“Michael is a great recruiter and teacher of the game of tennis and deserves this opportunity,” SDSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Leon Costello said. “We look forward to watching our tennis program grow under his leadership.”

Engdahl, who served the last two years as an assistant for now retired head coach Don Hanson, focused primarily on the men’s team and coached them to their most successful season in team history during the 2009-10 season, and coached a total of three all-Summit League players during his time as an assistant.

In addition to coaching at SDSU, Engdahl also spent time as the director and head tennis instructor for Michael Engdahl Tennis, which he founded in 2006. He also worked as the director and head tennis instructor at the St. Cloud Country Club in St. Cloud, Minn., beginning in 2005.

Before starting his own tennis program, Engdahl served as the head tennis coach at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club in Sartell, Minn., from 2005-06, and worked as an assistant at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club in St. Cloud in 2004. He also worked as a tennis instructor at Gold’s Gym in Sartell, and at Set Point Tennis in St. Cloud from 2003-06.

A 2008 graduate of South Dakota State, Engdahl played both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles in 2008 as a senior captain for the Jackrabbits.

The St. Cloud, Minn., native transferred to SDSU from St. Cloud State where he played from 2004-05, and competed in the NCAA Division II national tournament twice. He also earned all-North Central Conference selections in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.

–Courtesy of SDSU Athletics

After moving to Sioux Falls, the Jacks found some success, despite a leaky roof.

Sportswriter

Bryna Nasenbeny follows through on a forehand during the Jacks spring break trip earlier this season. - Submitted Photo by Eric Landwehr

The South Dakota State women’s tennis team wrapped up their 2011 conference season this past weekend as they hosted a Summit League cluster in Sioux Falls.

The Jacks won two of their five matches over the three days with a 4-0 sweep of Centenary on April 14th and a 4-3 win over Western Illinois on April 15th.

The cluster was originally scheduled to be played outdoors in Brookings, but due to cold and wet weather, it was moved indoors to Sioux Falls at Sioux Empire Fitness.

“We were very happy with how the cluster went in the most trying of conditions with the three indoor courts, leaking roofs and toweling off the courts,” said SDSU head coach Don Hanson. “I never thought that during my last Summit League match I would become a towel boy and mop up floors, but that is the way it went.”

Megan McDougall went undefeated during the five matches going 3-0 at #5 singles with two matches unfinished and had a 2-0 record in #2 doubles teaming with Bryna Nasenbeny with two matches unfinished.

Against Western Illinois, SDSU found themselves tied at three points apiece with only #6 singles yet to play. That’s where Katie Elifson notched the fourth and winning point for SDSU with a straight set 6-0, 6-0 victory.

“That’s a lot of pressure when the outcome of the entire thing comes down to your match and you are the last one playing,” Hanson said.

The final match for SDSU was against first place IPFW. After rolling through their first three matches of the cluster, the Jacks gave the Mastodon’s a bit of a fight as McDougall lost the first set at #4 singles 7-6, while #1 Jenny Blackburne took two games in the first set from 11 time Summit League player of the week Amy Recht. In the end, it was not enough as IPFW ended up winning 4-0 and have won 42 of the 44 sets played in conference this season.

“We played IPFW tough,” said Hanson, “but I didn’t think they were that much better than we were considering they were the undefeated champions of the Summit League. They are good, but we are not that far behind them.”

The Jacks finished conference play with a 2-6 record and are 5-13 overall with a dual against St. Cloud State scheduled for April 29th in Brookings to end the season. Two of SDSU’s losses this season were by 4-2 decisions where the outcome could have been different based on a single match. That, along with no seniors graduating, puts the women’s in prime position to make a run at the conference tournament next season.

“That experience should really help them turn the corner,” said Hanson. “It’s not going to help us with facilities. It’s not going to help us play or train any longer. Hopefully they will have enough experience that they will be able to overcome it. I believe this team will be competitive and I think we have a real shot at getting into the Summit League Tournament.”

12:05 p.m. I arrived an hour-and-a-half after the first match of the day between IPFW and Western Illinois and they are about 20 minutes away from an IPFW win. This cluster, as they call it, was originally scheduled to be played in Brookings outside at Hillcrest Park, but was moved inside to Sioux Empire Fitness in Sioux Falls because of poor weather.

12:57 p.m. Tennis coach Nathan McLain, a former private tennis trainer, is mentioned. He was charged with two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct back in February 2010 for having sex with a teenage girl he was “coaching” in tennis. He was sentenced to two years probation. It sounds like the girl was OK with the relationship after reading a recent article earlier in the month on the Star Tribune website.

2:35 p.m. A second official arrives and can’t quite figure out the way to the courts. He finally makes it.

2:45 p.m. The second official’s wife must not be from around here since she asks SDSU head coach Don Hanson which color skirts are South Dakota (not South Dakota State) and which one is Oral Roberts.

4:35 p.m. IUPUI has arrived for their 6:30 p.m. scheduled match vs. IPFW as they have taken over our lounge area. One player is crying for some reason.

4:50 p.m. The IPFW assistant coach insists that Wes Unseld hobbled out of the locker room for the Knicks in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. Their head coach insists that it was Walt Frazier. They are both wrong. It was Willis Reed. I don’t have the heart to tell them. Also, an IUPUI player thought that Susan B. Anthony had breast cancer when she was actually thinking of Susan G. Komen. This is the future of America, people.

5:05 p.m. The Jacks lose their first match 4-2 to Oral Roberts. The match clocks in at just about three hours.

5:08 p.m. An IUPUI player has come back up to the lounge as she has forgotten her rackets.

5:09 p.m. “The Jackrabbits are San Diego State, right?” says one of the IUPUI moms. Her husband calls her on it.

5:15 p.m. The older of the two officials was just asked by the younger one who won the match. The old guy says SDSU. He is incorrect. I say nothing.

5:20 p.m. The younger of the two officials is talking with the old official and his wife. He says that IPFW is Indiana-Purdue-Fort Worth. It is actually Fort Wayne, Ind., not Fort Worth, Texas. This same man will be an official for University of Minnesota tennis Sunday vs. Ohio State. Apparently a geography test is not needed to be a tennis official. Hopefully he doesn’t get lost on his way driving to Mankato, I mean Minneapolis.

9:30 p.m. The SDSU-Centenary match is moved to Westward Ho Country Club and they are just wrapping up. Four local girls come and see that the match is taking place and think there are still two matches to go. They end up leaving a little mad. SDSU and Centenary finish up five minutes later to the tune of a 4-0 Jackrabbit shutout.

April 15th, 2011 Day Two Friday

10:30 p.m. I arrived to hear the end of a conversation between two old ladies talking about Obama’s birth certificate and No Child Left Behind. One player from IPFW comes up to get wrapped in a bag of ice and doesn’t know what school is hosting. She asks the trainer and the trainer informs her about South Dakota State and its proximity to Sioux Falls. I will give their player a bit of a pass since she is from Japan. The beautiful noise of kids screaming engulf the area as a little play center is near the front door for those parents that want to work out. Either someone is being killed or they are playing with Lego’s. I can’t tell the difference.

10:45 p.m. The IPFW coach talks about possibly moving their match against SDSU up a day from 7:30 p.m. Saturday to later tonight. Also, the younger of the two officials is up here typing away on his computer. What I find interesting is that with three courts going on at the same time, there is only one official down there. He is not in an umpire chair. He is just on the court switching between matches. It is kind of like pickup basketball where the players call their own fouls and keep track of the score, but in this case the players call the errors when the umpire isn’t around. It’s strange to me that one of the two officials is not on the court during play. Maybe they only need one at a time and two at once is a plus.

10:55 p.m. Love is a choice, not an emotion I find out according to one voice near the front desk. Everyone has a nice laugh by the knowledge that was just dropped. The 2011 Summit League women’s tennis cluster: Where life lessons are learned.

12:05 p.m. SDSU is ready to take the court vs. Western Illinois. The younger official speculates that this could go five hours.

3:45 p.m. Over three-and-a-half hours later, the Jacks defeat the Leathernecks 4-3. It came down to the No. 6 singles match between SDSU’s Katie Elifson and WIU’s Kara Chicoine. Elifson has no trouble winning 6-0, 6-0.

4:15 p.m. As IUPUI and Oral Roberts are about to square off, we are informed that only two of the three courts are now playable as the leaking roof at the facility has made one court unplayable.

4:45 p.m. Just as I am about to leave to get something to eat, an Oral Roberts player slips on the curtain that surrounds the outer edge of the court and hurts her knee pretty bad. She is lying in pain.

6:20 p.m. I return to see the ORU player with crutches and her knee wrapped. Apparently her dad is a doctor, so don’t feel too bad for her. And still, the younger (mid to late 40’s) official is up here talking to the other guys’ wife and just watching while two matches go on. If I am paying this guy $1,000 for his three days of service, he better be on the court. Easy money, I guess.

Also, some kids and their parents are crowding the lounge area. We will see what is up. One of the kids correctly observes that you don’t see green furniture very often like the green leather-like chairs in the lounge. They must be here for some karate thing as a 20-something guy has just walked in with a black karate outfit. He is ready to take them to the dojo. First rule of the dojo: no shoes. Also, no metal objects like rings, earrings (unless you can’t take them out), but glasses are fine.

10:45 p.m. It is snowing quite heavily on the drive home.

April 15th, 2011 Day Three Saturday

12:00 p.m. I get here at noon for the final day of competition. SDSU starts things off against IUPUI.

2:40 p.m. Very pleased with my Chicago Bulls coming from behind to win game one of their first round series against the Indiana Pacers.

4:20 p.m. The first match of the day is finally finished as IUPUI win 4-2.

5:30 p.m. The words “tampon case” are uttered by an IUPUI player. It has come to this.

10:40 p.m. The final match of the cluster between Oral Roberts and Centenary is an easy 4-0 Golden Eagles victory and I am out the door on the way home.

Megan McDougall executes a return on the Jacks spring break trip to Florida earlier this year. - Submitted Photo by Eric Landwehr.

In terms of the win-loss column, the Jackrabbit women’s tennis team appears as struggling.

After dropping their first three conference matches last weekend to Oakland, UMKC and Southern Utah, a fan unfamiliar with the program might be asking, “What’s going on?”

“I wasn’t disappointed at all because they (Oakland, UMKC, SUU) are three of the best teams in the conference,” head coach Don Hanson said. “The girls played extremely hard and extremely well. There was nothing to be disappointed about except the (final) score.”

Much like the men’s team, the women’s side is battling with youth and a batch of international student athletes on its roster. SDSU’s No. 1 singles spot belongs to freshman and New Zealand native Jenny Blackburne, who came to the team this winter. Junior Natalia Medina’s is from Colombia, coming to SDSU because of her interest in the agriculture program.

The women’s program is finally starting to match up with other schools at the D-I level in terms of scholarship numbers and the talent on the court. One big factor seems to be holding the entire tennis program back: lack of indoor facilities.

Hillcrest Courts, located just south of campus, is the home for the team, weather permitting. Due to the long winter and absence of spring, the Jacks have been practicing at the 5th Street Gym.

“We practice roughly four hours a week. Most of the teams we face put in 20 hours a week,” Hanson said.

Limited practice puts any team in a nice-sized hole. Until the weather warms up, SDSU has to make due with what they have.

In that case, they hope the weather changes fast.

The women’s team will be hosting the first-ever Summit League tennis matches held in Brookings. Oral Roberts, Centenary, Western Illinois, IPFW and IUPUI will all be visiting April 14-16. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the matches will be moved to an indoor facility in Sioux Falls.

“We’re hoping for good weather. It should be a well run event and I think we’ll do pretty good,” Hanson said.

Hanson was quick to point out that the lack of facilities isn’t an excuse, and despite the losses, his team is almost to the point of piling up wins. Much like the men’s side, the future is bright for the women’s team to establish themselves in the Summit League.

“We’ve been totally competitive every time we’ve played, even against the top teams in the Summit League,” Hanson said. “We’re not miles away, we’re inches away. We are a very strong team. We’re at the stage (with the program) now that there shouldn’t be a ‘next year’, it should be ‘we’re there now.’”

The Jackrabbit men’s tennis team has started to turn some corners on the Division I stage.

Spring season play started out over spring break, where the team played in the Orlando Classic. In Florida, the Jacks posted a 5-3 overall record, with strong showings from sophomore James Thorp and freshman Chris Baron.

There is an international feel to the team this year. Freshman Carl Lundberg hails from Stockholm, Sweden, while Baron is a native of Canada. Thorp is the newest product from Australia, joining fellow Australian teammates Jamie Dash and Dominic Rossetto.

SDSU looked good coming back from Orlando, but a tough conference schedule was looming on the calendar.

Starting March 19, the Jackrabbits faced six conference opponents in a matter of 10 days. The team faced Oral Roberts and host UMKC in Kansas City, Mo., from March 19-20, then traveled to Macomb, Ill., last weekend, where they faced Centenary, IUPUI and Western Illinois.

The results weren’t pretty, as the Jacks combined to go 1-5 in that 10-day span. The only victory came against Centenary, with junior Justin Pyle picking up a win in singles, while Dash and Lundberg teamed up for a doubles victory.

The spring conference season is a short one, especially for the Jacks. Most teams in the Summit League have three more conference matches, while SDSU is finished with conference play.

The top doubles pair for the Jackrabbits has been Lundberg and Thorp, with a record of 7-5. Lundberg has posted the top singles record at 10-4 on the year.

Even after rough showings in Kansas City and Macomb, the team still stands at 8-9 overall. With the upcoming weekend off, the Jacks turn their sights west in search of a winning record. From April 7-9, SDSU will make stops at three Colorado schools: Air Force, Northern Colorado, and Metro State.

The team has plenty of youth this year, with Jeff Hughes as the only senior on SDSU’s squad. While conference play may not have panned out how the Jacks had hoped, SDSU has shown improvement from last fall. With a wealth of international talent just starting to get their feet wet at the collegiate level, the future looks bright for Jackrabbit tennis.

The spring season will wrap up with a home match against St. Cloud State on April 29 at 1 p.m., with an Alumni day planned for April 30.