The Reeths-Puffer boys tennis team had a very encouraging start to the 2022 season on Thursday by capturing first place in the four-team Fruitport Quad.
The Rockets finished with 17 points in the team standings, followed by North Muskegon and Western Michigan Christian (14 points) and Fruitport (2).
Reeths-Puffer won at least one match in all eight flights and was undefeated in three flights. Overall the Rockets won 16 of their 21 matches in the event, which took place at R-P and Whitehall because work was being done on the Fruitport courts.
The great start was a bit of a surprise for R-P coach Ryan Hankinson, who has a very young team this year, with only three seniors on the roster.
Inexperience didn’t seem to make a difference to the Rockets, who were obviously excited to start the season and piled up a lot of wins.
R-P's Adam Miller, who teamed with Cory Judd to go 3-0 in doubles on Thursday.
“It was really good,” Hankinson said. “I’m very proud of the boys.”
Reeths-Puffer's Ethan Frang won all three of his matches at No. 4 singles, including one victory by default.
Frang was dominant, winning 12 of 13 games in the two matches he played. He swept Fruitport’s Shane Brosnan 6-0, 6-0 and beat WMC’s Levi Dutton 6-1, 6-0.
R-P's No. 3 doubles team of Trent VanDam and Holden Earnest also posted a 3-0 record, with one default victory.
Their first match was particularly exciting. They beat North Muskegon’s Tate Panucci and Luke Toebe 6-3 in the first set, lost 4-6 in the second, then won the tiebreaker 7-5.
In their second match they defeated WMC’s Aiden Rotman and Josue Sandoval 6-3, 6-1.
R-P's Holden Earnest, who teamed with Trent VanDam to go 3-0 in doubles.
R-P's Adam Miller and Cory Judd were 3-0 at No. 4 doubles, with two default wins. They beat North Muskegon’s Logan Eerbeek and Landon Miller 6-0, 6-0.
The Rockets' No. 1 doubles team - seniors Kaden Malotke and Zade Rogers - finished with a 2-1 record and very nearly went undefeated. They lost to Grayson Hinton and Gus West of North Muskegon in their third and final match, which went to a tiebreaker.
Two very familiar names, R-P basketball stars Jaxon Whitaker and Travis Ambrose, made their varsity tennis debut at No. 2 singles and finished with a 1-1 record. They won their very first match, downing North Muskegon’s Lucas Metz and Logan Stack 6-1, 6-1.
“We dominated pretty much across the board in doubles,” Hankinson said. “We were second at No. 1 doubles. They didn’t win it, but they came close, and they lost their last match with little mistakes that are easily correctible.”
R-P’s top three singles players – Jake VandenBosch (No. 1), Quinn Alderink (No. 2) and Cade Paugh (No. 3) all went 1-1 on the day.