Mounds View junior Bjorn Swenson recently ended his fourth year of high school tennis with his second Class 2A singles championship.

It would have been five years if not for the pandemic, which robbed him and his teammates of a chance at a second consecutive team championship after winning the Class 2A team title in 2019.

This spring, the Mustangs suffered a close loss to Mahtomedi in the Section 4 championship match. For Swenson, a team member since seventh grade, the team loss was abmajor disappointment, considering how strongly devoted he is to high school tennis.

“I really love playing high school tennis. I love playing for a team,” said Swenson, the Star Tribune Metro Boys’ Tennis Player of the Year. Swenson, who won the award in 2019, committed to the University of Michigan at the start of the season.

COVID-19 also severely curtailed his overall tennis schedule last year. Regional and national tournaments that help his national ranking were mostly postponed.

“I was stationed here in Minnesota, training every day with some local college players, hoping to get better,” he said.

Those USTA tournaments gradually returned and Swenson was ready, playing well enough to move up to No. 3 in the Under-18 national rankings.

He plans to play high school tennis as a senior, with the incentive of possibly teaming with younger brother Soren, who will be a seventh-grader next season.

“I’ve always thought it would be fun, for me and him to try to win doubles together,” he said.