Aberdeen Roncalli wrapped up its regular season with a pair of tennis setbacks on Friday. The Cavaliers were doubled up by Brandon Valley 6-3, and were blanked by O’Gorman at the Northern State Courts.

Still, there were plenty of positives for the Cavaliers on the day, who played without top player Cason Hellwig, who is coming back from an injury and getting ready for the Class A state tournament which starts Monday in Rapid City.

“It was tough to not have Cason,” said Roncalli coach Jason Haskell, “but it made sense to leave him off for the day.”

In his place, Ezra Feickert stepped into his role at flight two doubles alongside Landon Zikmund and had a solid day.

“I saw some of the best tennis that he’s played all year,” Haskell said of Feickert, “so that was nice.”

Feickert made the most of his new opportunity, recording a win over BV, and suffering a super-tiebreaker loss to OG.

“I usually don’t play with Landon. I usually play at four doubles,” Feickert said. “We came ready to go.”

Feickert said that he and Zikmund have good chemistry.

“We played pretty well together and we’ve known each other for a while,” Feickert said, “so it’s not like we’re completely new.”

Feickert, who plays flight six singles, said he enjoys doubles a little bit more than singles.

“I enjoy doubles, because having partner, it’s more fun,” Feickert said. “There’s more court to hit on.”

Roncalli’s other wins came from Palmer Johnson at flight two singles, and Gannon May at flight three singles.

May had to regroup on the way to his 10-7 victory.

“I got out to a pretty good start. It was 7-2. I don’t really know what happened. I kind of just lost energy and gave up a game and then before you know it, it was 7-5,” May said. “I pulled out a couple of deuce points, hit a couple of big shots, and got the win.”

Winning deuce points has been an issue this season. The junior talked about the mentality of the point which features a two-game swing.

“I’m just trying to focus on just getting it in,” May said. “It’s not going to be my best shot obviously and I think that’s too conservative and then that gets in the way, and then I hit it into the net or I hit it long.”

May is ready for the state tourney. He said a key to his success will be his approach shots when he comes to the net.

“I’ve been struggling on those too on deuce points,’ May said. “They always go long and I just need to work on getting those approach shots in, so I don’t give up points and get into deuce.”

While the Cavaliers have had a solid season, they really hit their stride in the past few weeks. Feickert said the difference began in practice.

“We started working harder in practice,” Feickert said, “taking stuff more seriously and giving more effort.”

Haskell believes that his squad has a chance to make a major impact at the state tourney.

“My goal is to have every kid match their seed at the very least,” Haskell said.

He pointed out that a recent tourney in Pierre gave his players experience of winning matches in a tournament setting.

“It’s not just getting victories, which we’ve been able to do, even against some of the tougher opponents,” Haskell said. “Getting those victories in a tournament type setting, which is what we just came off of in Pierre. It’s different to get wins in duals than it is to earn those victories through a tough climb up the tournament ladder.”

Brandon Valley 6, Aberdeen Roncalli 3

Singles

Eli Woidyla, BV, def. Will Haskell, 10-0.

Palmer Johnson, AR, def. Gibsen Eszlinger, 10-4.

Gannon May, AR, def. Lucas Fogarty, 10-6.

William Jensen, BV, def. Landon Zikmund, 10-4.

Gavin Stone, BV, def. Jayden Reecy, 10-4.

Ryley Mckeown, BV, def. Ezra Feickert, 10-7.

Doubles

Woidyla-Eszlinger, BV, def. Johnson-May, 10-5.

Zikmund-Feickert, AR, def. Fogarty-Stone, 10-6.

Jensen-Mckeown, BV, def. Reecy-Haskell, 10-2.

O’Gorman 7, Aberdeen Roncalli 0

Singles

Ben Pekas, OG, def. Palmer Johnson, 10-4.

Yakob Abebe, OG, def. Gannon May, 10-4.

Finn Canfield, OG, def. Landon Zikmund, 10-7.

Noah Dobbs, OG, def. Jayden Reecy, 10-6.

August Jackson, OG, def. Ezra Feickert, 10-0.

Doubles

Pekas-Abebe, OG, def. Zikmund-Feickert, 10-9 (7-4).

Canfield-Jackson, OG, def. Reecy-Will Haskell, 10-2.