Manitowoc Lincoln High School’s number one doubles team of Ayden Knuth and Cohen Newberg are left for Madison this morning (June 1st), ahead of their opening round match today at the WIAA State Individual Tennis Tournament.
The Knuth/Newberg combination takes a 20-and-6 mark into their 1:00 p.m. match against the #9 seeded duo from Eau Claire Memorial (23-and-6), whom they saw and lost to at a tournament during the season.
The Ships junior/sophomore tandem was just one win away from being seeded and that serves as motivation according to Knuth.
“I feel like we have a good shot at least to get the second or third round,” he said. “I just feel like it’s gonna be a good opportunity for us to see where we come”
Newberg reflected on getting through a tough sectional where they lost in the finals, saying, “I think it really helps us just seeing how far we will come and how good the other teams were in our sectional and just overcoming the challenges that came along with it”
Ayden and Cohen’s appearance marks a return to state where they dropped their opening match last spring.
Coach Bob Feller, who is in his 49th season at Lincoln High School, spoke about the noise factor at Nielsen Indoor Stadium.
“Yeah, it can be pretty loud there. Well that’s the fun of the state tournament,” he said. “I mean, nobody’s gonna sit around and just be timid it’s no fun. That’s the excitement of being in a big tournament.”
Feller said they are two smart players, “and when they play that way, they’re really really solid.”
He also noted that each player has a unique talent that has helped them be so successful.
“We’ve got Aidan with his big serve and his big volley game and overheads, he just dominates the net,” Feller explained. “And we’ve got Cohen, who’s a little quicker he has, his serve’s a little more sneaky lefthanded y’know he’s got a little slider he throws out there and so it, to look different looks it doesn’t throw like that is really very good.”
A win today would advance the Lincoln players to a second-round match Friday morning.
