Richfield wins home opener, drops next two by one point

Meyer is off to 2-1 start in top singles spot

Close contests is how Richfield boys tennis began the 2024 season. After opening with a 4-3 win over St. Paul Johnson in the Spartans home opener on April 9, Richfield dropped a pair of 4-3 matches to Chaska on April 10 and Fridley on April 11 to wrap up the week.

Richfield took 2-of-3 singles matches and won two more doubles matches against Johnson for the four team points needed to win the match. No. 1 singles player Cole Meyer downed Denny Yang 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. Daniel Tam did the same at third singles 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. Jack Friel lost his second singles match to Danny Khin 6-4, 2-6, 1-0.

In doubles matches, the Spartans No. 1 duo of Peter Hasnik and Jonas Taylor won in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 and the No. 2 team of Tenzin Jigdral and Ollie Gerster won in three sets 6-1, 0-6, 6-2.

Against former Metro West Conference foe Chaska on April 11, Meyer and Taylor won at first and second singles in three sets. Meyer won at No. 1 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 and Taylor won at No. 2 6-7, 6-0, 1-0. At third singles, Tam lost to Chaska’s Evan Atkinson 6-2, 2-6, 1-0.

The Spartans No. 1 doubles team of Friel and Hasnik beat out Chaska’s Will Podhradsky and Varun Sridhar 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 for the lone RHS doubles point.

Against Fridley, Tam won the long singles team point coming from the No. 3 spot with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Deo Gbadoe. Meyer lost at first singles to Fridley’s Jacob Tiessen 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 and Friel also lost in three sets at No. 2 singles to Aidan Andler 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

At first doubles, Richfield’s Hasnik and Taylor dominated Quinn Hendrickson and Nathan DeBoer 6-0, 6-2.