Oct. 24—MINNEAPOLIS — Megan Berg and Elena Peterson were the last Lumberjacks standing in the Bemidji High School girls tennis season.
The Section 8AA double champions opened their state tournament run against Eden Prairie’s Zadie Walvante and Sravika Vadrevu. The match went the distance, with Berg and Peterson picking up the win in three sets.
“You’re looking at the 16 best doubles teams in the state of Minnesota, effectively, so to get a win in the main draw is awesome,” head coach Kyle Fodness said. “Megan and Elena played tremendous doubles tennis — tactically and strategically. They made such a difference in how they moved and how they positioned themselves.”
Peterson and Berg dropped the first set 6-3 before rebounding to a 6-3 win in the second set. The BHS duo then took a 5-2 lead in the third set.
“Eden Prairie came back and won the next two games to make it 5-4,” Fodness said. “Elena’s going over to serve, and Megan noticed one of the Eden Prairie girls was hitting this nice chip toward the middle of the court, and it was really hard for us to deal with. … Megan made an adjustment poaching that across the middle and taking the point away.”
With the Jacks one point away from advancing to the quarterfinals, Berg exemplified her tactical approach.
“On match point, the question was, ‘Is the Eden Prairie girl going to do it (again)?'” Fodness continued. “Are you going to be passive or aggressive in that situation? Before Elena served, Megan took two steps away from the middle. A lot of people would think she’s going to be passive. Coach McNallan and I looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, here she goes.’ She made the decision to be aggressive.”
Berg secured the winning point to push the Lumberjacks to the round of eight. However, Berg and Peterson ran into top-seeded Malea Diehn and Keely Ryder from Rochester Mayo, losing 6-1, 6-1 to end their season.
The individual portion came two days after Bemidji
competed in the team tournament
on Tuesday. The Lumberjacks lost a first-round match against No. 3 Mounds View 6-1 before falling 4-3 to East Ridge in the consolation bracket.
“When you come down to state, sometimes you see the other side of sports,” Fodness said. “The girls noticed that a fair amount of players on a fair amount of teams, who spend a ton of money and time on it, really don’t enjoy it. If you’re around sports enough, you know that can be true. I think what I was the most happy with was we played really well and had great communication, but they also had a ton of fun. They represented Bemidji well.”
Fodness attests that his team had an unforgettable week at the Baseline Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota. It’s an experience that mirrored how Bemidji approached the entirety of its 2024 season.
“High standards can really result in great outcomes,” Fodness said. “They set really high standards for themselves. The team’s goal was to be the best team, meaning competing as hard as you can, better communication and not losing in the class department. We’re going to be classier and more vocal, we’re going to support each other with the most amount of positivity. I don’t know if we were ever beat in that regard. We were undefeated.”
