Blake Friese finds his groove, survives marathon match in Jacks' win over Crookston
· Yahoo Sports
Apr. 2—BEMIDJI — Losing a long first set in a tiebreaker could be devastating for any high school tennis player.
Not to Bemidji's Blake Friese.
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In a match that lasted nearly two and a half hours, which was full of deuces against Crookston's Gunnar Groven, Friese regrouped himself after an initial first-set heartbreaker to take control of the No. 3 singles match, winning the latter set 6-2 with a 10-0 tiebreaker triumph.
His win was a part of Bemidji's 5-2 victory over Crookston in the climate-controlled confines of Bemidji State's Gillett Wellness Center on Thursday.
After losing the first set 7-6, Friese admitted that he felt frustrated and was trying to do too much. Going into the second set, he didn't feel any pressure. He just knew he needed to make some slight adjustments that would tip the court in his favor.
Between sets, head coach Kyle Fodness came over to him, acting as a "mirror," helping him realize his mistakes and correcting them.
"He sees a lot of the things that can help him take control of a match," Fodness said. "I can maybe help clarify those a little bit, maybe ask some of the right questions, but he's the guy who really does a great job of just looking at the court, looking at his opponent and looking at himself and saying, 'OK, how do I put my strength against this player's weakness?'"
Groven struggled during long rallies, so instead of looking for the right shot, Friese looked for ways to just keep the ball in play and let his opponent make the mistakes.
"Early in the match, I just kept trying to hit winners," Friese said. "Later in the match, I just kept hitting it in play, and he kept making mistakes. I think that helped me a lot."
Once Friese switched up his strategy, the sophomore got into a zone that made him almost unbeatable, winning the second set in dominating fashion and sweeping the 10-point tiebreaker.
"I think he underrates just what a smart athlete he is sometimes," Fodness added. "He often has the right ideas. I just say, 'Yeah, that sounds good to me. Let's go do it.' He really did a great job mentally."
Friese had one of the two wins BHS nabbed in singles. Owen Lappinga won his No. 1 singles match 6-2, 6-2, while Elihu Broten came one shot away from claiming his No. 4 singles match against Ean Deleon, losing 4-6, 7-5, 9-11.
Meanwhile, Bemidji swept all its doubles matches. Chase Fairchild and PeterMathews took their No. 1 doubles match 6-1, 6-2, while No. 3 doubles Paul Gifford and Hudson Moussa won both their sets 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Ethan Frank and Logan Berg had one of the toughest matches against Colton Osborn and Alex Zammert. After winning the first set 6-3, the second set went to a tiebreaker that the Jacks won 7-4 to take the match.
Much like Friese at No. 3 singles, Frank and Berg had to make adjustments themselves to pull out the victory.
"There were a couple of things that they had to change during their match just to sharpen up how they were playing," Fodness said. "Ethan and Logan did a really great job of making those adjustments, finishing out strong and not letting that match go to a third set."
Learning how to make those adjustments makes the Lumberjacks' early-season matches so important. After a 7-0 win against East Grand Forks last week, BHS went into this week's practices knowing where it needed to improve, using that experience in Thursday's match.
Working on volleys and serves helped improve Friese's game after his match against EGF, he said.
With two wins under their belt, the Jacks will have to prepare for five matches in three days — weather permitting, of course — starting with back-to-back home triangulars: Wednesday against Mora and Fergus Falls, and Thursday against Sauk Rapids-Rice and Moorhead. On Friday, Bemidji will head to Detroit Lakes for its first road match of the season.
Bemidji 5, Crookston 2
Singles:
No.1: Lappinga (BHS) def. Winjum 6-2, 6-2
No. 2: Funk (CRK) def. Arel 6-4, 6-2
No. 3: Friese (BHS) def. Groven 6-7, 6-2, 10-0
No. 4: Deleon (CRK) def. Broten 6-4, 5-7, 11-9
Doubles:
No. 1: Mathews/Fairchild (BHS) def. Widseth/Anderson 6-1, 6-2
No. 2: Frank/Berg (BHS) def. Osborn/Zammert 6-3, 7-6
No. 3: Gifford/Moussa (BHS) def. Halverson/Hanson 6-1, 6-1