Grady Hauswirth (right) and Austin Rau (below) combined for a come-from-behind 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over New Prague Friday afternoon at the Boeckman Middle School courts.
You can't get much busier that the Tigers did last week with a dizzying five matches in five days schedule.
The hectic stretch ended with two wins and three losses thanks to a 5-2 Missota Conference victory over New Prague Friday afternoon at the Boeckman Middle School courts.
Farmington swept the four singles matches and got a memorable 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win from Grady Hauswirth and Austin Rau at second doubles in the regular season finale.
"I would not say we played great against New Prague, but we did enough to win," coach Jack Olwell said. "We won the three straight-set matches and managed a split of the four that went to a third set....It was a roller coaster of a week. Two wins, two thumpings and one close call."
Bennett Lagro, Jake Bauer and Ivan Rodriguez each won in two sets at the first three singles positions and Jon Zakoski came from behind to win in three sets at the No. 4 slot.
The victory by the Hauswirth/Rau combo at second doubles was an entertaining one. The Farmington team fell behind 0-3 in the deciding third set before winning six of the next seven games.
"They showed a lot of heart in not being discouraged by a tough stretch of games," Olwell said. "Both Grady and Austin hit some game-saving shots at crucial times."
The previous night state-rated Shakopee paid a visit to the Boeckman courts and dominated at all positions in a 7-0 win.
"Shakopee is very solid and they probably won't even make it out of their section," Olwell said, "but the thing I liked was our kids didn't back off. They accepted the challenge."
Lagro and Bauer teamed up at No. 1 doubles for the first time this season and lost 0-6, 3-6. The only other Tiger entry to make much of a dent in the Sabers' dominance was the No. 3 doubles tandem of Drew Corraro and Jake Spinder that lost1-6, 2-6.
"Jake and Drew played their best tennis of the season," Olwell said. "Drew was a terror at the net and Jake chased down almost everything they threw at him."
