The Reeths-Puffer boys tennis team ran into some extremely tough competition last week and dropped all four of its matches, including three on a long trip to Traverse City.
The Rockets are hoping the experience, going up against a lot of elite players, will pay off at Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament, where they will be among the favorites.
Quinn Alderink (No. 2 singles), Adam Miller (No. 4 singles) and Cade Paugh and Holden Earnest (R-P’s No. 1 doubles team) had the best week, posting 2-2 records in their four matches.
The week started out with a 5-3 loss to Jenison in O-K Green conference action.
Photo/Joe Lane
R-P’s Ethan Frang won his match at No. 1 singles, downing Eliah Kind 6-2, 6-2. Alderink beat Lucas Berenza 6-0, 6-2, and Paugh and Earnest defeated Jack Wiltrakis and Jayden Herron 6-4, 7-5.
The trip to Traverse City last Thursday was the first time the R-P boys team had ventured north of Ludington in about a decade, according to head coach Ryan Hankinson.
The long day included two matches against state-ranked teams – Traverse City Central and Maple City Glen Lake.
R-P’s closest match came in a 5-3 loss to Big Rapids. Winners for the Rockets were Miller, who defeated Brayden Pischel 6-2, 6-3; Alderink, who rallied to beat Ari Ziska 1-6, 7-6, 10-2; and Cory Judd, who beat Chase Carlson 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3 singles.
Photo/Joe Lane
Miller was the only winner for R-P in a 7-1 loss to Traverse City Central. He beat Haru Matsuzaki 6-1, 6-0.
Paugh and Earnest were the only winners in a 7-1 loss to Maple City Glen Lake. They came from behind to beat Oliver Mitchell and Ben Romzek 2-6, 6-4, 11-9.
“Host Traverse City Central proved as formable as expected, but I was super happy with how competitive we were with the best team there,” said Hankinson, whose team will have its final warmup for the city tournament on Monday against a great Byron Center squad.
“Maple City Glenn Lake was as strong as expected, as the best Division 4 non-parochial team in the state. Again, overall the team competed very well despite the lopsided final score.
“Big Rapids was another new opponent who we were clearly underdogs against, and we barely missed out of forcing a 4-4 tie. As a coach a highlight was the multitude of positive comments from the opposing coaches about just how talented and competitive we were during the day.”