NORTON SHORES - Usually when a team wins the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tennis Tournament, it has at least two or three star players who win their individual flight championships.
Stars win medals, and if you have enough stars, your team wins trophies.
But the Reeths-Puffer girls tennis team broke that mold on Saturday, winning the GMAA team tournament title with only one flight championship.
For the Rockets, it was all about depth from the top of the lineup to the bottom. Reaching the finals in seven of the eight flights – despite success in only the one title match - gave R-P just enough points to produce what can only be described as a true team championship.
R-P's Lauren Matz and Emma Fraser, who won the No. 2 doubles championship.
The Rockets finished with 48 team points, followed by Mona Shores (44), Fruitport (43), North Muskegon (30), Whitehall (28), Western Michigan Christian (19) and Muskegon Catholic Central (12).
R-P Coach Ryan Hankinson said the perfect example of how the Rockets won and celebrated as a team came during the trophy presentation ceremony.
Brooke Titus and Olivia Harris - two of the three seniors who walked up to accept the trophy – had just lost championship matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, a few minutes earlier. There was no sign of disappointment, however, when they collected the big prize on behalf of their team.
“They both smiled more than I have ever seen them smile when they went up to take the trophy,” Hankinson said.
Lauren Matz gets ready to return a shot. Photo/Steve Gunn
The championship was a milestone, because it was the first time an R-P tennis team – girls or boys – had ever won the GMAA tournament.
It also completed a very special day for R-P athletics in general, with three teams winning city tournament titles on the same afternoon – tennis, softball and baseball.
“I could not be happier for the girls,” Hankinson said. “I am also super happy for (assistant coach) Kevin Marshall, who has brought so much to the program.
“This has been, hands down, the best week of R-P tennis I have been connected to. We had a close loss to a very good Zeeland East team on Monday, we played our best match of the year and beat a good Zeeland West team on Wednesday, then we built on it and won city on Saturday. I am ecstatic that the girls put together a week like that.”
R-P's Emma Fraser in action at No. 2 doubles. Photo/Steve Gunn
The Rockets used their depth in all four singles and all four doubles flights to pile up team points.
R-P’s Emma Fraser and Lauren Matz won the flight championship at No. 2 doubles.
Titus (No. 1 singles), Harris (No. 2 singles), Mylie Neel (No. 4 singles), Hope Latsch and Olivia Smith (No. 1 doubles), Gabrielle Borgeson and Malania Eilers (No. 3 doubles) and Laura Tejedor and Ava Dietz (No. 4 doubles) all finished as runners-up in their flights.
Of all the runners-up, Harris came the closest to claiming an individual title, winning the first set in the finals against North Muskegon’s Marilyn Gaston 6-4 before falling 6-3 in the second set and losing the third-set tiebreaker 10-5.
Molly Matz (No. 3 singles) finished third in her flight.
R-P's Brooke Titus goes low to make a shot in No. 1 singles action. Photo/Steve Gunn
As Hankinson said, “I guess it all came down to getting the girls in the right flights.”
Accomplishing that required some unselfishness on the part of the players, according to the coach.
A good example involved Latsch and Smith, sophomores who played doubles as freshmen and very much wanted to play singles this season.
They started out as singles players, but Hankinson needed more depth in doubles and asked them to leave singles and form the No. 1 doubles team. They agreed and the overall lineup became much stronger.
R-P's Olivia Harris competes in No. 2 singles. Photo/Steve Gunn
“One hundred percent, it was their decision,” Hankinson said. “They texted me and said they would play doubles again this year.”
Other big keys to winning the title had to do with the team’s overall mentality, Hankinson said.
“This is the most blended lineup we’ve had, but it was more that the culture of the team has changed,” he said. “Kevin Marshall keeps telling me it's about the culture, about kids believing they can do it, about teaching them what to do and having them do it.
“This was also a village championship. We have tried to introduce the Rocket way. That’s a credit to all of these girls who really care about tennis. In the past we’ve had some girls who it wasn’t as important to as prom and other activities, but these girls, if I say we’re not practicing because it’s raining, they will ask if they can practice indoors. That’s never happened before.”
Harris unleashes a hard shot. Photo/Steve Gunn
Fraser and Lauren Matz won their No. 2 doubles flight title by beating Whitehall’s Emily VanDam and Sophia McCreedy 6-2, 6-2, then topping Mona Shores’ Isabella Sobczak and Lauren Hall, 6-2, 7-5 in the championship round.
After cruising to victory in the first set of the finals, Fraser and Matz fell behind 3-1 in the second set, and the match could have slipped away at that point.
Hankinson said “unsportsmanlike comments” from spectators caused Fraser and Matz to stumble a bit, but they pulled themselves together and won four of the last six games to clinch the victory.
"At the next changeover, I reminded them that only the action on the court and the thoughts in their minds really mattered,” Hankinson said. “The righted themselves and fought back in a great match of big shots.”