HURON – Jadon Lindner and Zandar Binde combined to win the third flight doubles championship and lead Watertown to a fifth-place finish Tuesday in the Eastern South Dakota Conference boys tennis tournament.
Yankton topped the nine-team field with 335.5 points, followed by Mitchell at 319, Aberdeen Central 160, Brandon Valley 134.5, Watertown 124, Harrisburg 102, Pierre 95, Huron 15 and Brookings 4.5.
“We started play at 8 a.m. and finished at 7:30 p.m., so it was a very long day of tennis,” said Watertown head coach Ryan Zink. “The seniors really stepped up today and played well in singles and doubles.”
Watertown Players
Lindner (fifth flight) posted 10-3 and 10-8 wins to advance to the championship before falling to Keaton List of Yankton 10-6. Binde also went 2-1 in the sixth flight, winning 10-3 and 8-6 and losing 10-0, and finished third.
Evan Meester bounced back from a 10-4 loss to post 8-5 and 8-2 wins and take home the consolation championship in the third flight. Curtis Sneden went 1-2 and fell in the consolation championship at No. 2 singles. He fell lost on a tiebreaker 10-9(3) in the first round, won 8-6 and lost 8-5.
Mark Mahowald was 1-2 in the first flight, winning 10-1 and losing 10-1 and 8-6. Justin Remmers also went 1-2 at No. 4 singles, winning 10-0 and losing 10-3 and 8-7(5).
In doubles, Lindner and Binde posted 10-1 and 10-8 wins before downing Harrison Krajewski and Dylan Ridgway of Yankton 10-9 (5) in the championship.
Meester and Remmers finished fourth at No. 2 doubles, winning 10-4 and losing 10-6 and 8-4.
Mahowald and Sneden went 0-2 at No. 1 doubles, losing 10-3 and 8-2.
“We are still inconsistent at times and definitely know what we need to work on,” said Zink.
Conference Champions
Yankton’s run to the title included singles championships from Gage Becker (first flight), Zac Briggs (third flight), Krajewski (fourth flight) and List. Becker and Briggs combined to win in the first flight of doubles.
Mitchell had the other champions with Tyler Loecker at No. 2 singles and Luke Jerke at No. 6 single and Aidan Patrick and Drake Jerke at No. 2 doubles.
What’s Next for Watertown
Watertown is slated to host a triangular on Thursday at Highland Park. The Arrows will take on Aberdeen Central at 10 a.m., followed by Madison and Aberdeen Central at 12:30 p.m. and Watertown vs. Madison at about 3 p.m.
It is the final regular season action for the Arrows, who will close out their season in the state Class AA tournament May 19-20 at Rapid City.
https://www.thepublicopinion.com/story/sports/2022/05/10/boys-tennis-watertowns-lindner-binde-win-no-3-doubles-title-esd-tourney/9700499002/
