HIBBING—The high school tennis season started in early April, and the playoffs seemed so far away.
Well, it’s that time of the year again as the Section 7A Playoffs begin today, with No. 2 seeded Hibbing hosting No. 7 seeded Duluth Denfeld, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Lincoln Elementary School Courts.
Bluejacket coach Gary Conda can’t believe that it’s section tournament time already.
“It sure came fast, but I believe we’re ready,” Conda said. “We’re pretty established at singles and doubles. I feel like we’ve got everybody in the right spots.”
To find that, Conda needed hours upon hours of court time, including both practices and matches, to find the best fits for his 11 players.
“It was finding who was comfortable where,” Conda said. “We experimented all season long as to who was going to do the best job in singles for us, and who was going to do the best job for us in doubles.
“We’ve got a plan. That’s where we’re going to go.”
Every team is required to submit three different lineups, and Conda believes his three lineups are perfectly balanced.
“These lineups have to be in an ethical order,” Conda said. “I have three solid doubles teams, and I’m happy with one through four singles. When I set them up, I usually go with a strong singles lineup, a strong doubles lineup, then a balance between those two.
“In that way, when we play a particular team, we can alter that.
“We have 11 players that could step in. We don’t have a lot of room for any injuries, so those 11 players are important.”
Conda also has the flexibility to use any of his singles players in doubles, and his doubles players in singles.
“What that means is they can hit volleys and overheads, and they’re just not hitting from the baseline all of the time,” Conda said. “That makes for a nice-balanced team. Throughout the season, everybody on this team has improved.
“There’s several of them that are capable of playing singles and doubles. It’s an athletic group.”
As for Hibbing’s opening-round opponent, the Bluejackets just recently beat the Hunters 7-0.
“They’re pretty inexperienced, but we aren’t going to ease up,” Conda said. “We’ll play our hardest. We can’t start the playoffs by giving up easy points. We have to play hard on every point.
“If we can win every match 6-0, 6-9, we’ll do that.”
Rock Ridge earned the No. 1 seed, so the Wolverines have a first-round bye.
No. 3 seeded Cloquet hosts No. 7 Duluth Marshall, and No. 4 seeded Hermantown takes on No. 5 seeded Aitkin.
Now, it’s a matter of Hibbing believing it can make a run at a 7A title.
“We need to have that confidence that we can win this and some belief,” Conda said. “These athletes believe we can win this, and the coaches believe we can win this. It’s a matter of being aggressive.
“We have to learn how to win points and not hope our opponents miss. That’s a big difference. That’s what playing with confidence does. When you have an easy shot, you need to for it and win that point.”
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