Posted: 4/12/06
Mix of experience and youth should lead to success
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Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
Itís only a matter of time until Forest Lake High School boys tennis senior Luke Odegaard breaks Ted Ericksonís school career record of 81 victories.
Odegaard, a six year varsity starter, enters the season with a career record of 75-36. The three time All-Conference winner is just one of seven returning letter winners.
Other returning letter winners include senior Dan Cromwell, senior Jeff Kohler, senior Ted Steiner, junior Rob Gavanda, sophomore Sam Steiner and Spencer Conrad.
Odegaard will lead the team not only as the eventual all-time career victory record holder, but also as a captain.
ìHe is the most wonderful captain,î Rangers head coach Greg Patchin said.
ìHe is a six year letter winner, three time All-Conference player and simply a good leader. Heís like having another coach out there.î
Patchin is impressed with Odegaardís maturity both on and off the court, and his drive to be a good student and athlete.
ìI donít want to gush, but heís the best boys tennis player weíve ever had in my time here,î Patchin said.
With Patchinís remarks about Odegaard itís obvious he is the number one singles player heading into the season. Cromwell is expected to fill that number two spot, with Kohler in the three spot.
ìOne - two -three we should be OK against almost everybody, getting two out of three or three out of three wins from the top three,î Patchin said.
ìCromwell and Kohler are pretty solid as they played third and fourth singles last year and were above .500.î
The fourth singles spot hasnít been decided yet. Patchin says sophomores Sammy Steiner, Josh Magistad, Spencer Conrad and Ben Mullin all have a chance of filling that spot.
ìItís kind of sophomores by committee right now,î Patchin said. ìIf Steiner doesnít play second doubles, heíll play fourth singles.î
At doubles, Patchin says heís got two solid pairs, and a question mark at the third spot.
Gavanda and Steiner are, in Patchinís estimation, the best doubles players, so he split them up and gave them new partners in an effort to have two solid doubles teams.
ìWeíve got four experienced doubles players who are all about equal, but we took our best two and divided them up and let them pick who they wanted to play with,î Patchin said.
Gavanda and junior Cal Kerkhoff will start out as the number one doubles team, with Steiner and Conrad in the number two spot.
ìRob (Gavanda) and Cal (Kerkhoff) will play first doubles one match, then weíll change it to Steiner and Conrad first in the next until somebody shows theyíre going to step out as a number one team,î Patchin said.
ìItís a tough thing right now because we could put Sammy (Steiner) up there in singles play for a strong fourth spot, leaving a hold in second doubles.î
The number three spot could be filled by Ted Steiner, senior Joe Mitchell, sophomore Paul Hill, senior Kyle Vandenburg or ninth grader Sean Garry.
ìThird doubles starts with Steiner, heís a senior, state champion Nordic skier, exceptionally bright, never loses his composure on the court,î Patchin said. ìHeís got his choice of partners and the front runner seems to be Paul Hill, but that can change any time.î
Competition
ìWe should be around .500 this year or better,î Patchin said.
Two time defending Suburban East Conference champion Mounds View is the team Patchin said will be the top dog in the conference, followed by a Stillwater team that has returned their whole team.
The Rangers finished last season 11-6, and Patchin sees the Rangers doing the same, but it all depends on their early season schedule as they face Blaine, Coon Rapids and Hastings. When the Rangers faced all three of those teams last year they either won or lost by a score of 4-3.
ìThose could all go 4-3, or 3-4 again this year, and depending on how they go it could have a big effect on our record,î Patchin said.
This yearís non conference schedule is a bit tougher as Patchin opted to add tougher opponents to the schedule to prepare his players for the section tournament.
The Rangers opened their season Monday with a 4-3 victory over Blaine. The Rangers got their only singles victory from Kohler who won 6-2, 6-0. The doubles teams of Gavanda-Kerkhoff, Steiner-Conrad and Mitchell-Hill all won their matches to bring home the victory for the Rangers.
ìIt was a good opening win for us,î Patchin said. ìIt all came down to an inexperienced third doubles team and they came through.î
The Rangers next match is at 3:30 p.m. today, Thursday, at Hastings.
Forest Lake Times
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