The Reeths-Puffer boys tennis team knew it was in for a challenge in the first weeks of the season, due to a tough schedule against traditionally strong opponents.
On Saturday the Rockets fell to powerful Jenison 6-2 and on Monday they lost to an equally tough Spring Lake squad 7-1.
Things won’t get any easier on Friday when Reeths-Puffer travels north to play in a tournament in Ludington against several very strong teams.
The difficult early schedule was constructed on purpose, to prepare R-P for conference play, even if that meant some early losses, according to Coach Ryan Hankinson.
R-P's doubles team of Adam Miller and Cory Judd, who rallied to win their match against Spring Lake.
“it’s definitely a challenging schedule for the first few weeks,” Hankinson said. “We have a tough tournament in Ludington with Traverse City West and Cadillac, then the guys will play Lowell on their first day of school.
“We feel like these tough teams up north and in the Grand Rapids area will help us get ready.”
The only winners for R-P on Monday were Adam Miller and Cory Judd, who defeated Spring Lake’s Owen Malaski and Trent Sievertsen in the No. 4 doubles match.
Miller and Judd lost the first set 6-1, battled hard to win the second set 7-6, then won the tiebreaker 10-7.