The Eagles Varsity Tennis Team ended their season with a run through the District and Regional Championships to the State Quarterfinals with a win over Petoskey before falling to Detroit Country Day.

The Eagles earned a trip to the Finals by virtue of their Regional Championship over Zeeland East.  With the new Team vs. Team Format, the team earned the #6 Overall seed.  The Top 16 teams made it to the State Tournament.  The Eagles drew the #11 Seed Petoskey in the first round.  

On a cold and blustery day in Holland, the Eagles came out primed to perform in their first match and had contributions from both Singles and Doubles.  In Doubles, #1 Juniors Cade Boender and Charlie Walters closed out a tough and contentious match.  #2 Juniors Sam VanSchepen and Ethan DeBlecourt won decisively, followed by #3 Senior Peter Bos and Freshman Richard Verhoef winning a tough 3 set match.  Newcomers Luke Gelderloos and Parker Seth crushed their opponents at #4 Doubles in under an hour.

The search for the fifth point ended when #4 Junior Captain Tanner Warners won in singles, followed by #1 Junior Captain Simon Volkema earning the 6th point.  Senior Captain Alex Lowell and Junior Alex Cook lost very close matches but performed well.

Next came #3 Seed Country Day.  The Eagles came out a little flat and were down quickly before coming back to compete well.  Simon Volkema held off a raucous challenge from the #1 Singles and their fans to win in straight sets.  The season ends for the Eagles with a Quarterfinal finish at the State Finals and a likely Top 5 or 6 Overall Ranking.

And, while postseason awards are not completely out yet, Junior Captains Simon Volkema at #1 Singles, and Tanner Warners at #4 Singles have earned individual OK-White Conference Championships on the basis of their work in the Conference Duals and OK-White Conference Tournament.  Each player only has 1 loss on the ENTIRE SEASON heading into the State Finals.  

The season is not over for Volkema, as he earns a trip to the lone individual State Finals at #1 Singles.  Volkema has earned one of only 8 spots in the tournament based on his season play.  The tournament takes place next week at Mason High School for Division 3.  While it is fantastic to even have a State Finals, the lack of Flight Championships is disappointing, because the Eagles have several Flights, such as Warners, who would have competed for individual State Titles.

The Eagles will greatly miss their seniors.  Senior Captain Alex Lowell was a Varsity player for all 3 years here at GRCHS, playing singles every year and looks forward to college tennis.  Senior Peter Bos earned a trip to the State Finals in his first season and his willingness to do whatever the team needed will be missed.  Senior Matt Molenhouse, a team favorite, has been participating in Eagle tennis since the 6th grade, and treated the team to pancakes the morning of State Finals.  The program will miss these young men greatly.