Wayzata Tennis Advances To State Semifinals

The Wayzata boys tennis team defeated Mounds View 4-3 on Tuesday in the Class AA state quarterfinals at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center. 

The Trojans pride themselves on the strength of their doubles teams, but on Tuesday they needed equal efforts from their singles and doubles squads to pull out the victory.

With the match scored tied 3-3, everything came down to Scott Vezzosi's match against Mounds View's Max Schaper. Vezzosi said that he looked at the scoreboard just a few games before losing the second set to see that everything now rested in his hands. 

"If I focused on my game, I knew I could win," Vezzosi said.

After a back-and-forth start to the third set, where both players lost games on their serve, Schaper took an injury timeout due to cramping in his legs. 

After the timeout, Vezzosi said that he changed his game plan.

"I wanted to go for longer rallies and move him around a lot," he said.

The strategy worked and Vezzosi quickly saw his lead jump to 5-2. In front of the rest of the Wayzata team, Schaper double-faulted on match point to send cheers through the Trojan sideline, giving them the 4-3 win. 

At No. 2 singles, Nicholas Beaty beat the Mustangs’ Austin Wiegert 6-1, 6-0 to pick up two singles wins.

On the doubles side, Duncan Sallstrom and Jack Graven defeated Mounds View’s Cole Thayer and Isaac Jemielita 6-2, 7-6 (7-0), while Giuliano Kornberg and Matt Halverson topped the Mustangs’ Casey Anderson and Sam Hjelm 6-2, 7-6 (7-2). At No. 3 doubles, Michael Anderson and Ketan Kulkarni lost 6-1, 6-3 to Mounds View’s Jakob Bartels and Tyler Wiegert.

Wayzata’s Dustin Britton fell to Wyatt McCoy 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, and Conor Shook lost to Mounds View’s Paul Kroska 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.

The Trojan victory sets up a semifinal matchup with Mahtomedi at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.