Hildebrandt wins SCC tennis title

Hildebrandt, the No. 3 seed, faced some tough competition en route to the title.

Hildebrandt defeated David Kopischke in the first round 6-2, 6-0, then got some revenge on St. Peter's Justin Peterson.

Peterson, the No. 2 seed, defeated Hildebrandt in the regular season, but Hildebrandt won 6-3, 6-1.

Then, Hildebrandt got a surprise in the championship when No. 5 seed Joe Kuechenmeister of Blue Earth Area upset the top-seeded Spencer Broughten of Waseca 6-0, 6-0.

Hildebrandt played a dominating championship match, winning 6-1, 6-1.

"At the beginning, I didn't really have a good start," Hildebrandt said. "But after I got going, I won like 10 straight games. It was really weird. I felt really good."

Hildebrandt said that it gives him a confidence boost heading into the upcoming section meet.

"It gives me a lot of confidence going into sections for singles," Hildebrandt said.

At second singles, New Ulm's Philipp Niemeyer, the No. 1 seed, took second. After a first round bye, Niemeyer defeated the No. 4 seed Jake Granheim of Fairmont and defeated him 6-1, 6-1.

In the championship match, Niemeyer lost 6-4, 6-3 to the No. 2 seed Peter Swanson of Waseca.

At No. 3 singles, New Ulm's Joel Runck bounced back from a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Waseca's Kevin Bauleke in the semifinals and defeated St. Peter's Patrick Tanis 6-3, 6-4. Runck defeated BEA's Justin Frey in the first round 6-4, 6-2.

The Eagles got another third place finish from Phil Dirlam at No. 4 singles. Dirlam had a bye in the first round but lost to St. Peter's Josh Doll 6-2, 6-4. He bounced back and defeated Waseca's Eric Vanderstelt 6-1, 6-1.

New Ulm's No. 1 doubles team of Jay Smith and Matt Sprung took second. They defeated Paul Brummond and Brady Schmidt of Fairmont 6-0, 6-1. They then defeated the St. James team of Tom Rakotz and Travis Brekken 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 before losing 6-0, 6-0 to the tough Waseca duo of Andrew Somers and Shane Milbrath.