Wayzata, St. Paul Academy add to streaks at boys tennis state tournament

Wayzata senior Aaron Beduhn cruised through his first set at No. 1 singles, then took a 5-2 lead in the second set before dropping a couple of games. He wasn't aware of the clinching situation for his team, so he was a little worried as he glanced at other courts and scores.

Turns out, Beduhn came up with the championship-clinching point in his next game to seal the Class 2A boys tennis team championship for Wayzata on Wednesday at Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.

"I hit a nice passing-shot winner, which was great," Beduhn said. "It's super nice because my older brother two years ago was able to get the clinching point against [Rochester] Mayo. So, it was kind of fun that I was able to get it this year, my senior year."

Beduhn won his match 6-0, 6-4 as part of top seed Wayzata's 6-1 victory over No. 2 seed Edina. Rochester Mayo, the Class 2A runner-up the past two years, finished fourth after Mounds View won that match 4-3. The championship for Wayzata, its seventh overall, is the first three-peat in Class 2A boys team tennis since Edina in 1987-89.

"It's not easy to win these," said Wayzata coach Jeff Prondzinski. "Our kids played to their potential really all year and kept getting better and better. I thought we played our best tennis today."

Wayzata senior Raghav Amin finished his No. 4 singles match (6-0, 6-1) just ahead of Beduhn on the backcourts. Amin, a "superstar for three years for us," Prondzinski said, is undefeated this season. More Trojans dominance? They're undefeated at No. 1-3 doubles slots this season.

Wayzata swept the doubles matches, including a 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 comeback victory for the No. 1 doubles pair of Rishi Ranjith and Jacob Salisbury. Sophomore Nolan Beduhn, Aaron's younger brother, and his doubles partner, eighth-grader Thomas Prondzinski, were the first match off the court and didn't drop a game.

"I think we really just showed what we can do as a 2 doubles team," said Nolan Beduhn. "We had a couple close ones this season, but it's nice to end on that was that."

Older brother Collin Beduhn, who was a senior when Wayzata won two years ago and now plays tennis at Wisconsin, was in attendance to watch his younger brothers secure another team championship for Wayzata. Aaron Beduhn, a captain like his older brother, will play tennis at the University of Denver.

"What they're doing is pretty special," Collin said. "I played for many years, and I was never able to accomplish the success that they're having. So, it's pretty cool what they've done."

The last match to finish was Edina's only win, a 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory for eighth-grader Joshua LaTour at No. 3 singles. That was the only point the Trojans dropped in the postseason, ending an 18-match streak of going 7-0 as a team.

"They've got a lot of experience being here in this situation," said Edina coach Gary Aasen. "Then they were just physically big. … That momentum is really tough to stop."

St. Paul Academy wins fourth straight Class 1A title

Since 1965, no tournament regular at Minnesota's boys team tennis state tournament has managed to do what St. Paul Academy accomplished Wednesday: win a fourth consecutive state title.

In Class 1A, the No. 1-seeded Spartans swept No. 2 Rock Ridge 7-0 at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis. The latest title is SPA's eighth; it becomes only the second program to four-peat after Rochester in the 1960s.

The Spartans did not drop a match through their section and state tournaments.

"It was really nice to be a part of that first [2022 title], just to see how we needed to act," said senior ​​David Schumacher. "A culture of winning is something that's not really a reflection of us as much as the [past] seniors."

This spring, the Spartans were led by new head coach Andrew Argeros. Young talent filled the gaps left by five graduating seniors — in contrast to a roster that stayed nearly identical between its 2023 and 2024 titles.

"At the beginning of the season, it was a little bit like, 'How much do we try and keep from the previous years, and how much do we let it grow into its new thing?' " senior Jacob Colton said.

A balance was needed, they decided. They showed off one of those "new things" after wrapping up the final match, singing "You Are My Sunshine" in a huddle, a joke from a regular-season match that turned into a tradition.

St. Paul Academy's team includes the No. 1-ranked singles player in Class 1A, freshman Winston Arvidson, and the top two seeded doubles pairs, Colton and senior Ben Macedo, and junior Allan Wang and sophomore Isaak Senaratna. They were joined by Schumacher, senior Aidan Williams, freshman Lucas Laguna, sophomore Gavin Leuthold and freshman Henry Cammack in Wednesday's championship matches.

Rock Ridge, led by seven seniors and undefeated until Wednesday's championship, wraps up its season with its program's best finish in its fifth consecutive trip to the tournament.

"This group of seniors started as ninth-graders when I took over the team," said Wolverines head coach Jace Friedlieb. "What they did is incredible. … It ignites a fire [in the program]."