Klingbeil takes third; Damm falls twice in match tiebreakers

WIAA DIV. 2 BOYS TENNIS

Conner Klingbeil went 1-1 to place third in the flight-three singles bracket, while Saskatoon Damm lost two tough match at number-two as the Medford Raiders’ boys tennis season came to a close Thursday at the WIAA Division 2 Eau Claire Regis sectional.

Klingbeil ended his junior year with a win, knocking off Finnian Clark (8-4), a sophomore from La Crosse Logan in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 in the flight-three third-place match. The win gave Klingbeil a 13-3 singles record for the season.

His chances of a sectional championship in the flight disappeared with a 6-2, 6-0 loss in the semifinals to Jaedan Silcox, a freshman from La Crosse Aquinas who wound up winning the flight championship. Silcox improved to 15-6 by beating Zach Laber (8-2) of Eau Claire Regis 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

For Damm, a senior, the day featured two good, back-and-forth matches that, unfortunately ended in losses in third-set 10-point tiebreakers.

Damm started the sectional with a chance to earn an automatic bid to the WIAA Division 2 state tournament if he could win both of his matches in the flight-two bracket.

In his semifinal, Damm got the first set against Osceola senior Carson Hollman 6-2, but a tight second set went Hollman’s way 7-5. The tiebreaker went beyond 10 points where Hollman (13-3) finally won it 13-11 to advance to the sectional championship match. Damm went to the third-place match, where he again got off to a great start, winning the first set 6-1 over Toney Wesner, a sophomore from Regis. Wesner evened the match with a 6-2 win in the second set and took the tiebreaker 10-5 to win the match and finish his season at 13-6. Damm ended an outstanding season at 14-3.

La Crosse Aquinas senior Joe O’Flaherty, a state qualifier last year, punched his return ticket to state by beating Wesner 6-0, 6-2 in the semifinals and Hollman 6-1, 6-1 in the final. O’Flaherty is 21-1.

Aquinas blew away the field in the sectional tournament, scoring 52 points to earn the sectional’s berth in the WIAA Division team state tournament June 10. The Blugolds finished first in five of the seven flights and were second in the two they didn’t win.

Regis (34), Altoona (20), Osceola (19) and La Crosse Logan (18) filled out the top five in the team standings. Medford tied Baldwin-Woodville for eighth with nine points, trailing West Salem (16) and Amery (12). Antigo, Ashland and Lakeland tied for 10th with eight points.

Damm, Brett Lundy and Dante Axon are the three seniors leaving an otherwise young program that went 8-6 in dual meets and finished second in the Great Northern Conference under secondyear head coach Kyle Ranum. The Raiders could bring back their number-one player, Brayden Balciar, Klingbeil and its entire doubles crew that finished the season in the varsity lineup next spring.