by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
The Thief River Falls boys tennis team played at home for the first time during the 2023 season Tuesday (April 18) and came away with a pair of dominant wins over Crookston and Detroit Lakes.
“What started as a little bit of a chilly day resulted with some sunshine and some great wins for our Prowler Boys Tennis,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Shawna Spears.
The triangular was originally schedule to be held in Detroit Lakes, but it was moved to Thief River Falls. Spears used the opportunity to put the team’s brother combos together for doubles. “We put together twins Reece and Rhett Janisch at 1 doubles against Crookston,” Spears said. “This then moved Jett and JJ Cornelius over to 1 and 2 singles. Then against Detroit Lakes we put brothers JJ and Jett Cornelius together at 1 doubles and Reece and Rhett Janisch at 1 and 2 singles. It was fun to watch both sets of brothers play together and then took away two great wins.”
Against the Pirates, the Janisch brothers dropped just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Crookston’s top doubles team of Grant Funk and Tatum Lubinski, while Jett and JJ Cornelius claimed singles wins against Isaac Thomford and Reggie Winjum, respectively.
Later in the afternoon, the Cornelius brothers won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2 over the Lakers’ top doubles team of Connor Zamzo and Nick Buboltz. Rhett Janisch won in straight sets over Cooper Moore in the number two singles match, while Reece Janisch dropped a three-set decision to Reed Henderson in the number one singles match.
Geran Gonsorowski and Lucas Rantanen won a pair matches in the number two doubles spot, defeating Ethan Erdman and Gunner Groven in the Crookston dual, and Max Mercil and Max Splonkowski in the Detroit Lakes dual.
Spencer Hempel went unbeaten in the number three singles spot, defeating Nathan Kelly of Crookston and Mason Frank of Detroit Lakes in straight sets.
“The rest of the team did a great job stepping up to the plate and competing hard,” Spears said. “Jett had an especially good battle at one singles against Crookston bringing the match out to a third set. He battled hard and was able to pull out the win. Ironically enough, Reece also went into a third set at 1 singles against Detroit Lakes.”
“JJ and Spencer took away great wins in their singles spots against Crookston while Geran and Lucas also took away especially great wins in both of their doubles. Kaleb Funk ran away with his win against Detroit Lakes at four singles with only allowing his opponent a single game. It was a great day for our first outside matches of the year.”
Thief River Falls 5,
Crookston 2
Singles: No. 1 – Jett Cornelius, Thief River Falls def. Isaac Thomforde, Crookston, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8; No. 2 – JJ Cornelius, Thief River Falls def. Reggie Winjum, Crookston, 6-3, 6-3; No. 3 – Spencer Hempel, Thief River Falls def. Nathan Kelly, Crookston, 6-2, 6-4; No. 4 – Sam Widseth, Crookston def. Ike Olson, Thief River Falls, 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles: No. 1 – Reece Janisch/Rhett Janisch, Thief River Falls def. Grant Funk/Tatum Lubinski, Crookston, 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 – Geran Gonsorowski/Lucas Rantanen, Thief River Falls def. Ethan Erdman/Gunnar Groven, Crookston, 6-3 , 6-1; No. 3 – Elliot Bartrum/Jack Everett, Crookston def. Noah Burkel/Kaleb Funk, Thief River Falls 6-3, 6-2.
Thief River Falls 6,
Detroit Lakes 1
Singles: No. 1 – Reed Henderson, DL, def. Reece Janisch, Thief River Falls, 5-7, 6-2, 13-11; No. 2 – Rhett Janisch, Thief River Falls def. Cooper Moore, DL, 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 – Spencer Hempel, Thief River Falls def. Mason Frank, DL, 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 – Kaleb Funk, Thief River Falls def. Zane Roberts, DL, 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles: No. 1 – JJ Cornelius/Jett Cornelius, Thief River Falls def. Connor Zamzo/Nick Buboltz, DL, 6-4, 6-2; No. 2 – Geran Gonsorowski/Lucas Rantanen, Thief River Falls def. Max Mercil/Max Splonskowski, DL, 6-1, 6-0; No. 3 – Noah Burkel/Ike Olson, Thief River Falls def. Brian Morrison/Brodie Phillips, DL, 6-2, 6-3.