Breathing Easy: Mount Michael Benedictine celebrates senior class with second straight title
By Chris Basnett – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
Mount Michael Benedictine boys tennis coach Chase Petersen could breathe easy Tuesday at the Class B boys tennis championships.
One, because his Knights put together another dominant run to win their second consecutive state championship, and fourth in the last six years.
Two, because Petersen could be at Lincoln’s Woods Tennis Center to celebrate with his senior-heavy team after a collapsed lung kept him away from multiple competitions this fall.
“I missed four tournaments, so it was a lot for me, and I was kind of bummed,” Petersen said. “But all I said to the surgeon was, I’ve got to be back (for state). He’s like, ‘that’s your focus?’
“And I’m like, you have no idea. I have too many seniors to miss.”
With four seniors in the Knights’ six-person lineup, Mount Michael scored 49 points to outdistance second-place Lincoln Pius X by 12 points.
“I didn’t have to change my lineup this year,” Petersen said. “That makes life easy, having a lot of seniors, and the experience we have. I’m proud of them for just kind of stepping up at the right moments.”
Mount Michael won three of four divisions Tuesday, highlighted by the No. 1 doubles team of Patrick Killeen (junior) and Noah Stricklett (senior) claiming their third consecutive state championship with a 6-2, 6-1 win over the Lincoln Christian duo of Grant DeHaan and Benjamin Mooss.
Killeen and Stricklett lost just six games over four state tournament matches and finished the season 50-2, with the duo’s only losses during the season coming to Class A No. 1 singles champions Kayden Le and Samarth Sajeesh of Lincoln East, and to Class A Lincoln Southeast.
“They’re incredible. And watching them every time is just — they walk on the court with an aura of confidence,” Petersen said. “The only thing I regret about them is that I never get to watch them, because I’m always running around trying to coach the other guys.
“I know they’re pretty much OK. They’re the ones that I can just kind of count on to be stable.”
Mount Michael swept the doubles golds, with the No. 2 doubles tandem of seniors John Krueger and Holden Kutash winning a 3-set final 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 over Elkhorn North’s Jack Pierson and Jake Renes.
The victory avenged an 8-5 loss to the Elkhorn North duo in September that marked Krueger and Kutash’s only defeat against Class B competition, and made Elkhorn North the No. 1 seed in the No. 2 doubles bracket. Krueger and Kutash finished 46-5 with four of their five losses coming to Class A foes.
At No. 2 singles, Mount Michael freshman Andrew Pentel (46-6) beat Brownell Talbot senior Ivan Pfeffer 6-2, 6-2. Pfeffer entered with a 16-0 record.
“Every year I try to teach (our players) what Mount Michael tennis is all about,” Petersen said. “It’s all about teamwork, and understanding that — it’s different when you’re a tennis player growing up, because you don’t have the team aspect. You’re no longer the individual name.
“Like Andrew, I told him at the beginning of this season — it was like he couldn’t figure out his emotions. It’s like, you’re no longer Andrew Pintel, you are Mount Michael No. 2 singles. You’ve got to understand that you represent the entire team.”
The team’s fourth senior, Connor Chen, also scored points Tuesday by defeating Lincoln Standing Bear’s Sam Cooper 8-4 in the fifth-place match at No. 1 singles.
It all made the celebration sweet for the Knights and Petersen, who saw his lung collapse on two separate occasions. After the second collapse, surgery was required.
“I was just mad that I missed (those matches), because I don’t get that time back,” Petersen said. “I’ve had three of them in the lineup since freshman year, pretty much. So it’s nice to have that moment, and finish with them.”
Second place in the team race wasn’t decided until the final match of the championships.
Lincoln Pius X senior Connor White outlasted Omaha Skutt’s Jack Holbrook 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 at No. 1 singles in a match that lasted more than three hours.
It was a far cry from the only other meeting between the two this year, an 8-0 White victory on Sept. 20 at Omaha Skutt’s Invitational. White finished 43-13, with all but one of his losses to Class A competition.
White’s victory Tuesday, and the four team points that came with it, gave Pius X 37 total points and a second-place finish. Elkhorn North was third with 35, while Omaha Skutt finished fourth with 31.25. Lincoln Christian rounded out the top 5, finishing with 30 points.
It marked Pius X’s best finish at state since winning back-to-back championships in 2018 (Class B) and 2019 (Class A).
FINAL RESULTS: No. 1 Singles | No. 2 Singles | No. 1 Doubles | No. 2 Doubles | Team Scores
Hunter’s History: Nelson caps perfect career, East claims fifth straight title
By Chris Basnett – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
Hunter Nelson’s historic finish to a historic career capped another historic season for the Lincoln East boys tennis team at the Class A boys tennis championships.
Nelson became just the second player in Nebraska history to go unbeaten and win four No. 1 singles state titles in his high school career, downing Lincoln Southeast’s Owen Brown 6-0, 6-1 in the championship match Friday at Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln.
In front of a standing room-only crowd, Nelson was in control from the start. He punctuated his final high school match with an ace on match point to finish his career a remarkable 139-0. The only other four-time undefeated champion in Nebraska history is Creighton Prep’s Bill Brown who did so from 1960-63.
“This whole week, the pressure of going undefeated and winning four titles in a row, I was just taking it one match at a time, just trying to get better day in and day out,” Nelson said minutes after his win. “And I felt like that took the pressure off me, and I just played much better than I was earlier in the season.”
It seemed appropriate that Nelson faced Brown, a sophomore, in the finals. Nelson beat Brown in last year’s championship match. And this year, Brown pushed Nelson hard — it was a 9-8 Nelson win in the first match of the year between the two. Nelson won 8-6 over Brown in late September, and led Brown 2-1 in early October before Brown was forced to retire because of injury.
But Nelson had Brown on the run from the start, adding some fireworks with a between-the-legs shot midway through the match as he won another point.
“I played really well the whole match,” Nelson said. “And I felt like (Brown) was playing pretty solid. I just won all the big points.”
After first picking up a racket when he was four years old, Nelson was picked up by his teammates in celebration Friday. His was the last match of the day to finish, well after the Spartans had secured the team championship.
“It means everything, Nelson said. “I just took it match by match, and now I’m speechless, I guess.”
Nelson’s win helped East finish with 58 of a possible 60 points as the Spartans finished 12.5 points ahead of second-place Creighton Prep. The Junior Jays have finished second to East in four out of the last five state championships.
Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln Southwest, and Millard North rounded out the top five.
East won its fifth consecutive championship, becoming the first Class A boys program to win five in a row since Creighton Prep won six straight from 2001-06.
“It’s a tribute to all these guys and their hard work over the years,” East coach Chris Stock said. “And to me, it was about the seniors this year. We had seven seniors, and it was about these guys coming together and going out with a bang. And that’s what they did.
“I’m super, super proud of them, and it’s a testament to all their hard work all season, and their love for tennis and love for each other.
Lincoln East had finalists in each of the four divisions, winning three.
Simon Johnson and Samarth Sajeesh, both seniors, teamed up to win No. 1 doubles with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Creighton Prep to cap a 33-0 season. Johnson was the Class A No. 2 singles champion in 2024, while Sajeesh won his third consecutive No. 1 doubles championship.
It was more dominance from East at No. 2 doubles, where Brad Bobaru and Kayden Le finished off a 26-0 season with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Lincoln Southwest . Bobaru and Le lost just three games at state.
Creighton Prep’s Blake Gocken downed East’s Daniel Ji 7-5, 6-0 at No. 2 singles to finish 35-0.
“What (East’s players) did is really — you can’t think about it, really, without just being amazed,” Stock said. “I’m in awe of what they did. I’m just super proud to be a part of it and to work with these guys every day.”
FINAL RESULTS: No. 1 Singles | No. 2 Singles | No. 1 Doubles | No. 2 Doubles | Team Scores
Chris Basnett is a freelance writer based in Lincoln. He has covered prep and college sports for more than 20 years and most recently was the assistant sports editor at the Lincoln Journal Star. He currently provides content for the Harvest Sports Newsletter.