After cruising through the Eastern South Dakota Conference in the regular season, the Mitchell High School boys tennis team is the heavy favorite for the ESD tournament today in Aberdeen.
The Kernels, who went 91-8 in ESD matches this year, are looking to win their fifth straight ESD championship.
"The expectations are gonna be pretty high," MHS head coach Pat Moller said. "We're just going to have to hold our seeds. We won't be the No. 1 seed everywhere but the potential is there. We just have to play good tennis."
Mitchell didn't lose an ESD dual this season and finished the dual season with a 17-4 record on Tuesday. Mitchell's three doubles teams have gone 29-4 against ESD competition this season.
Leading the way has been the Flight 2 doubles team of Adam Loes and Baley Miller, which is 21-3 on the season and 11-0 in the ESD.
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"They feed off each other and they are two awfully good tennis players," Moller said about Loes and Miller. "That team has the opportunity to do something really special this year. I'm really looking forward to watching them finish the season."
The Flight 1 doubles team of Jared Suelflow and Carter Cavanaugh went 10-1 in the ESD, while the trio of Garret Johnson, Kade Clark and Alex Bergeson went 8-3 in the ESD at Flight 3 doubles.
Individually, Suelflow is 12-11 at Flight 1 singles and 9-2 in the ESD. Cavanaugh is 18-5 overall at Flight 2 and 10-1 in the ESD, while Loes is 16-7 and 11-0 in the ESD at Flight 3. In Flight 4, Miller has Mitchell's best record at 21-3 and he's 11-0 in the conference, while Clark is 19-5 at Flight 5 and 10-1 in the ESD. Ryan Bergeson compiled a record of 20-4 in Flight 6 and is 11-0 in the ESD.
"We are going to be in position to do well in a lot of different places," Moller said.
