The West Ottawa boys tennis team claimed their 5th straight OK-Red Conference Championship Saturday in convincing fashion. Going into the conference tournament, the Panthers sat in second place trailing Rockford after losing to them in the duel match 4-5 earlier in the season. Ranked 9th in the state in division 1, the Panthers knew it would take every flight battling to the very last ball to upset Rockford and take the conference title. Every flight played exactly to their seed and a couple played beyond them in a performance that will go down as one of the best the boys tennis program has put together in recent memory. Eight out of nine flights made the flight finals match with 5 of those flights ending up as flight champion. Here’s a flight by flight breakdown: 5th Doubles - Myles Wilkinson (12) & Dawson Linn (9) - Flight Champions Myles and Dawson have been lights out all season. Going into the tournament as the 1 seed after going 5-0 against OK-Red competition, our 5 doubles knew they were the team to beat. Holding a 16-3 record on the year, Myles and Dawson played with a level of confidence and intensity today that I haven’t seen this season from them. They came to play. In the semifinal they dispatched of Granville 6-0, 6-0 before facing Rockford in the final. Myles has been steady all season and his senior leadership was crucial to their success today. Dawson has every stroke at his disposal and is going to be a huge part of what we do in the coming years. From the very first ball they were vocal and confident in every phase of the match and never looked back. Myles and Dawson played with authority and beat Rockford 6-0, 6-2 to be flight champions. 4th Doubles - Josh Reimink (9) & Soren Traver (9) - Flight Champions Outstanding freshman, Josh and Soren very quickly established themselves as the team to beat at 4 doubles in the OK-Red. Going undefeated in duel match play and holding a 20-3 record on the season, our 4 doubles team is certainly a strength of our team. They knew the final match of the day would end with them facing a tough Rockford team in the final. In the semifinal they played Grandville and beat them 6-1, 6-3. The first time they faced Rockford they beat them in straight sets in a tight match. This time around, the dynamic freshman duo were looking to improve on that first result. Josh is as solid as they come with good groundstrokes and great hands at the net. Soren is developing an impressive all around game as one of the hardest workers in the program. With a big serve and big groundstrokes, he causes all kinds of problems for every team he faces. Josh and Soren ignored all outside distractions and focused solely on executing their game plan to perfection beating Rockford 6-4, 6-3 to claim the flight championship. 3rd Doubles - Kingston Smith (12) & Jack Zernicke (9) - Flight Finalists Both new to the team this year, Kingston and Jack have some of the biggest shots on the team. Kingston has been a grinder in our program for years and as a senior was able to capitalize on a great tryout to work himself solidly into our line-up. Jack is another outstanding freshman (thats right….we’ve had 4 freshman listed in our line-up so far with a 5th freshman we’ll talk about a little later) who certainly doesn’t play like a freshman. Dropping a match against Rockford earlier in the season, our 3rd doubles team had their sights set on a rematch today. In the semifinal Kingston and Jack took down Hudsonville 6-0, 6-1 before facing Rockford in the final. Rockford proved to be a bit too much today taking the match 6-2, 7-5. It’s difficult to beat a team 3 times and I’m confident that Kingston & Jack will continue to look to get better every time they step on the court together with their focus solely on facing Rockford again at the Regional. 2nd Doubles - Teddy Mauger (12) & Brayden Goodwin (12) - Flight Champions Four year varsity tennis players and team captains, Teddy & Brayden have been on the verge of breaking out for weeks. Going into the event as the 2 seed after falling to Rockford earlier in the season, the duo knew they would have to unlock bigger parts of their games to have the success they wanted. Going into the semifinal they faced a quality Grand Haven squad who pushed them to a third set. Teddy & Brayden pulled out the victory 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-2 and had their sights set on Rockford. Playing with an energy and confidence that was necessary to have the day they wanted, our 2 doubles team put their foot down and demanded more of themselves when it mattered most. Outplaying their seed and becoming flight champions in the process Teddy & Brayden won 6-2, 6-4. Teddy played through cramps and maintained his composure and put together his most complete match of the season, executing numerous things we’ve focused on in practice. Brayden was the most dominant player on the court, serving & volleying to will his team to victory. 1 Doubles - Lukas Woudwyk (12) & Lincoln Taylor (11) - Flight Finalists Our number one doubles flight of Lukas and Lincoln have one of the toughest jobs on the team. Every match, they play every other school's best doubles flight. Good for us our best doubles flight is typically just as good as any other school’s we see. Lukas brings the noise and intensity needed at a flight like this along with solid groundstrokes and a strong net game. Lincoln, a left handed player, has developed a deadly lefty serve and a feel for playing doubles at the very highest level. The semifinal match against Grandville was a solid match for them winning 6-0, 7-5. Reaching the final, they knew they would face a tough Rockford team who beat them in the duel match. Adjusting our strategy slightly from the last time we saw Rockford led to an incredible first set that we narrowly lost 6-7(3) in a tiebreaker. The second set was very competitive but we ended up dropping it 3-6. This is another flight that we will be anticipating seeing Rockford again at the Regional in a few days. 4 Singles - Drew Rothstein (12) - Flight Champion A four year varsity player & team captain, Drew has been a mainstay in our singles line-up all four years of high school tennis. Drew has developed the ability to very quickly assess any match and craft a gameplan that gives him almost an immediate advantage against a wide range of players that he sees. Today was no different. Drew went into the conference tournament the 1 seed after going undefeated in conference duels and left the tournament a conference champion. Drew beat Hudsonville 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinal before facing off against Grandville in the flight final. Drew continued his winning ways beating Grandville 6-0, 6-2 to claim the 4 singles championship. 3 Singles - Sebastian Dozeman (11) - Flight Champion Another mainstay in our singles line-up for years, Sebastian has some of the biggest shots on the team. A huge serve to go along with a monster forehand and a deadly backhand make Sebastian a hard out for anyone that sees him. His game is just too big for most opponents. Going into the tournament Sebastian was the two seed after dropping a match against Rockford in a tough 3 setter a few weeks ago. Our focus has been on making sure Sebastian plays his game and does what he does best. Facing a good Hudsonville opponent in the semi, Sebastian won 7-5, 6-3 to reach the flight final. Playing with a level of confidence that will serve him well as we continue the season, Sebastian got the rematch he wanted against Rockford and was ready to rise to the occasion. From the first serve, Sebastian maintained incredibly steady play and upset the 1 seeded Rockford player 6-3, 6-4 to take the 3 singles championship. Just as importantly, he outplayed his seed and earned us an additional point that we were not supposed to get. 2 Singles - Noah Van Wieren (9) - Flight Finalist Our last freshman on the team this fall, Noah may be one of the best pure hitters we’ve ever had come through the program (and he's only a freshman, which is great news for us). The 2 singles flight is loaded with talent this year with 3 players (West Ottawa, East Kentwood, and Rockford) all sitting at 4-1 after duel match play this season. Noah ended up going into the tournament as the 2 seed. Facing off against 3 seeded Rockford in the semifinal, Noah stumbled early and dropped the first set 3-6. An incredibly coachable player, Noah got some excellent feedback from Coach Schwallier and developed a great approach for the rest of the semifinal match and won the next two sets 6-3, 6-1 to make the flight finals to face off against the other 4-1 player from East Kentwood. In a match that was as much about tennis as it was a battle of wills, Noah left it all on the court and battled until the very last ball was struck. We ended up dropping the match 6-1, 6-4, but this is another opponent that we look forward to seeing at the Regional in a couple of days. 1 Singles - Trevyn Bethken (12) - 3rd Place Finish If we thought 1 doubles had a tough job playing every school's best doubles flight, 4 year varsity player and senior captain Trevyn has just as tough a job playing every school's best player. Every. Single. Match. Trevyn can put the ball wherever he wants at any given moment and is a true competitor in every sense of the word. He welcomes big matches to test himself and enjoys seeing just how he stacks up. Going into the tournament the 3 seed, Trevyn knew he was playing 3 matches no matter what today. Dispatching Grand Haven 6-3, 6-1 in the first round Trevyn would face the 2 seed from Rockford in the semifinal. After dropping the first set 6-1, Trevyn cracked the code in the second set and won it 6-2 to push the match to a third and deciding set. Eli Johnson from Rockford proved to be too much and won the third set 6-0 as we ran out of gas. Trevyn had one more match and knew how important each match was. Surprisingly, Trevyn faced off against the 1 seed from East Kentwood after he lost his semifinal match as well. Trevyn has played this player numerous times and it's always a slug fest. Digging deep, Trevyn defeated the 1 seed 6-1, 7-5 to take third place. When the dust settled, here were the standings from the day: 1. West Ottawa 49 points 2. Rockford 43 points 3. Hudsonville 34 points 4. Grandville 21 points 5. Grand Haven 20 points 6. East Kentwood 20 points Total flight champions by school: West Ottawa - 5 Rockford - 3 This was a total team effort. Our players supported each other over the course of the entire event with a ton of positivity. Our coaching staff was dialed in all day and worked together to bring the best out of our players when it mattered the most. I’ll say it to anyone that will listen, but we really have the best parents and families supporting us and it was certainly felt today as the day went on. 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! -Coach Metz