{"id":19320,"date":"2026-05-26T21:24:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/repeat-champions-in-section-1-1a-boys-tennis-post-bulletin\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T21:24:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:24:49","slug":"repeat-champions-in-section-1-1a-boys-tennis-post-bulletin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/repeat-champions-in-section-1-1a-boys-tennis-post-bulletin\/","title":{"rendered":"Repeat champions in Section 1-1A boys tennis – Post Bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ROCHESTER \u2014 Make it three straight Section 1, Class 1A boys singles tennis championships for Lourdes senior Evan Ritter.
And make him the favorite to win the state championship next week (June 4-5) at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
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Ritter keeps growing into the game and he did again Tuesday in knocking off Schaeffer Academy\u2019s Hudson Zimmerman 6-4, 6-4 in the section championship at Rochester Athletic Club.
\u201cI think winning this last section championship was crucial because it\u2019s my last season, my senior year, so I really didn\u2019t want to lose in the section final,\u201d Ritter said \u201cEspecially because I did not want to get upset considering I was the No. 1 seed. I wanted to just make sure I played my game and didn\u2019t worry about it.\u201d
It is an all-around game that Ritter plays with, including owning a big serve and a big forehand. In that sense he is just like Zimmerman, who also goes big with both of those strokes.
The difference between them Tuesday was consistency. Ritter, though he wasn\u2019t at his consistent best against Zimmerman, outdid him in that department.
Power against power made for a good matchup.
\u201cI like playing (Zimmerman) because he makes me play,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cUsually I like to play more of an offensive game, but today I had to play a lot of defense (against Zimmerman\u2019s big shots). Zimmerman is pretty offensive and he does a lot of things well.\u201d
That Ritter can take a little bit off of his game when defense is required, speaks to how he has continued to improve.
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Ritter knows he\u2019s better than last year when he finished second overall in the state tournament.
\u201cI\u2019m probably slightly quicker, but I feel like the main part of my game that has improved is just my mentality for shot selection,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been making a lot more safe choices, like recognizing that my opponent doesn\u2019t like it if I spin it to his backhand. So then I\u2019m going to spin it to his backhand a lot of times when I need a point. Just stuff like that. To use it, even though it\u2019s not my favorite shot to use at the time.\u201d
Ritter is betting on himself to win next week\u2019s state singles tournament. It\u2019s something he covets, a state championship.
\u201cI love tennis and I love chasing that first place,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cI want to get it.\u201d
The Section 1-1A doubles championship promised to be a doozy. History said so.
The combination of Winona Cotter\u2019s Logan Granseth and Hamilton Brewer met Lourdes\u2019 duo of Andy Fink and Joe Palen.
They also met in the section title match last year, it turning into a three-hour marathon before Granseth and Brewer emerged as champions.
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Then they met again a year ago for third place at state, Fink and Palen winning that one.
Tuesday\u2019s action looked like it was going to turn into another marathon. After Granseth\/Brewer won the first set 6-3, Fink and Palen made a gallant comeback in the second set. They led 4-1 at one point, 5-2 at another. The Lourdes combination three times was serving for the set, only to have Granseth and Brewer continue to hold them off and ultimately won the set 7-5.
That Cotter was able to come back after trailing 5-2, Granseth gave much of the credit to their coach, the Ramblers\u2019 Jeff Besek.
\u201cOur coach really put some spirit back into us,\u201d Granseth said. \u201cAfter we lost those first couple of games (in the second set) we weren\u2019t as confident. But Hamilton and I started just playing better and then we were working together as a team. And our teammates who came with us, they helped us a lot just by cheering and kept us motivated the whole time.\u201d
As spirited and inspired as Granseth\/Brewer\u2019s bounce back was, Lourdes senior Fink couldn\u2019t help but put some blame on himself and Palen.
\u201cTo be honest, we just missed on the most crucial points,\u201d Fink said. \u201cThere was a double fault and then a missed overhead by me. We just had too many misses here and there. And those misses cost us the big points and the match.\u201d
Granseth said the key to their late second-set turnaround was just getting themselves to relax. They viewed the match as an obviously rivalry one and it took a while to get comfortable.
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\u201cI\u2019d say the key was just relaxing, letting the nerves go and playing with spirit,\u201d said Granseth, who perfectly placed some lazered shots down the line for winners down the stretch. \u201cMy speciality is just hustling all over the court and getting to balls. That\u2019s my favorite thing. Hamilton\u2019s serving was on point today, and he just had really good strokes. He brought me up as a teammate.\u201d
Who knows, this foursome might meet again before the season is over, the next time in the state tournament.
If it comes to pass, the Cotter combination knows they\u2019ll have their work cut out all over again.
\u201cJoe (Palen\u2019s) volleys are phenomenal and Andy\u2019s serves set up Joe\u2019s volleys,\u201d Granseth said. \u201cThey have really good chemistry, so props to them.\u201d
Singles<\/b>
Semifinals<\/b>
\u2022 At Rochester Athletic Club<\/b>
Semifinas: <\/b>Evan Ritter (Lourdes) def. Everett Engler (Winona Cotter) 6-0 6-1; Hudson Zimmerman (Schaeffer) def. Henry Huttemier (Waseca) 6-4, 6-0. Championship<\/b>: Evan Ritter (Lourdes) def. Hudson Zimmerman (Schaeffer) 6-4, 6-4. Third pace: <\/b>Everett Engler (Winona Cotter) def. Henry Huttemier (Waseca). True-second place:  <\/b>Hudson Zimmerman (Schaeffer) def. Everett Engler (Winona Cotter) 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles<\/b>
Semifinals<\/b>
\u2022 at Rochester Athletic Club.<\/b>
Semifinals: <\/b>Hamilton Brewer\/Logan Granseth (Winona Cotter) def. Easton Ackley\/Bobby Fitzgerald. 6-3, 7-5; Andy Fink\/Joe Palen (Lourdes) def. Bo Doyle\/Austin Hofself (Red Wing) 6-2, 6-1. Championship: <\/b>Brewer\/Granseth (Winona Cotter) de. Fink\/Palen 6-2, 7-5. Third place:<\/b> Ackley\/Fitzgerald (Lourdes) def. Doyle\/Hosfeld (Red Wing) 6-4, 6-4. True-second place:<\/b> Andy Fink\/Joe Palen (Lourdes) def. Easton Ackley\/Bobby Fitzgerald 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.<\/p>\n

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source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sponsored ByADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTROCHESTER \u2014 Make it three straight Section 1, Class 1A boys singles tennis championships for Lourdes senior Evan Ritter.And make him the favorite to win the state championship next week (June 4-5) at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.ADVERTISEMENTRitter keeps growing into the game and he did again Tuesday in knocking off Schaeffer Academy\u2019s Hudson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}