Reeths-Puffer’s Adam Miller had a perfect day at Thursday’s Grand Haven Invitational, but he really had to work for it.
Miller, the Rockets’ No. 4 singles player, persevered through two very long matches and emerged with a 3-0 record and first place in his flight.
Miller started out the day with an easy 6-3, 6-1 victory over Western Michigan Christian’s Reid Staal, but then the hard work came.
He beat Kalamazoo Central’s Owen Voelker 7-5 in a long first set, lost his flow and was swept 6-0 in the second set, then pulled himself together and won the tiebreaker10-6.
R-P's Adam Miller, who posted a 3-0 record at Grand Haven.
As if that weren’t enough, Miller had to do it again against Grand Haven’s Alex Scholz.
He lost the first set 6-2, rallied and stayed alive by winning the second set 6-2, then again won a tiebreaker by the same 10-6 score.
"Adam was carrying a 700-pound gorilla around on his back after dropping his first four matches of the year against very good opponents," said R-P Coach Ryan Hankinson. "It was like he ate a Snickers bar and turned back into himself once he got the first win of the day.
"I was not surprised at all that he won all three matches and led the team. His teammates call him the hardest working of all three captains. They call him 'Money Miller' for a reason."
Henrik Ketner and Kaden Marshall, who were 2-1 at No. 5 doubles.
Miller’s performance headlined a very good day for the R-P boy’s tennis squad, which finished in second place in the four-team event with 15 points. Grand Haven took first place with 22 points, WMC was third with 10 and Kalamazoo Central had 1.
Numerous other Rockets also had winning days, posting 2-1 records in their flights: Ethan Frang (No. 1 singles), Quinn Alderink (No. 2 singles), Cory Judd (No. 3 singles), Cade Paugh and Holden Earnest (No. 1 doubles), Trent VanDam and Leo Kretschmar (No. 2 doubles), and Henrik Ketner and Kaden Marshall (No. 5 doubles).
Paugh and Earnest came very close to going 3-0. They won their first two matches with ease, and won the first set against Grand Haven’s Maddox Krugler and Parker Cramblet 6-1. But then they lost the second set in a 7-5 barnburner and the tiebreaker set 10-8.
Reeths-Puffer posted a 9-3 record in singles play. The Rockets won medals in seven of the nine flights.