MSHSL Girl’s State Tennis

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

Breck School of Golden Valley in Class A and Edina in Class AA have qualified to defend their respective team titles. The Edina Hornets are looking for their 18th consecutive and 33rd overall title (including the three Edina East won when there were two Edina high schools). The Mustangs of Breck School are in the hunt for their second consecutive and third overall championship.
Both the singles and doubles champions return in Class AA. Edina senior Caitlyn Merzbacher is looking for her second consecutive singles crown, and the Rochester Mayo duo of seniors Kylie Bower and Kate Rosenow are in the hunt for their third doubles crown. They claimed their first in 2011 before winning again last year.
New champions will emerge in both the singles and doubles tournament in Class A.
The 2014 tournament will be conducted Tuesday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Oct. 24 — Class AA at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis and Class A at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis. Team competition is scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by singles and doubles individual competition Thursday and Friday.

Class A Highlights
The Breck School Mustangs return to defend their 2013 title. If they win it would be their second consecutive and third overall title. The Mustangs have seven players with previous tournament experience.
The three other returning teams are Rochester Lourdes, Staples Motley, and St. James. Rochester Lourdes placed second last year and Staples Motley, which includes students from Verndale, followed in third. St. James, which includes students from Butterfield-Odin, finished in fourth place. The Class A team tournament is not seeded.
The Class A team quarterfinal pairings are: (Section 2) Blue Earth Area vs. (Section 3) St. James; (Section 6) Minnewaska Area of Glenwood vs. (Section 7) Virginia; (Section 5) Holy Family Catholic of Victoria vs. (Section 8) Staples Motley; and (Section 1) Rochester Lourdes vs. (Section 4) Breck School.
All eight of the qualifying teams were ranked in the final coaches’ poll: Breck School, No. 1; St. James, No. 3; Holy Family Catholic, No. 4; Rochester Lourdes, No. 5; Blue Earth Area, No. 6; Staples Motley, No. 7; Minnewaska Area, No. 8; and Virginia, No. 10.

Class AA Highlights
Seven teams return from last year’s field, including the long-running defending champions from Edina. The Hornets, ranked No. 1 in the final coaches’ association poll, return with nine players with 2013 tournament experience and are seeking their 18th consecutive team title. Edina’s 17 straight titles from 1997 to 2013 is a national record.
The six other returning teams are Minnetonka, Rochester Mayo, Prior Lake, St. Cloud Tech, Mahtomedi, and Mounds View. The Minnetonka Skippers placed second last year, and they were followed by Rochester Mayo in third and Prior Lake in fourth. The St. Cloud Tech Tigers earned fifth-place honors and Mahtomedi placed sixth. Mounds View lost in the consolation semifinals.
All eight of the Class AA qualifiers were ranked in the final poll. After Edina, the other ranked teams were: Prior Lake, No. 2; Minnetonka, No. 3; Mahtomedi, No. 6; Rochester Mayo, No. 7; St. Cloud Tech, No. 8; Mounds View, No. 9; and Princeton, No. 10.
The Class AA team quarterfinal pairings are: (No. 1 Seed – Section 6) Edina vs. (Section 5) Mounds View; (No. 4 Seed – Section 4) Mahtomedi vs. (No. 5 Seed – Section 1) Rochester Mayo; (No. 2 Seed – Section 3) Prior Lake vs. (Section 7) Princeton; and (No. 3 Seed – Section 2) Minnetonka vs. (Section 8) St. Cloud Tech.

The Schedule
All Class A competition will be conducted at Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis. All Class AA competition will be conducted at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
Team quarterfinals will be held at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Team consolation semifinals will be played at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Team championship semifinals will be played at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, the consolation championships will be played at noon, the third-place matches will follow at 2 p.m., and the championship matches will be played at 4 p.m.
First-round singles matches will be played at 8 a.m. on Thursday followed by noon championship quarterfinal and consolation quarterfinal matches. Consolation and championship semifinal matches will be played at 8 a.m. on Friday, followed by consolation championship, third-place and championship matches at 11:30 a.m.
First-round doubles matches will be played at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Consolation quarterfinal and championship quarterfinal matches will follow at 2 p.m. Consolation and championship semifinal matches will be played at 8 a.m. Friday, followed by the consolation championship, third-place and championship matches at 11:30 a.m.