Chatting prior to their semifinal match were Cassandra Brown and Chris Odegard, and Michaela Schulz and Mitchel Brandell. Brown-Odegard won 8-2, then finished second while Schultz-Brandell came back to place third.
by Bruce Strand, Sports editor
A chance encounter with a classmate's kid brother helped Stacey Schulz add to her Elk River Open Tennis Tournament dynasty.
Schulz and Jeremy Thompson ground out a pair of 10-9 wins Saturday and captured the mixed doubles championship. Both are ERHS graduates, in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
The 37th annual tournament continues Saturday with singles and Sundays with regular doubles.
Schultz nabbed her fourth mixed dubs title in five years. She won with Matt Hockett all three years and placed second with him last year. Schulz and Hockett are former UM-Duluth players.
"Matt couldn't make it this year," said Schulz. "I was out hitting with my sister Michaela (earlier in the week), and wasn't even going to play mixed doubles, but Jeremy was there, and I asked him if he wanted to play.
"So we teamed up, and it went pretty well."
Thompson, who'll be playing singles on Saturday and men's doubles Sunday, was elated to get a chance to play mixed with a three-time champion.
"I wanted to play (mixed) but didn't have a partner. I felt confident coming in (with Schulz)," said Thompson, who was familiar to Schulz because both come from local tennis families and his older brother went to school with her.
Schulz and Thompson breezed 8-0 in the first round against Maple Grove siblings (see scores below). Then things got real tough.
They took on a pair of Elk 100-match winners, Kent Nichols and Aly Brandell, both 2008 graduates, in the semifinals. They agreed to play pro-10 rather than pro-8, figuring the match would be really close. It was.
The match was knotted at 9-9 after Nichols and Brandell rallied from an 8-5 deficit. The tiebreaker was no different, also going overtime. Schulz and Thompson prevailed 9-7 with Nichols double-faulting for the final point.
In the finals, they faced two high school juniors-to-be, Cassandra Brown of Elk River and Chris Odegard of St. Michael-Albertville.
The grueling semifinal took a toll on Schulz and Thompson. Meanwhile Brown and Odegaard had won quickly, 8-2 over Elk youngsters Mitchell Brandell and Michaela Schulz (Stacy's sister).
Brown and Odegard roared to a 7-2 lead in the finals. Schulz and Thompson started to charge and soon it was 7-7. Brown and Odegard got back in synch and stuck with the older team until it was 9-9. Then Schulz and Thompson cruised 7-1 in the tiebreaker.
"We were a bit tired, but we ground it out," said Schulz. "Our fundamentals went away for a little while but we got it back ... Jeremy picked me up when I was struggling."
Odgaard praised Thompson for his serve when he congratulated the victors.
"You've got a great serve. I couldn't break it," he said.
Michaela Schultz, going into eighth grade, and Mitchell Brandell, going into ninth, are both already big factors on Elk state tournament teams, and pegged as future stars. They pulled off a third-place upset, rallying from down 4-1 to win upset Nichols and Mitchel's sister Aly 10-8.
St. Michael-Albertville duo wins 'A'
Kayla Buckley and Matt Odegard, Chris's brother, won the "A" mixed doubles tournament, which had eight entries. Buckley will be a junior and Odegaard will be a freshman this fall, both at St. Michael-Albertville. They won three matches, including 10-5 in the finals over Mike and Leah Koehler, a father-daughter combo from Elk River.
Singles on Saturday
Brown is the defending women's singles champion. She'll be back on the courts today trying to repeat. The defending men's champion is College of St. Benedict's coach Scott Larson.
Meet director Randy Ronning said the men's field has 50 players and the women's field had about two dozen.
Men's and women's doubles will be held Sunday.
OPEN MIXED DOUBLES
Quarterfinals
Michaela Schulz -Mitchell Brandell def. Abby Krelkau-Steve Kreklau 8-0
Cassandra Brown-Chris Odegard def Megan Seipel-Luke Beckerman 8-7
Aly Brandell-Kent Nichols def. Katie Jepserson-Jim MacGibbon 8-5
Stacey Schulz-Jeremy Thompson def. Leigh Kreklau-Mike Kreklau 8-0
Semifinals
Brown-Odegard def Schuz-Mitchell 8-2
Schulz-Thompson def. Brandell-Nichols 10-9 (9-7)
Championship
Schulz-Thompson def Brown-Odegard 10-9 (7-1)
Third place
Schulz-Brandell def. Brandell-Nichols 10-8
Consolation finals
Jesperson-MacGibbon def Seipel-Beckerman 10-5
CLASS A MIXED DOUBLES
Semifinals
Leah Koehler-Mike Koehler def Annie Sizen-Stan Sizen 8-1
Kayla Buckey-Matt Odegard def Callie Carlson-Jon Carlson 9-7
Championship
Buckley-Odegard def Koehler-Koehler 10-5
Third place
Carlson-Carlson def. Sizen-Sizen 8-1
Consolation finals
Taylor Lussier-Flesher-Dylan Berger def. Sandy Yeado-Scott Yeado 8-4
