AUSTIN &045; Officially, it was a 5-2 loss for the Albert Lea High School boys’ tennis team.

Tigers co-head coach Tom Dyrdal saw it much closer.

Five of the seven matches went to three sets at Austin Thursday, leaving the Tigers tantalizingly close to a victory.

&uot;All three doubles matches came down to one or two points either way,&uot; said Dyrdal. &uot;We just weren’t able to convert some of those big points in the third set. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of intensity. It was fun to watch all those good, close matches.&uot;

The Tigers’ victories were both close.

At No. 1 singles, Conner Keyeski overcame a 5-0 deficit in the first set, winning six straight games before falling in a tiebreaker. He went on to win the second set 7-5 and finished it off with a 6-2 triumph in the third set.

&uot;Conner played his best match of the season,&uot; said Dyrdal. &uot;He was really mentally strong and had his strokes going.&uot;

The other win was by Jon Hatcher, who prevailed 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 at No. 4 singles.

Greg Peterson lost 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles and Andrew Dyrdal fell 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3.

&uot;Peterson, even though he lost, played his best match of the year against a quality opponent,&uot; said Coach Dyrdal.

Stephen Thorn and Micah Holt were nipped 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 at No. 1 doubles. Kurtis Bohrnstedt and Corey Dieser were defeated 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 at No. 2, and at No. 3 Jay Ackerman and Eric Shahan lost 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

Junior varsity winners for the Tigers were at doubles, by the teams of Jon Montag and Andrew Haatvedt, Mike Bosma and Josh Svendsen, and Bryant Olchefske and Andrew Stoneking.

The Tigers, 1-6 in the Big Nine and 1-7 overall, host one of the state’s top teams, Rochester Mayo, Tuesday on the Southwest Middle School courts.