TRF falls to Hibbing in consolation championship

Hibbing defeated Thief River Falls 4-3 to claim the Class A consolation championship Wednesday at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

The match-up was a battle of the two northern-most schools competing in the Class A state tournament, as well as the only two remaining public schools in the tournament. The match lived up to its billing as an unofficial Class A public school championship, with three of the seven matches decided by third set super tiebreakers.

“I think everyone went out there and competed their very best,” said Head Coach Fabian Tunberg. “Heat of the moment, everyone was out there grinding away. Parents were into it on both sides and that’s what you want to see. When you get down to the state tournament, it’s like nothing like any other experience.”

Thief River Falls defeated Hibbing 4-3 in the only regular season meeting between the teams. The two duals followed a similar path, with the one decision going differently in the rematch, was the number one doubles match-up going from Thief River Falls in the first dual to Hibbing in the rematch.

The other difference between the duals was the use of a third set super tiebreaker to decide any match that required a third set. If the teams had met in the championship side of the bracket, full third sets would have been used until one of the teams had clinched the dual meet victory.

Hibbing was the first to put points on the board as Dom Warzecha defeated Tucker Skime 6-2, 6-1 in the number three singles match.

Jack Onkka put the Prowlers on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Nic Cicchi in the number four singles match.

Cole Gillespie won the first set of the number one singles match against Hibbing’s Carter Anderson 6-0. He fell 5-7 in the second set, before righting the ship for a 10-7 win in the super tiebreaker to give the Prowlers a 2-1 lead.

The next match in the books was a 6-4, 7-5 win by Camden Broadwell to put the Prowlers up 3-1.

With its back against the wall Hibbing clawed its way to wins in all three doubles matches to claim the dual. The comeback started with the number two doubles team of Isaac Hildebrand and Jack Grzybowski, who rallied after dropping the first set by a 6-2 margin to Thief River Falls seniors Ethan Janisch and Aiden Martell, to win the second set 6-3, followed by an 11-9 tiebreaker win.

Thief River Falls’ number three doubles team of Rhett and Reece Janisch dropped the first set in their match against Hibbing’s Luke Lundell and Brandon Butkovich by a score of 6-2. They rallied to force a second set tiebreak, which they lost 8-6, to fall in straight sets.

With the dual tied 3-3, the Hibbing duo of Joe Dwyer and Mark Borland rallied from a 7-6 (7-5) first set tiebreaker loss to Noah Rupprecht and Dylan Hahn to win the second set via tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5) to set up the third set super tiebreaker, which they won 10-8.

“It was two northern Minnesota teams playing for the unofficial public school state championship,” Tunberg said. “I give hats off to Hibbing, their coaches and their team. They raised their game. They deserve it. Today, they played very well.”

Thief River Falls will be back in action Thursday for the start of doubles and singles competition.

Singles – No. 1 – Cole Gillespie, TRF def. Carter Anderson, HIB, 6-0, 5-7, 10-7. No.2 – Camden Broadwell, TRF def. Ryan Osborne, HIB, 6-4, 7-5. No.3 – Dom Warzecha, HIB def. Tucker Skime, TRF 6-2, 6-1. No. 4 – Jack Onkka, TRF def. Nic Cicchi, HIB, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles – No. 1 – Joe Dwyer-Mark Borland, HIB def. Noah Rupprecht-Dylan Hahn, TRF, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 10-8. No. 2 – Isaac Hildebrand-Jack Gryzbowski, HIB def. Aiden Martell-Ethan Janisch, TRF, 2-6, 6-3, 11-9. No. 3 – Luke Lundell-Brandon Butkovich, HIB def. def. Reece Janisch-Rhett Janisch, TRF, 6-2, 8-6.