Woodbury boys tennis: Royals stay perfect in conference play

The Royals stayed unbeaten in the Suburban East Conference last week, where they picked up a big win over Forest Lake.

“It’s a really nice win,” boys tennis coach Derek Otto said.

Woodbury improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.

The Royals struggled against the Rangers’ singles attack – earning just one win in four matches – but ran the table in doubles.

The singles games were dispatched quickly, with all Woodbury players except No. 4 player David Lundberg, who won 6-3, 6-1, being dispatched in straight sets.

“They might have the top 1-2-3 singles lineup in the state,” Otto said of Forest Lake, which boasts three-time defending Class AA state champion Dusty Boyer, who beat Woodbury’s Matt Shubert 6-0, 6-0.

The losses put the Royals in a 1-3 hole, meaning the remaining players left on the court needed to run the table.

“So we definitely needed the doubles to come through for us,” Otto said.

They did.

The No. 1 doubles team of Jordon Stevens and Joey Shubert dropped the duo of Zack Buckley and Austin Riederman 6-2, 6-2.

At No. 2 doubles, Ben Sajevic and Arie Scherson won 7-5, 6-2. The No. 3 pairing of Victor Ding and Darsh Desai won 6-1, 6-3.

Sajevic moved over from the No. 2 singles position to a doubles role for the Forest Lake match in a move that Otto said is aimed at building on strengths.

“We’ve got some options and we’ll continue to exercise those options,” he said.

The Forest Lake win was followed by a nonconference tournament Saturday at Burnsville that again saw strong doubles play.

The pairing of Scherson and Lundberg won its match over Academy of Holy Angels, as did the team of Ding and Desai. Doubles partners Matt Meidt and Nguyen Phan also won against Holy Angels competition.

Meanwhile, Joey Shubert – playing in a No. 3 singles role – beat his Holy Angels opponent.

Sam Lund was Woodbury’s only singles player to win against Becker during the meet, which was not completed due to rain.

Last week’s scheduled match against Park was rescheduled due to rain.

The Royals faced Cretin-Derham Hall on Tuesday in a match that was played after the Bulletin went to press.

Woodbury faces St. Thomas Academy today and East Ridge on Thursday.

“Those are all going to be tight matches,” Otto said.

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