Woodbury boys tennis: Royals stumble, drop to 2-2 in conference

Woodbury came up on the wrong side of three close matches last week.

The Royals, who played matches on three consecutive days, fell to East Ridge, St. Thomas Academy and Cretin-Derham Hall.

The Royals lost all three matches 4-3.

“We knew going into the week that we were in store for three very close matches,” said Woodbury tennis coach Derek Otto, “and we certainly got them.”

Woodbury dropped to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in Suburban East Conference competition.

Despite the losses, the Royals saw some strong performances, especially at No. 1 singles, where junior Matt Shubert was 3-0 on the week. He topped East Ridge sophomore Zach Nigatu in the Thursday match, dropped St. Thomas Academy’s Tony Bretzman on Wednesday and topped Liam Caulfield of Cretin April 24.

Otto said Shubert has been playing “a very effective balance of patience and aggression.”

“He’s been playing very smart tennis,” the coach said. “Matt is playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

His brother, Royals junior Joey Shubert, also emerged last week as a potential singles threat. After playing most of the season at No. 1 doubles with Jordon Stevens, the sophomore played two singles matches last week.

He lost Thursday at No.3 singles against East Ridge opponent Vishall Gupta, but found paydirt Wednesday, when he topped his St. Thomas Academy foe in a three-set No. 2 singles match.

“Joey Shubert played the best match of his young high school career on Wednesday,” Otto said.

The No. 2 doubles team of sophomore David Lundberg and freshman Arie Scherson is 4-0 so far.

This week the Royals face Park, White Bear Lake and Mounds View. Woodbury travels over the weekend to Eau Claire, Wis., for the Old Abe Invitational.

“We’ll take on some of the best of Wisconsin and Minnesota,” Otto said of the Old Abe tournament.

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