It’s time to bring on the competition.

After a season that saw her face very few tests while losing just one match, Pacelli junior Lisa Johnen is ready to play some nail-biting matches as she prepares for the Class ‘A’ state tennis tournament, which will be held in the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis this Thursday and Friday at 8 a.m.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun to play in Minneapolis,” said Johnen, a foreign exchange student from Germany. “I think I’m going to see a lot of really good players, and I hope I can win it.”

Johnen carries a record of 16-1 into the tournament, and all of her wins were in two sets. Her only loss was to Courtney Rust of Rochester Lourdes in the Section 1A team playoffs. Johnen bounced back to beat Rust in the Section 1A final.

“It was real cool to win against her. That was a challenge and it was a lot of fun,” Johnen said.

To prepare for the state tournament, Johnen has been giving her head coach Mark Henderson a handful while practicing against him.

“She makes me look bad,” said Henderson, the first year Pacelli coach who played high school tennis at Luverne. “I’m proud of her for that and I don’t mind it all. I’ll take that every day if that’s what it takes to get her ready to play.”

Johnen opens up the state tournament with a match against Charlotte Skinner of Marshall School in Duluth at 8 a.m. Thursday. If she wins that match she will likely be facing Abby Edin of Staples/Motley, who is the best state returnee in the Class ‘A’ field as she was runner up last season. She was ranked No. 3 in the final coaches poll.

“There will be some very good matches. But I think as long as Lisa plays her game, she’ll be right in the mix with those girls,” Henderson said. “She had some tough matches at the section tournament and any time you get tough matches, that only makes you better as a player.”

Henderson plans on bringing a large contingent of the Pacelli tennis team up to Minneapolis to watch their teammate play. Johnen hopes she can play well for the Shamrocks.

“I’m really excited because I’m the first one (to go from Pacelli),” she said. “It’s all new to me and I hope I can make it good so that Pacelli can be proud.”

The tournament is single elimination until the finals, so Johnen would have to win two matches to get to Friday’s semifinals, which start at 8 a.m. The Class ‘A’ title match will be held Friday at 11:30 a.m.

Of the 16 state qualifiers, six were in last year’s state tournament.

Taylor Washington of Mounds Park Academy, who couldn’t play Johnen until the finals, was ranked No. 1 in the final coaches poll.

Johnen’s hosts are Rick and Michelle Johnson of Austin.