Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Tennis, anyone?

Anyone?

After the graduation of last year’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles players as well as the No. 3 doubles team, the Forest Lake tennis team of 2007 is looking for someone, anyone, to fill holes and earn points.

Head coach Greg Patchin will count on his top doubles team of Robert Gavanda and Cal Kerkhoff, who return for their senior seasons, but now they carry the dual roles of leader and captain. And stepping into Luke Odegaard’s vacated spot at No. 1 singles is 7th grader Dustin Boyer, who Patchin calls, The Real Deal.

“He’s the first player that I’ve ever had that’s come to me ‘finished.’”

From there, the Rangers will likely see juniors Spencer Conrad and Sammy Steiner take over at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.

With returning letter-winners in juniors Josh Magistad and Paul Hill in the mix, Patchin admits “the cupboard’s not totally bare.” But after that the line-up is a bit of a mystery because practically anyone could be filling the voids at No. 2 doubles, No. 3 doubles and No. 4 singles.

Sophomore Sean Garry? Junior Ben Mullen? A new senior?

During the first week of practice there were approximately 50 boys looking to make the roster, which Patchin says is more than he usually sees. So in that respect, he has more options to find his replacements, but that also means he has more options to find his replacements.

“With so many new faces, I don’t know where anybody else is going to fit in,” he admits.

One new face that should fit in just fine, thank you, is that of the young Boyer. Already ranked on the national level for his age group, Boyer has Patchin both excited and cautious when the coach talks about this season’s No. 1 singles player.

“He doesn’t hit like a 7th grader, trust me. He’s an outstanding tennis player. But that being said, he’s a 7th grader playing seniors.”

The guarded optimism appears repeatedly in Patchin’s thoughts as he tries to assess where Forest Lake might land this spring.

The team will need Gavanda and Kerkhoff to improve on last year’s record, where they hovered around .500, while Conrad and Steiner will have to establish who’s in the second slot and who holds on for third.

“Good kids, (they) work hard, (they) put in the time, we’ll see,” Patchin states.

Leaning back in his chair, the long-time Ranger coach asks himself the question, “How are we going to do?” and then lets out a laugh that says the season could go either way.

Maybe the middle part of the Suburban East Conference is an attainable goal.

“I think we should have enough to beat Park and Woodbury, maybe Cretin, and I don’t know from there,” he says.

“It’s always fun to go in with no expectations because you can be pleasantly surprised. Part of me says we could win a lot of matches 4-3, but realistically it says, you know what, we’re 2-5 or 3-4.”

Under Patchin, Forest Lake has had to replace its team’s core only two or three times, and this again leads to hopeful commentary. When it comes to Section 7AA, Grand Rapids is the team to beat, but then...

“Because we’re such a young team, we might come hard at the end,” Patchin says. “We might play a lot better in May than we do in March.

“Our goal is to make the final four (of sections). That’s always our goal regardless of how good my team is. I think it’s doable, but then again I don’t know who everybody else got.”

Sounds like it’s anyone’s game.

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