On Thursday the boys tennis team competed in the regional tennis tournament. There are 6 regions throughout the state all having 10ish teams in them in Division 1. West Ottawa was also the host of our Regional this year because of the beautiful beautiful facilities at both our High School and Middle Schools. We'll start with the results, then share some highlights, and end with thank you's as well as what's next for the boys tennis team.  RESULTS The boys varsity tennis team ended up tied for first place with Rockford to share the regional title. Hudsonville came in third on the day just behind WO & ROCK. All 3 teams will advance to the State Finals next Friday.  This is the 4th Regional Title for the boys team in the last 5 years. This is the 5th year in a row we've qualified for the Division 1 State Finals.  Place Team Points 1st West Ottawa 23 1st Rockford 23 3rd Hudsonville 22 4th Grand Haven 15 5th Jenison 5 5th East Kentwood 5 5th Grandville 5 8th Loy Norrix 3 10th Union 0 10th Kzoo Central 0 HIGHLIGHTS Every flight won their first round match to put us in a great position to start the day. Because every one of our flights was a 1, 2, 3, or 4 seed, they had a bye in the first round. This results in their first match being worth two points. Winning all of our first matches gave us 16 points and set us up for a very nice day.  We had 5 flights make the finals and 3 flights make the semifinals. Of the flights that made the finals, 2 of them ended up being flight champions. Trevyn Bethke won the 2 singles flight beating East Kentwood 6-4, 6-0. Drew Rothstein won the 3 singles flight beating Grand Haven 6-4, 6-2. Flights that made the finals. Brylan McConnell & Lincoln Taylor made the 3 doubles final before falling to Rockford 7-5, 6-3 to take second place. Lukas Woudwyk & Harper VanNoord made the 4 doubles final before falling to Rockford 6-2, 6-0 to take second place.  Luke Koschman made the 4 singles final before falling to Hudsonville 7-5, 6-4 to take second place.  Our flights that made the semifinal. Each of them lost in 3 sets showing just how close these matches were.  Cody Schurman & Brayden Goodwin made the 1 doubles semifinal before falling to Rockford 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Landon Meyer & Teddy Mauger made the 2 doubles semifinal before falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to Hudsonville.  Sebastian Dozeman made the 1 singles semifinal before losing to eventual 1 singles flight champion from Rockford 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.  THANK YOU'S Our Players - The boys varsity has rallied around each other all season and continued to show just how important the team is to each player. While tennis is an individual sport, the support the boys show for each other makes a huge difference in these matches. Couldn't be prouder of their effort, character, and intensity they displayed all day.  Our Coaching Staff - Lee Schopp, Pete Schwallier, Dave Borski, & Brendan Bentley were on hand throughout the day supporting the team in a variety of ways. Lee & Pete were coaching at the fence and their input directly led to a number of match wins for us. Dave Borski kept a close eye on matches and relayed notes to all of the coaches to help push things in our direction. Brendan's presence with the boys helped keep us calm and focused on the task at hand. The boys love interacting with him and having him at the regional definitely boosted the level of play. Our Athletic Department - Athletic Director Bill Kennedy & Assistant Athletic Director Steve Bowyer were site directors all day and kept the event running smoothly. I saw Bill's truck at the high school at 6:30 AM and he stayed until the conclusion of the event at 7:15 PM. Having both of the leaders of our athletic department on hand led to a flawlessly run event that had no issues at all. We are fortunate to have two people that care so much about West Ottawa Athletics.  Our Parents - I'll tell anyone that will listen, but we are incredibly lucky to have the parents and families that we do in the tennis program. The support they show the players & the coaching staff is directly responsible for the success we have as a team. They literally handle everything behind the scenes so the players can focus on playing and the coaches can focus on coaching.  Our Middle School Teams - Having boys tennis switch to the fall has allowed the tennis program to be together more than ever. Instead of cancelling practice, we had both middle school tennis teams on hand to check out the action in the afternoon and cheer on the varsity. Many of the parents of middle school players stayed at the event well after practice was supposed to end so their sons could keep cheering on the team. Our middle school teams are stronger than ever and as these players keep getting older and improving, West Ottawa Tennis is in a very very good spot going forward.  UP NEXT? The boys varsity team will next take the court Friday, October 18th at the Division 1 State Finals in Byron Center and Grand Rapids South Christian.  GO WO!