The West Ottawa Varsity tennis team competed in the conference tennis tournament Saturday at Grandville High School. Going into the event, the Panthers sat at second place in the conference with a 4-1 record. Standing Team Record 1st Rockford 5-0 2nd West Ottawa 4-1 3rd Hudsonville 3-2 4th Grand Haven 2-3 5th Grandville 1-4 6th East Kentwood 0-5 In tennis, 50% of the final conference standings come from the duel standings, 50% come from the conference tournament. To secure a share of the conference title, the Panthers would have to take first place at the conference tournament. With as good as the other teams are in the OK-Red, we would have our work cut out for us. It would take every player doing either job (and a few going above and beyond) for us to have a chance to win the event. Here is a review flight by flight. 5 Doubles - Hugh Ervine & Hudson Vellinga went into the conference as the 2 seed at their flight. Their first opponent of the day was a tough Hudsonville team that they beat in 3 sets. In the flight finals, they faced a Rockford team that had beaten them 2 weeks ago in the duel match. Both players worked very hard over those two weeks to correct some mistakes and came into the match with a good game play. They ended up being victorious, winning 6-1, 7-6(4) to be flight champions! They are one flight that outplayed their seed today! 4 Doubles - Harper VanNoord & Lukas Woudwyk were the 2 seed entering the tournament. They also beat Hudsonville in 3 sets in their first match to make the flight finals. They also faced a very tough Rockford team, but played them better than they did the first time they played, losing 6-3, 7-5 to take second place. 3 Doubles - Brylan McConnell & Lincoln Taylor entered the day as the 1 seed. In the first round they faced a Grand Haven Team they had not played yet this season and beat them in 3 sets to make the finals. Again, facing off against Rockford, the rams came out on top at this flight as well. Brylan & Lincoln beat this team in the duel match and are looking forward to seeing them at the Regional Tournament in a couple of days. 2 Doubles - Landon Meyer & Teddy Mauger were the 2 seed and cruised to the finals beating Hudsonville 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinal. Again, facing off against Rockford, the Panthers fell 6-3, 6-4. Another place we are looking forward to seeing Rockford again at the Regional. 1 Doubles - Cody Schurmann & Brayden Goodwin entered the day as the 3 seed playing in a very deep 1 doubles flight that has some really good teams. Cody & Brayden beat East Kentwood in round 1 and then lost to eventual flight champs Hudsonville in the semifinal. Remaining focused and knowing how important every point was, our 1 doubles team defeated Grandville in 3 sets to secure 3rd place, which would end up being very important later in the day. 4 Singles - Luke Koschmann entered the day the 2 seed and has been playing lights out all season, only dropping a match to Hudsonville in conference. Luke has been focused on this tournament since that match and went into the day with one goal, to leave a conference champion. In his first match Luke dispatched Rockford 6-0, 6-0 to make the flight finals. Battling the same Hudsonville player that beat him earlier in the season, Luke ended up outplaying his seed, beat that player in 3 sets to secure a flight championship, and got us another point we weren't expecting. 3 Singles - Drew Rothstein came into the event as the 1 seed, beating all other conference opponents in the duel matches. Drew played very steady throughout the day and continued his winning ways beating Rockford in the semifinal and Grand Haven in the final to be flight champion. 2 Singles - Trevyn Bethke entered the event as the 2 seed after only losing to East Kentwood in the duel portion of the season. Beating a tough Hudsonville player in 3 sets in the semifinal, Trevyn made the final to face the same East Kentwood player that beat him earlier in the season. With a solid game plan and laser like focus, Trevyn beat East Kentwood 6-4, 6-3 to win the flight championship and outplay his seed. 1 Singles - Sebastian Dozeman went into the event as the 5 seed. Playing every school's best player ever single match, Sebastian has one of the toughest jobs on the team. Not to be deterred, Sebastian has been working incredibly hard to push himself to be the best player HE can be every time he steps on the court. In round 1, Sebestian faced an East Kentwood player that beat him in the duel match. With a solid game plan, Sebastian beat this player 6-2, 6-1, pushing himself into the semifinal against 1 seeded Rockford. We kept our momentum going and took the first set 6-2 before eventually being defeated in 3 sets. Sebastian played his best tennis when it mattered, outplayed his seed to get us yet again another point that was needed. He fell to Grand Haven in his last match to take 4th place, but is playing with a level of confidence that will carry him very well into the Regional. At the end of the day, with almost every match completed, we sat at 45 points, tied with Rockford who also had 45 points. Trevyn Bethke was the last match on and with a huge crowd ended up beating East Kentwood to secure our 46th point, the tournament win, and a share of the OK-Red Conference Title. This is the 4th Conference Title in a row for the Boys Tennis Team This was a total team effort: • It took every flight doing their very best to put us in a position to win this tournament. • Our coaching staff was locked in all day. Our full-time assistants Lee Schopp & Dave Borski knocked it out of the park. Their input, advice, and strategy was instrumental to our team's success throughout the day. Pete Schwallier was also on hand to talk to the boys before and after matches as well as assist the coaching staff while the boys were playing the entire day as well. Brendan Bentley, one of our fantastic middle school coaches, took a few hours out of his day to check out the action and keep us updated on what he was seeing in the matches he was watching. • The parents were fantastic as always. They do such a good job taking care of ALL the logistical things that pop up during an event like this so the players can just focus on playing and the coaches can just focus on coaching. Not only do they take care of the food and hydration, but they help with transportation as well. Most importantly, they cheer on their sons while they are playing AND make it a point to support all the other players while they are playing as well. We are so fortunate to have the very best parents around supporting us. Next up the Panthers take the court Thursday to compete in the Regional Tournament. We host this event and it will be taking place at our High School & Middle School tennis complexes. GO WO!