The West Ottawa boys tennis team took 2nd place at the Division 1-1 Regional on Thursday to advance to the State Finals for the 6th season in a row. Fresh off a conference championship the week before, the team knew it would come down to the last matches of the day against a talented Rockford team again. West Ottawa and Rockford have battled back and forth all season and Thursday’s regional would be no different. In the end Rockford ended up edging West Ottawa by 1 point to claim the Regional Title 26 to 25. Both teams put on a dominant performance against every other school in the region. West Ottawa was able to push seven out of 8 flights to the finals, but came up just a bit short only winning two out of those 7 final matches. Hudsonville took third place with 16 points and will also advance to the state finals next week. Here’s a flight by flight breakdown from the day: 4th Doubles - Josh Reimink (9) & Soren Traver (9) - Flight Champions Continuing their winning ways from last week, Josh & Soren continue to make a strong case for being one of the best four doubles teams in the state. The freshman dynamic duo went into the regional as the 1 seed and were ready to dominate the day. In the quarterfinal they took care of business beating Grand Haven 6-2, 6-0. The semifinal saw them dispatch Jenison 6-1, 6-1 in similar fashion. Making the final, the pair looked forward to seeing Rockford for the third time this season. From the first ball they showed that this would be their match and beat Rockford 6-3, 6-1. This is certainly a flight that no other 4 doubles team will want to see at the State Finals. 3rd Doubles - Kingston Smith (12) & Jack Zernicke (9) - Flight Finalists Kingston and Jack went into the regional as the 2 seed after a strong season and a good conference tournament. Drawing Grandville in the quarterfinal our 3rd doubles team set the tone winning 6-1, 6-1. The semifinal showcased a good Grand Haven team that pushed us to 3 sets in the duel match earlier in the season. Remaining focused and always looking to improve, Kingston and Jack beat Grand Haven 6-1, 6-2 this time. The final would feature a match-up with a very good Rockford team that has beaten us twice already this season. It was a battle from the start and our 3rd doubles team put together one of their best sets of the season, even though they lost 6-7. Rockford used that momentum and won the second set 6-1 and the match. 2nd Doubles - Teddy Mauger (12) & Brayden Goodwin (12) - Flight Finalists After winning the conference tournament at 2 doubles a few days ago, Teddy and Brayden went into the regional as the 1 seed. The second we saw the draw we knew that the path to the finals and a regional championship would have to go through a very good Rockford Flight that we were 1-1 with this year. The quarterfinal and semifinal matches were against East Kentwood and Hudsonville respectively. Our two doubles flight won both of those matches 6-1, 6-0 & 6-1, 6-1 to set up another showdown with Rockford. Both teams played with intensity and heart the entire match. In a battle that looked like one of the best matches all season for both teams, Rockford came out on top 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. 1 Doubles - Lukas Woudwyk (12) & Lincoln Taylor (11) - Flight Finalists Another flight where it looked evident that we would end the day playing Rockford again, our 1 doubles team was excited for the challenge to compete against one of the best doubles teams in the state. Sitting at 28-2 and not losing since August 21st, the Panthers knew they had their work cut out for them against a very good 1 doubles flight from Rockford. Drawing one of the better teams at 1 doubles in our region, Lukas and Lincoln faced off against Grandville and beat them in 3 sets 6-1, 2-6, 6-1. Determined to make the finals, they faced Grand Haven in the semi and beat them 6-1, 6-1 to set up another showdown with Rockford. Another flight where we pushed Rockford to the absolute brink but came up just short, our 1 doubles team lost 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to take 2nd place. 4 Singles - Drew Rothstein (12) - Flight Champion A dominant flight for West Ottawa, Drew Rothstein at 4 singles has been lights out all season. Battling shin splints all day, Drew remained focused and simply played his brand of tennis through all 3 matches, only dropping 5 games on the day! In the quarterfinals Drew beat Rockford 6-1, 6-1 in quick fashion. The semifinal against Hudsonville was more of the same for Drew earning a 6-1, 6-2 victory. The final Drew would face off against East Kentwood. Determined to show everyone just how good he is, Drew won this match not dropping a game 6-0, 6-0 to win the 4 singles flight championship 3 Singles - Sebastian Dozeman (11) - Flight Finalist Earning the 1 seed after a fantastic performance at the conference tournament last week, Sebastian had his sights set on a regional championship. Playing a good Loy Norrix player in the quarterfinal, Sebastian got through, winning 6-4, 6-4 to make the semifinal. Grand Haven proved to be another challenging road block that Sebastian would have to overcome to make the regional finals. Lucky for us Sebastian battled back from behind and beat Grand Haven 1-6, 7-6, 6-1 to make the final to face Rockford. To start the match Sebastian was up 4-1 when an injury to his lower body made it difficult for him to walk, let alone do all the running it takes to compete in a tennis match. Sebastian battled but lost the first set 6-7 in a tiebreaker. A warrior in every sense of the word, Sebastian would not give up on himself or the team. He began the second set doing everything he could to earn points. Coach Metz made the decision to default the match after the first game of the second set and protect Sebastian, not wanting him to further injure himself, knowing we had already qualified for the state finals and wanting him to have a chance to play next week. 2 Singles - Noah Van Wieren (9) - Semifinalist Noah went into the regional as the 2 seed after making the conference finals last Saturday. The 2 singles flights is incredibly deep this year and we knew every match would be a battle all day. In the quarterfinals Noah beat Grand Haven 6-3, 6-2 to set up a match in the semifinal against Hudsonville. Another freshman, Hudsonville has been battling injuries all season at this flight but looked sharp Thursday. An absolute thriller of a match, Noah came out strong winning the first set 6-0. Hudsonville cracked the code and won the next two sets 6-2, 6-2 to come out on top over West Ottawa. Showing everyone just how good of a player he is, the Hudsonville player ended up winning the finals match and earned a flight championship for his team. 1 Singles - Trevyn Bethken (12) - Flight Finalist Another flight that had a strong conference tournament result, 1 singles player Trevyn Bethke went into the regional finals as the 2 seed. Drawing Jenison in the quarte final, Trevyn won 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinal to face off against East Kentwood. This East Kentwood player on any given day is the best player in the region, beating everyone already once at various points in the season. Trevyn had a great gameplan and played with an intensity necessary for a match like this. Trevyn won 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to make the regional finals at 1 singles to face off against Rockford. Rockford ended up being victorious on the day winning 6-3, 6-1. He is also the first player in Rockford history to win back to back regional titles at 1 singles, showing what a complete player he is. Trevyn battled valiantly, but came up just a bit short against a very good player. When the dust settled, here were the standings from the day: 1. Rockford - 26 points 2. West Ottawa - 25 points 3. Hudsonville - 16 points Top 3 schools advance to state finals. 4. Grand Haven - 9 points 5. East Kentwood - 9 points 6. Jenison - 6 points 7. Grandville - 5 points 8. Caledonia - 4 points 9. Kalamazoo Loy Norrix - 4 points 10. Kalamazoo Central - 0 points 11. Grand Rapids Union - 0 points While not the result we wanted, qualifying for the State Finals means we get to continue our season for another week. 80% of the tennis teams in the state are done for the year and we are fortunate enough to get another week together. The boys will prepare to take on the best teams in division 1 from around the state this week and will compete in the state finals starting Friday 10/16. This marks the 6th season in a row the Panthers have qualified for the state finals. We have our sights set on a top 10 finish and look forward to the challenge! GO WO! -Coach Metz