The luck of the draw can mean a lot when it comes to predicting success in the state girls tennis tournament and, this year, Waseca appears to be a bit more fortunate than St. James.

The two area teams begin play in the Class A team tournament on Tuesday. Sixth-ranked Waseca will be taking on unranked Benson while fifth-rated St. James will be taking on No. 1-ranked Mounds Park Academy.

“We expect Benson to be very competitive but we like our draw at state this year,” Waseca head coach Kyle Collins said. “They have Abby Fagodt at the top of their singles lineup and she’s ranked fifth in the state, but we feel we have a decent chance to come out on top (in our first-round meet).”

The Bluejays take a 15-2 record into the tournament. Their only losses were to fourth-ranked Rochester Lourdes by a score of 4-3 and to Class AA’s second-ranked Rochester Mayo by a score of 7-0.

“Both those losses came early in the season, and since then we’ve had a good run,” Collins said. “We went undefeated in the month of September and have now won 14 in a row.”

Before practice started this season, Collins figured the team was set at the Nos. 1 and 2 singles spots with Danni Collins (no relation) and Briee Mercier, but he was also counting on Hannah Flor to play either third or fourth singles. That didn’t work out because Flor had foot surgery during the offseason and had to limit herself to doubles.

“That actually turned out to be a very good move for us,” the coach said. “Hannah has paired with Lexi Ulfers and they have only one loss the whole year.”

Abby Collins has played well at third singles and Taylor Nelson has been coming on at fourth singles. The most pleasant surprise has been freshman Alicia Knoll who has stepped in and been solid at the second doubles position along with partner Tessa Krueger.

As for St. James meeting Mounds Park Academy in the first round, Saints’ head coach Les Zellmann said it may not have been the draw his team would have liked, but his players won’t be intimidated.

“Ideally, you’d like to play the best team in the state in the finals instead of the first round, but that’s not in our control,” he said. “Our kids have been accepting of the challenge. It’s great motivation to know you’re going against the best.”

The Saints have a 21-2 record. They lost two meets by scores of 4-3 to Waseca and Rochester Lourdes.

Unlike Kyle Collins, Zellmann said he had some major question marks entering the preseason due to the graduation of seven starters from last year’s top-10 lineup.

“The girls responded very well. Paige Olson stepped in to play No. 1, Abby Frederickson moved up from second doubles to second singles, Aryn Eckstrom went from JV to third singles and Rachel Lahti went from JV to fourth singles. All of our doubles players, with the exception of Darci Johnson, were JV players last year.”

Despite the lack of varsity experience, Zellmann said his team gelled quickly. “We went up against some teams in our section early, and we knew by early September that we had the capacity to do well this year.”

The Saints have two undefeated players heading into state. Mackenzie Gronewald is 25-0 and Karlee Sieve is 29-0. The two have played most of the season together at No. 2 doubles.

St. James meets Mounds Park Academy at noon while Waseca tangles with Benson at 8 a.m. All Class A matches will be played at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

Class A individuals
The two-day tournament begins on Thursday at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center.

The area singles players are Emily Slama from Blue Earth Area, Elena Almici from Sibley East, and Stephanie Biehn from Martin County West.

The area doubles qualifiers include Lori Ulfers and Hanna Flor from Waseca; Sara Anderson and Mandi Stencel from Maple River; Abby Frederickson and Karlee Sieve from St. James; and Darci Johnson and Julie Runge from St. James.