Mitchell claims third place at ESD boys tennis tournament

May 12—YANKTON, S.D. — The Mitchell High School boys tennis team turned in a strong showing at the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet, finishing third overall when the two-day tournament wrapped up Tuesday at Yankton High School.

Harrisburg rolled to the team title with 404 points, while Brandon Valley placed second at 279.6 points. Mitchell secured third with 188 points, narrowly ahead of Yankton's 180-point total and Watertown rounded out the top five with 91 points.

The Kernels were paced by a conference champion in singles play, as Dayton Adams captured the Flight 6 title in strong fashion. Adams capped his run with a 10-9(5) victory over Brandon Valley's Travis Rowberry in the championship match. On his path to the title, Adams defeated Huron's Jeremiah Notario 10-0 and Harrisburg's Howie Rost 10-6.

Mitchell also earned a pair of runner-up finishes in singles competition. At Flight 5, Simon Wiese advanced to the title match after defeating Aberdeen Central's Alex Tarver and Watertown's Tyson Lawrence by identical 10-1 scores. Wiese eventually fell to Harrisburg's Ozil Sharma 10-4 in the championship match to finish second.

Dawson Adams added another second-place finish for the Kernels in Flight 4 singles. Adams opened with a convincing 10-1 victory over Pierre's Levi Hight before edging Brandon Valley's Titan Gross 10-7 in the semifinals. In the championship match, Harrisburg's Cooper Rott claimed a 10-4 win over Adams.

Mitchell picked up additional points throughout the singles brackets. At No. 2 singles, Asher Dannenbring went 1-2 and placed fourth overall.

In Flight 1 singles, Matthew Mauszycki battled through the consolation bracket after dropping his opening match, reaching the fifth-place match and ending with a 1-2 record. Cooper Star competed in Flight 3 singles and finished 0-2 during the two-day tournament.

The Kernels also found success in doubles action with two third-place finishes and a consolation championship. In Flight 1, Mauszycki and Star secured third with an 8-6 victory over Yankton's Harrison Krajewski and Luke Moeller. The duo opened the tournament with a commanding 10-1 win against Watertown's Xane Fligge and Dawson Hartman before dropping a match to close the meet with a 2-1 record.

MHS' other third-place doubles finish came in Flight 2, where Dannenbring and Dawson Adams edged Watertown's Joey Meester and Matthew Bertsch 8-7(6) in a tightly contested third-place match. Earlier in the bracket, the pair earned a 10-7 opening-round victory over Yankton's Chris Rockne and Ethan Marsh before dropping a semifinal matchup.

In Flight 3, Wiese and Dayton Adams rebounded from an early loss to capture the consolation championship. The Kernel tandem defeated Huron's Riley Winegar and Jim Wah 8-5 before rolling past Brookings' Jack Woodard and Shaurya Sehgal 8-1 in the consolation title match.

Mitchell will now have a week to prepare for the Class AA state tournament, which will be contested May 21-22 in Rapid City.