[May 20, 2013] Mitchell gets two singles players to title match Tweet SIOUX FALLS, May 18, 2013 (The Daily Republic - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Mitchell's Flight 5 Alex Hegg and Flight 6 Brenden Lehr both advanced championship after beating the fourth-seeded players in their flights Thursday at the state boys' tennis tournament. "They are the top seeds and are where they should be," Mitchell coach Pat Moller said. "Both had points in their matches where they weren't playing their best tennis but were mentally strong. They proved that they deserved to be in the championship." The duo helped the Kernels to fifth place in the team standings after two days of tennis. Watertown leads the team race with 527 points, Rapid City Stevens is second with 506 points, Sioux Falls O'Gorman is third with 489 points and Sioux Falls Lincoln is fourth with 444 points. The Kernels have 359 points and lead Pierre, which is in sixth place with 303 points. "I couldn't be more proud of our kids," Moller said. "In every case, we've played hard and been gentlemen of the game." Hegg, who is 23-0 this season, beat Sioux Falls Roosevelt's Kyle Lyons in 6-2, 6-4 in the quarters and had a battle against Watertown's Austin Vanderweide in the semifinals. Vanderweide took the first set 7-5 but top-seeded Hegg, who beat Vanderweide four times this year, fought back to win the final two sets 6-4, 6-4 to take the match. Hegg faces Rapid City Stevens' Mason Schultz, the second seed, in the final. Top-seeded Lehr was taken to three sets in his quarterfinal match as he won the first set 6-3, lost the second 6-3 and took the third 6-3 to beat Watertown's Matt Gauger. In the semifinals, top-seeded Lehr defeated Brandon Valley's Lucas Mutschelknaus 7-5, 6-3 and plays Rapid City Stevens' Trae Olson for the Flight 6 singles title. The championship matches are scheduled to be played at 11 a.m. today. All of today's matches will be played at McKennan Park in Sioux Falls with awards after all matches are concluded. In singles, Flight 3 Kanin Nelson and Flight 2 Beau Brown play for fifth place today. Nelson lost to Watertown's Mark Despiegler in the quarters but won in the fifth-place play-in match. Brown was defeated by O'Gorman's Ben Czarnecki in the quarters and beat Pierre's Connor Shoop in the fifth-place play-in match. Fifth-place matches are scheduled for 9 a.m. Jacob Cersosimo won two singles matches to advance to the consolation finals. Cersosimo, who plays Yankton's Luke Rockne, plays at 11 a.m. Mitchell Flight 4 singles player Tate Crago suffered a loss against Watertown's Tommy Nealon in the quarters and was taken out of the draw by Yankton's Jason Shindler in the fifth-place play-in match. Mitchell's Flight 2 and 3 doubles teams still have a shot at making the championship today. The Kernels' semifinal matches were originally scheduled for Friday, but they were moved to 8 a.m. today due to hot temperatures. "None of these players in South Dakota have had to play in this weather this season," Moller said. "The coaches decided it would be best for the kids and tournament to play that round (today)." Flight 2 plays Lincoln and Flight 3 plays Watertown in the semifinals. Mitchell's Flight 1 doubles team won two matches over Spearfish and Aberdeen Roncalli and will play in the consolation championship against Huron at noon. ___ (c)2013 The Daily Republic (Mitchell, S.D.) Visit The Daily Republic (Mitchell, S.D.) at www.mitchellrepublic.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]