, Kurtis Bohrnstedt was defeated 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3, and Andrew Dyrdal lost 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4.

Micah Holt and Corey Dieser came the closest to winning for the Tigers, taking their No. 2 doubles match to three sets before falling 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, dropping the third-set tiebreaker 7-3.

Stephen Thorn and Greg Peterson lost 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles. The No. 3 duo of Eric Hutchison

and Paul Marlin was defeated 6-1, 6-0.

The Tigers return to Big Nine play today at home against Mankato East.