Chaska opened their season against the Farmington Tigers in their first match of the year on April 8. All singles matches and doubles matches went the Hawks’ way and they defeated Farmington 7-0.
The game of tennis is an exciting athlete-to-athlete trade off of skills that uses a unique scoring system. A high school match includes four singles players and three doubles teams challenging each other in a best-two-of-three sets consisting of the best-of-six games in a set.
Head coach Zach Williams has been leading the boys team for 15 years and indicated his team has trained well in the off-season and is made up of great players at all levels.
Williams estimates half the athletes only play tennis and half are multiple-sport athletes. Indeed, the team of ten players is made of some unique members. Connor Regnier will play DII football at Mankato State next fall and Will Podhradosky is a champion curler. Lukasz Waliczek is an exchange student from Poland and Marcos Alonso is an exchange student from Spain.
At the Farmington match, singles winners were Waliczek (6-1 and 6-2), Alonso (6-0 and 6-0), Morgan Engeman (6-0 and 6-0), and Evan Atkinson (6-0 and 6-0). Doubles winners were Toltzman and Fouts (6-0 and 6-2), Podhradsky and Tan (6-0 and 6-3), and Carlson and Regnier (6-0 and 6-1).
“I’m pleased with the team’s energy, their effort and the intensity of their play. It was a great first outing,” Williams said.
After the match, Waliczek and Alonso shared their thoughts on being student-athlete exchange students. Waliczek is from Gliwice, Poland, a major city in the southern part of the country. Alonso is from Valencia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. Both athletes commented that schools in their home countries do not have sports teams.
Both played on the soccer team in the fall and greatly enjoy having sports as part of their school experience.
Minnesota winters were not so much of a surprise for Waliczek, but Alonso had a different perspective.
“People said you did not have a bad winter this year, he said. “I thought it was pretty cold and snowy.”
Waliczek and Alonso did not hesitate to elaborate on their positive CHS experience.
“The teachers have been great and the kids have been super,” Alonso said. He stated he was a bit worried when he first got here about how the kids may react to him, “but after the first few weeks, it was like I had been here my whole life.”
“I’ll always remember Chaska; it’s a part of me now,” said Waliczek.
Weather permitting, the tennis team has matches a few times a week in the spring. They play their games on the courts to the east of CHS, next to the football field. Follow the tennis team on their website.
