Breck boys tennis battles hard as regular season nears end

Breck boys tennis played its penultimate regular season game last week in a 4-3 loss to Minneapolis Southwest on May 10 at home.

The Mustangs entered last week at .500 after eight matches, beating Mounds Park Academy, Southwest Christian, Minnehaha Academy and Centennial earlier in the spring. Breck played two other games last week, starting with a 7-0 sweep of Providence Academy on May 6, Breck’s first 7-0 of the 2024 season. They then defeated St. Louis Park 5-2 on May 7. The loss to Southwest adjusted their season record to 6-5.

Breck head coach Sion Wilkins told the Sun Post that the challenge presented by the Lakers on Friday was worthwhile as the Mustangs look to prepare for the coming section tournament.

“[The Southwest match] was close. Even though we came out on the short end of the stick, these kinds of close matchups are not only important for the boys to learn from, but you also need these kinds of matches heading into the section and state tournaments,” he said. “It’s good timing to play some of these harder, more competitive matches. ... Even though it’s a loss on the scoreline, I think we’ll benefit a lot from today going forward.”

Wilkins added that the day’s tight contests, which included multiple tiebreakers, provided a major opportunity to analyze and improve upon the team’s ability to handle decisive moments in events.

“We had a lot of tiebreakers today and whenever you play those, the results often come from the players that have a better idea of what they’re trying to do to win each specific point,” Wilkins said. “That was a takeaway today for me. We need to get better at knowing strengths and weaknesses, but also running certain plays that give us the best chance to win each point.”

Breck’s regular season schedule will conclude the following week with a game against Orono on May 13 (after this edition went to press).