Tennis

Edina’s Westholder graduates with his two greatest tennis wins

Edina's Westholder graduates with his two greatest tennis wins

The 2021 tennis season was everything Edina High senior co-commander Luke Westholder was expecting despite the fact that the Hornets missed on their bid to win the Lake Conference title.

Westholder’s remarkable play in the postseason helped Edina win the state Class AA group title over Wayzata, the group that beat the Hornets for the Lake title. Furthermore, what’s more, Westholder and his accomplice, junior co-chief Otto Schreiner won the state duplicates title.

The last three matches at state set the Edina couple in opposition to three arrangements of siblings.

“Playing against siblings resembles playing against some other group,” Westholder said. “Matches at state are in every case hard, whether or not you’re playing against siblings. I love playing pairs with Otto. In any event, when I’m not playing my best tennis, he is there to support me.”

One of the qualities of the Westholder-Schreiner mix was power. The two of them love the serve and volley style. Westholder has a major serve and a major forehand. Schreiner presents with force and exactness and has exceptionally speedy reflexes at the net.

Winning the state group title was a fantasy Westholder needed to delay. The 2020 season was dropped because of COVID-19. On par with what Edina was this season, the Hornets may have had a stunningly better group in 2020. Indeed, even with that lost season, Westholder arrived at the 100-win mark for his vocation in 2021.

“I cherished each second of Edina tennis, even in the vacations,” Westholder said. “I will miss this group a ton.”

Westholder is one of the foundation major parts in Edina tennis history. Tallying the COVID-19 season, he was a six-year varsity player, who joined the beginning setup as a seventh-grader. He made the All-Lake Conference group multiple times.

At the point when Westholder previously joined the varsity, commander Michael O’Neil turned into his coach. Thus, Westholder filled in as a guide to this present season’s 7th grade varsity player, Andy Norman.

“Andy had a generally excellent year and assisted us with winning state,” Westholder said.

While Westholder cherished secondary school tennis, his eagerness for school tennis is building. He intends to play at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa next season. In the university positions, tennis players can contend in the two singles and copies.

“I like pairs, yet I incline toward singles,” Westholder said.

While he didn’t play another varsity letter sport for Edina, Westholder won all-gathering respects with the young men volleyball crew and furthermore played in the table tennis crew.

“I’m baffled that volleyball didn’t turn into an authority [High School League] sport while I was playing,” Westholder said.

The following year’s Edina tennis crew will return a solid core, however will surely miss Westholder, the group’s chief on the court. His voice could be heard at each match, as he empowered colleagues and extolled their endeavors.

State second place Matthew Fullerton will get back to lead Edina’s singles next season, alongside Oskar Jansson, Nolan Ranger and Norman. Schreiner will return in pairs and may likewise play a few singles.

The players change from one year to another, however the consistent is the training of Gary Aasen, the previous University of Minnesota player and Edina Hall of Fame mentor.

Among Westholder’s greatest fans are his folks, Mark and Claudia. During her Edina High vocation, Claudia [Vieira] was an All-American swimmer. She was accepted into the Edina High Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

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