Bemidji Boys’ Tennis to Lean on Experience from Young and Old Talent for 2025

With all the warm weather, the tennis courts at Bemidji High School thawed off and the boys are out practicing for what they hope will be their season opener later this week, Mother Nature pending.

The Lumberjacks have quite a bit of experience returning after only graduating two regular starters from last year’s squad. They return seniors Dominic Arndt, Jack McNallan, Max Louvar, and Brooks Johnson, as well as junior Peter Mathews. All them played a significant number of matches last season in both doubles and singles.

“[I’m] excited to get back, play some matches with my boys, get some wins and hopefully go to state,” said McNallan. “We’re just more experienced, better match play, all the young guys hitting a lot better. That’s a big thing.”

“I’m just excited to play singles, doubles, one, two, three, four. Wherever coach puts me, really,” added Johnson. “I just like the sport. It’s really fun. I’m excited to help the team however I can.”

He talked about some of the younger talent on the team as well. “I think positive reinforcement, especially for these younger kids coming up, it’s just great to share that culture with them. I like the culture we have here at Bemidji tennis and just really positive reinforcement.”

The Jacks have experience from a number of underclassmen as well, including sophomore Ethan Frank and freshmen Josh Arel and Owen Lappinga, who started on the varsity as eighth graders last year. Lappinga was rotated to singles court one on a regular basis.

“The more you play, the more relaxed you get, the more you know what to expect and stuff like that,” Lappinga said. “And wherever I play, I’m going to be happy. And the experience factor of just playing helps a lot. And I’m just super excited to play some tennis.”

“Some of our younger players on the roster, actually, in some ways, are some of our more experienced players compared to some others,” said head coach Kyle Fodness. “You always, in high school athletics, look to your leadership to kind of help you feel a little bit more confident on the court or on the field. And it does help when a lot of that leadership comes from different grades.”