Falcon tennis closes season at Section 1AA Sub-Section individual tournament

With the team season wrapped up, Faribault Falcons boys tennis players entered their last week of play for the 2024 season, as they closed the year out at the Section 1AA Sub-Section individual tournament at Rochester Mayo High School.

Each team gets two singles players and two doubles teams to compete, so the Falcons were represented by singles player Carsen Kramer and Miles Leopold, top doubles pairing of Adam and Ben Diaz-Coons and a doubles pairing of Nelson Landrau-Ortiz and Colin Haefs.

Kramer was the highest seeded out of all of the Falcons players with a No. 4 seed in the singles tournament. He also made it the furthest with a first round bye and a second round 6-3, 6-4 victory over Owatonna’s No. 5 seeded Leyton Williams.

His season came to an end when he had to match up against Rochester Mayo’s Tej Bhagra, who is not only the top seed in the section, but the No. 1 ranked player in the state. Kramer fell 6-0, 6-0 to Bhagra.

Fellow singles player Miles Leopold earned a No. 11 seed, but was ousted with a 6-1, 6-0 loss against Owatonna’s No. 6 seeded Asher Penn.

In the doubles bracket, Adam and Ben Diaz-Coons earned the No. 7 seed, but fell in a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Lakeville South’s No. 10 seeded duo of Kyler Sauber and Evan Kasel. Landrau-Ortiz and Haefs earned the No. 9 seed and fell 6-1, 6-2 to South’s other doubled tandem and No. 8 seeded Bode Benson and Max Kappelman.

The 2024 season is officially wrapped up for Faribault, but the Falcons’ future remains very bright. They have one graduating senior and will retain a large majority of the lineup, which includes their top singles players and captains Kramer and Brandon Petricka.