Hey WO Tennis Family, Saturday was a good day to be a Panther, with our girls claiming their 8th straight OK-Red Conference Title. Having already won the duel season, the girls needed at least 2nd place at the tournament for a share of the league title, and 1st place to claim it outright. As was the case in the regular season, Rockford was the team we'd have to beat. Despite being just below us in the conference standings, Rockford (7th in D1) entered the tournament ranked one spot ahead us (8th) in the state rankings due to Rockford's recent win over state power Clarkston. It was going to be a tough day for both teams. The first step for both West Ottawa and Rockford was to get as many of the 9 flights as possible into the final. For Rockford, the biggest hurdle to this was at 1 singles. Rockford went into the the tournament seeded 4th at 1 singles, which meant they'd have to take on our very own Evie Price in the semifinal. This was our first head to head matchup between us and Rock. Evie rode her immense talent to a 6-0, 6-2 win and a spot in the finals. West Ottawa's biggest hurdle, meanwhile was at 2 doubles. Earlier in the year, Kallyn Gaul and Lovelle Kim took a difficult loss to Hudsonville, dropping them to the 3 seed in this tournament. To make the final, they would first have to take on East Kentwood, before taking on Hudsonville and get the win that eluded them a few weeks before. Kallyn and Lovelle were incredible, and beating Hud 6-1, 6-4, and earning a spot into the finals. As these matches were going on, both West Ottawa and Rockford were pushing the rest of their flights one by one into the finals. By early afternoon, all 9 of West Ottawa's flights and 8 of Rockford's flights had reached the finals. The end of the tournament was essentially a duel between West Ottawa and Rockford, which would be played out in the subsequent 3 hours. Here's a flight by flight breakdown: 5th Doubles - Kate Greco (12) and Haylee Geerlings (9) - Flight Champions While Kate and Haylee beat Rockford in the regular season, Rock had a girl out that day with injury. This was our chance to see what we could do against a Rockford flight back at full strength. Given how strong Rockford's 5th doubles had performed all year, on paper, this was shaping up to be a really tall task. Kate and Haylee answered by playing the best tennis these girls have ever produced. The 1st serves were in, and they had speed and spin. Returns and groundstrokes were crisp and put exactly where they wanted them. Volleys were right where they needed to go with more than enough pace to get the job done. Their court positioning made it tough for Rock to find a safe spot to hit the ball to. Barely over an hour later, they found themselves with a 6-1, 6-0 win. Are you kidding me?! For Kate, she will graduate decorated with an individual conference title, three team conference titles, and multiple team regional championships. Several banners in our gym have Kate's fingerprints on them. For Haylee, she not only made one of the best teams in Michigan as a freshman, but she has proven she can play her best tennis in the hardest moments. When you see things like this from a player so young, it get you excited for what the future will hold. What a day for these two. 4th Doubles - Audrey Anderson (9) and Mallory Paff (9) - Flight Finalists After beating Hudsonville 6-1, 6-3, Audrey and Mallory would take on one of Rock's most successful flights (22-2) this year. They fell to Rock 6-2, 6-2 in the duel, in a match where they honestly played quite well. Rock was just better than them at that point. Because of that, we were going to have to fundamentally improve between then and now. Both have been working daily in practice to own more of the space at net and to hit more penetrating groundstrokes. Their work paid off, and this match was a true battle. They fell 6-4 in the first set, but matched their total win total from the prior match in just one set...we were improving. In the second set, we won 7-6 in a tiebreak. The third set was back and forth, with Rockford claiming the win 6-3. When Regionals comes around on Thursday, we will have another true battle on our hands. 3rd Doubles - Aleah Feliu (12) and Olivia Smith (9) - Flight Finalist Aleah and Feliu's road as the 2 seed started out like the others, with a semifinal win over a strong Hudsonville team. In their regular season meeting, they produced the biggest comeback of West Ottawa's season, beating them in 3 sets after being way down in the second. Like our other flights, they have been working incredibly hard in practice to improve, and that improvement showed early yesterday. Aleah and Liv beat Hudsonville 7-6, 6-2 to reach the final, showing an improved version of their play as a team. In the final they fell to Rockford 6-1 in the first set, but quickly figured things out in the second. They brought things to a tiebreaker, with Rock getting the better of them at the end. For me, the story going into Regionals is that this is another flight who is proving they are capable of going all the way. 2 Doubles - Kallyn Gaul (11) and Lovelle Kim (11) - Flight Champions We've already documented their path to the finals by beating Hudsonville, so let's get right to Rockford. This one was a rollercoaster...a tale of three sets. In the first set we saw a lot of great play from both teams, with West Ottawa getting the better of a few more exchanges. 6-3 to Kallyn and Lovelle. On to set two. Sometimes in tennis, you find your opponent playing their A+ game for a bit, and if you aren't completely on your toes and ready, a quick slide can happen. Well, Rock caught fire, and 25 minutes later Rock won the second set 6-0, forcing a third set with us. Kallyn and Lovelle have played more matches together than any flight on our team over the years, and they do not flinch. After the set break, they regrouped, stepped up, and let their experience shine. Rockford continued their strong play, but we were ready. 45 minutes later, Kallyn and Lovelle took the 3rd set 6-2 and joined Kate and Haylee as flight champions. 1st Doubles - Eden Hamilton (12) and Maggie Rothstein (11) - Flight Finalists I had mentioned earlier how Rockford's 4th doubles (20-2) is one of their strongest flights. Well, their strongest flight is at 1st doubles, where Rock was 20-0 coming into this contest. Eden and Maggie are also one of the state's strongest 1 doubles teams, and this was going to be the test of all tests. Rock won their semi against Grand Haven 6-0, 6-1 on the top half of the draw, while Eden/Maggie put on a similar show on the bottom half, beating a talented Hudsonville team 6-2, 6-0. In the final, the first set followed a similar script as the duel, with a 6-0 showing for Rockford. While Rock took the second set and ultimately the match, the second set showed that there are things we can do to affect play and take them on. Eden and Maggie played incredibly but within themselves, and created a 6-4 set. Going into Regionals, I like to look at trajectory just as much as wins and losses. I like our trajectory, and I love this team. 4th Singles - Kayla Jones (12) - Flight Champion Speaking of trajectory, hello Kayla Jones:) Kayla is a senior but this is her first year playing in the singles lineup. She has been winning consistently all year long, and each week she seems to grow in confidence. Yesterday was a new high for Kayla. After playing well in the semifinals against Hudsonville, Kayla had to take on an incredibly talented player in Ella Fix. In the duel, Kayla beat Ella, but in 3 grueling sets. And the reason it was so hard was simple...Ella is phenomenal. In the final, Kayla found a new level that I have never seen her hit in live competition. Her power was incredible, but wasn't forced. She wasn't overhitting, it's just the ball was exploding off her strings. And her placement...and her movement...and her serves...goodness! Kayla took the final 6-1, 6-3, through consistently brilliant play. 3rd Singles - Jessica Zhang (12) - Flight Champion Every year, it seems like some team in the conference will bring up an absolute stud freshman. Last year, we were that team when Evie Price joined us at 3 singles. This year, Rockford has introduced freshman Grace Ferry, who like Evie last year, is playing 3 singles. This was one of the true heavyweight matchups of the day. Jessica made the semfinals at the D1 State championships last year at 4 singles, and has been repeating that success at 3 this year. Grace, in turn, has been doing the same, with both girls beating the state powers on the East side of the state. In the duel, Grace played brilliant tennis and got the better of Jessica...but it was close. On paper, this should be an epic match, and that's exactly how it played out. In the first set, Jessica came out playing her very best tennis. Grace was playing well too, but Jessica got the better of the big points, and claimed the set 6-3. The second set was similar, but in the direction of Rock...set #2 goes to Grace 6-3. In the deciding third set, both players brought their very best tennis, as the level of play seemed to increase even as the players became more tired. When the dust cleared, it was Jessica standing with a 6-4 win in the third set to claim the flight championship. Oh, and she did it with an open blister on her hitting hand. No big deal. 2nd Singles - Danielle Lebster (12) - Flight Champion What do you do when you have more than one 1st singles caliber players on your team? Easy, just put one of them at 2 singles:) Danielle affords us that luxury, and she is playing as well as any 2 singles player I've coached. She not only wins tons of matches for us and has established herself as one of the top 2 singles players in Michigan, but her impact goes beyond that. Because she needs so little on-court coaching, she allows the coaching staff to focus on other flights, given them even more attention during matches. And because she usually wins quickly, she is often the first player to be on the sidelines cheering teammates on, further helping everyone get their victories. Saturday was no exception. She won her semifinal match 6-0, 6-0. In the final, Rockford honestly played her REALLY tough. But in typical Danielle form, she kept powering through. A couple brief chats on a changeover, a ton of determination from Danielle, and she was off the court with another (she has many) conference title. 1st Singles - Evie Price - Conference Champion For the 4th time in 5 years, the top player in the OK-Red plays for the West Ottawa Panthers. In 2021, Kennedy Dumas claimed the 1 singles title. In 2022 and 2024, Megan Blake added two more. This year, it was Evie's turn to lead the crew. After her semi-final win over Rockford that we talked about above, Evie faced a talented senior Kendra Price in the final. From Grand Haven, Kendra often trains with our players at Dewitt, so we get to see all year long the challenge she presents. Zoom in on a point-by-point basis, and you see terrific play from both sides. Two great athletes with amazing strokes and strong wills and minds pushing each other. But as Evie so often does, the points would often find themselves falling her way. The ability to return a ball deep into the court that would be a winner for most anyone, and to neutralize the rally a shot later. The ability to push and prod with precise groundstrokes, mixing spin, height, depth, and speed. The ability to play the baseline, mid-court, and net exactly how they are supposed to be played. And maybe most importantly, the ability to think in real time and problem solve. These qualities led to a 6-2, 6-2 win, and the 1 singles flight championship. Here are the final standings from the day: 1. West Ottawa 51 points 2. Rockford 47 points 3. Hudsonville 34 points 4. Grand Haven 29 points 5. Grandville 19 points 6. East Kentwood 9 points Total flight champions by school: West Ottawa - 6 Rockford - 3 What's next? On Tuesday, we will host East Grand Rapids. EGR is a perennial state power in Division 3, and they will be a great way to prepare for the Regional Championships on Thursday. And on Monday and Wednesday, solid practices for sure. Rockford is an absolutely incredible team top to bottom. They have so much talent, work hard, and are well coached. As they say in investing, past performance may not be indicative of future results. It will be another battle, and we will once again be preparing to be ready for it. Congratulations girls, I am so dang proud of you! -Coach Pete Schwallier