As the saying goes ‘to be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs.’ For the first time in a little more than a decade, there’s a new champion in ‘AA’ boys tennis, and that team is the Harrisburg Tigers.
The Tigers edged out a narrow 21.5-point win over Sioux Falls Lincoln, the ten-time defending state champions, on Friday after at Tomar Park in Sioux Falls to claim the title.
Sioux Falls Lincoln, led by Tom Krueger, has been THE platinum program in the state with boys tennis. The Patriots streak would likely sit at eleven straight had COVID not cancelled the state tournament in the spring of 2020. It’s now Harrisburg’s turn to hold the top spot, and they earned it in a ‘grind it out’ state tournament.
“We started the program ten years ago from nothing, and ever since we started Sioux Falls Lincoln has been the state champion. Since our first year, and our boys play a lot of tennis and they've been hearing about Sioux Falls Lincoln since they've been in second or third grade,” said Tigers head coach Matt Termansen. ‘They had it had it on their mind that this was the year that we felt like we had a chance. It feels amazing that these kids were able to do that for themselves and for Harrisburg School District.”
Harrisburg finished with 494.5-points with Lincoln right behind them at 473. O’Gorman, who also had a strong showing at the tournament, finished with 403. Yankton placed fourth with 267 and Rapid City Stevens rounded out the top 5 with 234.
As coach Termansen explained, it was close right down to the final match.
"We had a 48.5-point lead going into the last three rounds of doubles. We knew the scenario before, Lincoln knew the scenario before, Harrisburg had to win just one of their doubles matches, or Lincoln had to lose one of their doubles matches," said the Tigers coach.
From there, Lincoln won doubles flight 1 and doubles flight 2. In doubles flight 3, it was Harrisburg vs Lincoln. It was so tight down the stretch, it came down to the Doubles Flight 3 match, which was also the final match to complete for the day.
“It’s poetic, you know, that it comes down to this final match,” told Termansen. We're up like eight and a half with that match on. If we win, we win by 20 or so. And if we lose, we're in second place. We go to a second set tiebreaker and ended up winning. So, you know, it was, if you're going to draw it up that's the way to do it.”
It was Cooper Rott and Brayden Rausch who won it for Harrisburg in Doubles Flight 3.
In the singles flights, Jackson Hancock won Flight 2, Robert Rallis took first in Singles Flight 3, and Rott claimed the title in Flight 5. Alexander Rallis finished runner-up in Flight 1, while Maverik Ragon took runner-up in Flight 4. Rausch placed third in Flight 6. Ragon and R Rallis then teamed up to place runner-up in Doubles Flight 2, while A Rallis and Hancock took fourth in Doubles Flight 1.
“There's been a flood of emotions, this whole state tournament. Ups and downs, we've had kids lose matches that they were favored to win, you know, so we get upset about that, but then we pulled a few upsets and we're happy about that,” coach Termansen exclaimed. “But the main emotion I had was just how proud of the kids I am. We as coaches are a very small part of the championship. It's the boys that put in the work, the ten months out of the year that I don't see them. I'm just so happy for them and just so happy that they get a chance to raise that trophy.”
Harrisburg drew some serious attention when they beat Lincoln 9-0 in a regular season matchup. O’Gorman and Lincoln split during the regular season, which had some talking about a potential O’Gorman and Harrisburg clash at state – but coach Termansen knew that come late May, Lincoln was still going to show up and make a run at an eleventh straight title.
“I told anyone that would listen to me that I knew Lincoln would be there in the end because they just have the winning pedigree. They know they’ve got to take it to another level at the state tournament, and they have all of their guys, other than one or two, that have been there before,” Termansen told. “I'm a big fan of sports stories in general and just good stories and, you know. It couldn't have worked out as a better story for this year's team. So, as stressful as it was, I'm very happy with the way it ended now that it's over.”
Brayden Rausch is the only member of Harrisburg’s team not coming back next year, which means their top five varsity members are coming back. The goal for next year’s Harrisburg team? Try to do it again.
“We didn't want to talk repeat before it happened, but we'll talk repeat now that that is our goal,” said Termansen. “We're going to be coming back for it next year.”
Sioux Falls Christian won the ‘A’ boys state championship earlier in the week as well, meaning this is two state tennis titles coming home to Lincoln County this week. A solid week of tennis for the southern Sioux Empire.
