Soren Swenson noted he had the majority of shots in his bag a year ago, but they rarely bore fruit.
“I would miss them over and over again,” the Mounds View junior said.
That doesn’t work in tennis, a game highlighting consistency. The truly elite players are the ones who can produce shot after shot, one point after another.
That’s what was required in Friday’s Class 2A individual state final, as Swenson outdueled Wayzata’s Aaron Beduhn 6-2, 6-4 for the state crown in a matchup of the tournament’s top two seeds.
Swenson’s win came two days after he was edged by Beduhn via a third set super tiebreak in the team semifinals on Wayzata’s path to a third consecutive championship.
“What I learned was to just stay really solid and use my forehand to dictate points,” Swenson said.
Solid was the perfect term to describe his play in the final. Swenson largely controlled the first set, and looked to be in cruise control in the second. But Beduhn answered with multiple break points to even the score at 4-4, seemingly shifting momentum.
But Swenson recovered to break Beduhn’s serve to reclaim a 5-4 edge, giving him the chance to serve for the title.
And after going down 30-0 in his service game, Swenson rallied. He did so first with a series of overhead smashes, a shot that can be difficult to capitalize on repeatedly. But the junior did so even with Beduhn returning the first couple.
“I was like 7 for 8 on overheads,” he said, “and it really saved me.”
Some pressure-packed moments can cause players to crumble. But not Swenson. The ability to execute in such moments impressed his older brother, Bjorn, who himself won multiple individual state titles for the Mustangs.
“He handled himself really well,” Bjorn said. “He used the crowd, he celebrated, he did a great job.”
Tied 30-30 in the final game, Swenson blasted an ace at 111 miles per hour to go up 40-30.
“I was just saving it the whole match, just for that serve, just to go get it,” he said.
He won the next point to officially claim the championship, capping a marathon week in which Swenson was tested numerous times, but ultimately came out on top, just as his brother suspected he might at the season’s outset.
Swenson was a state-tournament quality player in past seasons, but not a championship contender. That changed with his offseason work habits.
“He’s waking up every day, lifting, playing tennis multiple times a day. He has worked so hard every day, and it’s really shown with the way he has improved,” Bjorn said. “I always knew (he had it in him). It’s always been in him from a young age in battling on the ping pong court in our basement, I could tell that he’s got what it takes. It’s cool to see his hard work pay off.”
Between the stage, the environment and the quality of competition, Soren called Friday’s title bout “the best match of my life.”
The rest of which delivered on a family legacy that, frankly, Soren felt no pressure to fulfill.
“Some people definitely (would),” he said. “But, for me, I’m my own player.”
And a really good one, at that.
“I couldn’t be more proud as a brother,” Bjorn said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
Orono’s duo of Anthony Perrill and Quinn Martini won the doubles title over Wayzata’s Jacob Salisbury and Rishi Ranjith via a 6-2, 7-6 final.
Spartans soar
Two days after winning a fourth straight team title, St. Paul Academy completed a clean sweep of the Class A championships.
One year after falling in the final, St. Paul Academy sophomore Winston Arvidson completed his title quest with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Rochester Lourdes’ Evan Ritter on Friday.
Arvidson left no doubt throughout his tournament run, dropping just five games total across four matches.
It was an all-St. Paul Academy affair in the doubles bracket, as Isaak Senaratna and Allan Wang bested Spartans teammates Jacob Colton and Ben Macedo 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match.
Senaratna and Wang took third a year ago.