The instructions were simple enough.
Eagan boys' tennis coach Scott Nichols knew if the Wildcats could squeeze two singles points from Bloomington Jefferson in the Class 2A, Section 3 finals, the likelihood of returning to the state team tournament was high.
His son, Drew, figured to be a wild card at No. 3 singles but Nichols couldn't watch. So he dispatched his 12-year-old daughter instead.
"I told her not to come back until Drew won," Nichols said.
An hour or so later, she returned, bouncing with the good news.
Drew Nichols, a junior, won his match 2-6. 7-5, 6-3 over the Jaguars' Joshua Punnoose. The result avenged a regular season loss -- for Drew and the Eagan team -- when it mattered the most.
"Being the underdogs going in -- and Jefferson definitely deserved to be the No. 1 seed -- shocking is the wrong word but when you post an upset, it's really exciting," Scott Nichols said of his No. 2 Wildcats' 4-3 squeaker. "Back and forth the whole time, just like the regular-season match."
Eagan gets no favors in the predetermined draw for the state tournament field. The Wildcats will face Section 1 winner defending Class 2A champion Rochester Mayo in the first round at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
