Lourdes' Evan Ritter makes leap in finishing second in state singles

MINNEAPOLIS — Making strides. That is what Lourdes standout tennis player Evan Ritter is up to.

On Friday, he did it in front of an audience at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center. The jump he made was going from finishing third in the Class 1A state individual tennis tournament last year to second this time.

But the Eagles junior knows he still has another stride to make. That is to not only finish No. 1 in the state next season but to somehow solve St. Paul Academy freshman Winston Arvidson.

Wish him luck on that. It won’t be easy.

Arvidson is 2-for-2 against Ritter. He beat him last year in the state semifinals 6-1, 6-2, and Friday he was even a chunk better than that, downing Ritter 6-1, 6-1 in the state championship match.

Ritter knows he has work to do to close that gap. And honestly, he likes it like that.

“To make another stride, I need to make another jump in my groundstroke game,” Ritter said. “I thought I was there because I was a step above everyone else in taking control of points until I got in the championship. But when it came to a neutral rally against Winston, I could see that I wasn’t going to win those. So I need to focus on getting stronger from the baseline. I need to work on that and I’m looking forward to it. It’s fun getting better because most of the time I’m just out there practicing and having fun with my friends.”

The most fun that Ritter had Friday came that morning, in the semifinals. That’s where Ritter — seeded third in the tournament — met No. 2 seed Josh Cook of Minnehaha Academy.

Ritter proceeded to play some of the best tennis of his life against Cook, owning the first set with his blazing serve (112 miles per hour) and powerful forehand. Things slipped a bit for him in the middle set, but Ritter rediscovered his shots and magic in the deciding third set, ultimately winning the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

“In that third set, I found my serve again and Josh had a hard time neutralizing it,” Ritter said. “That allowed me to get to the net and do a lot of serving and volleying.”

Lourdes coach Steve Tacl came away from that semifinal impressed with his powerful junior, who didn’t take up tennis until the eighth grade but has been single minded about it ever since.

Against Cook, he was at the top of his game.

“Evan came out playing a really high level of tennis,” Tacl said. “He was serving well, defending well and winning all the big points. It just felt like everything was working.”

Against Arvidson, not nearly everything worked and Tacl and Ritter agreed, that had almost everything to do with the St. Paul Academy freshman.

He was just too good. And he was too good, especially at neutralizing a Ritter serve that has been a major weapon against everyone but Arvidson. The SPA star actually showed the ability to have that serve work against Ritter. He wouldn’t just get it back, but he’d use all of the power in it to fire back returns, power meeting power.

Ritter could hardly believe it.

“One of the biggest things I noticed was that instead of missing the ball on my serve, Winston was smoking it back, right down the middle of the court,” Ritter said. “When you can do that, that takes a big part of my game away. Winston was consistent. It was really hard to make him miss. I was surprised at how he was able to redirect my power against me.”

Ritter’s mood remained buoyant even after the decisive straight-sets loss. He’d had too much fun the last four days in Minneapolis to feel anything but good. The first two days had been spent with his teammates, as Lourdes had played in the team portion of the state tournament. There were hotel room stays, and meals out, and simply romping around.

Then Thursday and Friday he got to enjoy the individual tournament, and being warmed up at the courts by teammate Easton Ackley, who hung around after the team tournament was done.

“Just getting to spend more time with my teammates, that was fun,” Ritter said. “And seeing all the kids I knew in the tournament, and having them cheering for me, that was also really fun.”

Now, it will be back to business for Ritter. The business, that is, of taking his game to new heights. Tacl expects he’ll see Ritter back working on things Monday, trying to perfect everything about his game.

He takes it seriously. It’s precisely how he’s climbed into the No. 2 spot in all of Class 1A. He’s worked at it, smiling all the while.

While Lourdes landed second in the state in singles, it was just one place off of that in doubles.

The combination of freshman Joe Palen and junior Andy Fink pushed their way past Winona Cotter’s tandem of juniors Hamilton Brewer and Logan Granseth in the third-place match, winning 7-5, 6-4.

That came after Palen and Fink lost 6-0, 6-3 to St. Paul Academy’s Jacob Colton and Ben Macedo in the semifinals and Brewer/Granseth lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to eventual state champions Isaak Senaratna and Allan Wang of St. Paul Academy.

Lourdes coach Steve Tacl noted that the third-place match at state is a tough one to play. But he felt Palen and Fink showed just enough juice to get them over the top.

“I think it was harder for Cotter to find much motivation because their semifinal match had been much tighter than ours,” Tacl said. “But our guys found energy and played a great return game. I thought we busted through at just the right times. I thought we did a better job of getting fired up than our opponents did. But it’s not easy.”

CLASS 1A

Singles

Semifinals: Evan Ritter (Lourdes) def. Josh Cook (Minnehaha Academy) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Winston Arvidson (St, Paul Academy) def. Wyatt Helberg (North Branch) 6-2, 6-0. Championship: Arvidson def. Ritter 6-1, 6-1. Third place: Josh Cook def. Wyatt Helberg 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles

Semifinals: Jacob Colton/Ben Macedo (St. Paul Academy) def. Andy Fink/Joe Palen (Lourdes) 6-0, 6-3; Isaak Senaratna/Allan Wang (St. Paul Academy) def. Hamilton Brewer/Logan Granseth (Winona Cotter) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Championship: Senaratna/Wang def. Colton/Macedo 6-3, 6-4. Third place: Fink/Palen def. Brewer/Granseth 7-5, 6-4.

CLASS 2A

Singles

Championship: Soren Swenson (Mounds View) def. Aaron Beduhn (Wayzata) 6-2, 6-4. Third place: Bode Campbell (Bloomington Jefferson) def. Tarun Gopalakrishnan (Blake) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

Doubles

Championship: Anthony Perrill/Quinn Martini (Orono) def. Jacob Salisbury/Rishi Ranjith (Wayzata) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1). Third place: Varin Tangeti/Zayden Chau (Eden Prairie) def. Max Daigle/Anderson Swenson (Mounds View) 5-7, 6-1, 11-9.