WIAA State Tennis: Central Duo's Title Hopes Alive

It was hard to miss the grin on Brookfield East boys tennis coach Linda Lied.

Though the Spartans failed to advance a singles player or doubles team into Saturday’s semifinals, both Ben Klein and Tim Corwin enjoyed deep runs at the WIAA individual state tennis tournament Friday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.

“Ben’s play was a huge boost for our team competition next week,” Lied said.  “He is really starting to get comfortable at Nielsen.  And Tim has really become a team leader for us as a nurturer.”

Competing in his first state tournament, Corwin entered the competition an undefeated 21-0 and kept that streak alive for the first three rounds.

The Spartans sophomore came out of the gates slowly on Friday, needing a three-set comeback to knock out Eau Claire Memorial’s Drew Schaefer 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-0.  In the afternoon Corwin took his game up a notch, blitzing sixth-seeded junior Michael Treis of Brookfield Central 6-3, 6-2.

“Tim’s a smart player,” Lied said. “Points really open up for him when goes after the opportunities (like he did against Treis).”

However, Corwin ran out of gas in the quarterfinals, falling 6-1, 6-1 to Whitefish Bay senior Jack Larsen.

Klein’s Friday started out with a bang, as the Spartans No. 1 singles player lost just one game eliminating Wauwatosa East senior Nick Skanavis 6-0, 6-1.  It was the second straight near-perfect performance for Klein after a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Isaac Jordan of Waukesha South.

“I played confident tennis overall,” Klein said.  “I had a good warm up match against Jordan and I think that was a valuable experience.”

But waiting for Klein in the afternoon was defending state champion Alex Jesse of Homestead, who ended the Spartans junior’s stay in Madison with a 6-2, 6-1 victory in a match much closer than the final score.

“Ben played phenomenal this week,” Lied said.  “Even though Jesse went right through him in straight sets, several of the games went to deuces so Ben was in each one.”

Freshman Felix Corwin, Brookfield East’s other seeded player, was not as fortunate as his teammates. Tim Corwin’s younger brother fell in the first round Thursday to West De Pere sophomore Nick Dykema 6-4, 6-7 (6).

Though Treis endured a disappointing end to his state tournament run, Brookfield Central’s fourth-seeded doubles pair of Andrew Denu and Kevin Schmidt enjoyed plenty of success on Friday.  Denu and Schmidt rolled past fifth-seeded Richard Kim and Trevor Katzban of Nicolet in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to Saturday’s semis.

Denu and Schmidt’s road to the final four included a 7-5, 6-4, victory over Joe Sausen and Brogan Williams of Arrowhead, and a 6-4, 6-4, defeat of Sheboygan North seniors Jon Langan and Jack Traeger.

Denu and Schmidt’s teammates, Ken Reichert and Cavan Wagg, had less luck.  The Lancers seniors dropped a 6-3, 6-0, decision to Justin Kirtley and Nikhil Ramnarayan of Homestead in the second round.

Brookfield East seniors Dan Mackett and Cal Hilkert also lasted just one round on Friday, falling in three sets 6-0, 3-6, 7-5, to David Winston and Jon Lopez of Nicolet.