The Varsity Eagles established themselves as the team to beat for the Division 3 Regional next month with convincing victories and indirect wins over common opponents by dominating Zeeland East, Spring Lake, and Jenison this past weekend.  

In the opening match over Spring Lake, the Eagles showed they were ready to play with an 8-0 victory over the feisty Lakers.  #1 Doubles Junior Grant Moorhead and Sophomore Tanner Warners crushed their opponents 6-0,6-0 in a match that lasted about 40 minutes.  Senior Captain Jack Long at #4 Singles, along with Captains Eli Kuiper/Devin Meeuwsen at #2 Doubles won in straight sets against some athletic and scrappy opponents, asserting themselves with strong serving and net play.  

Against Zeeland East, it was clear the host school wanted a piece of the defending Regional Champion Eagles.  Coming over from another site, the Eagles were put on the court immediately without much warning.  The Eagles were up to the challenge, with Senior Owen Greer and Sophomore Cade Boender winning quickly and decisively at #4 Doubles to give the team a spark.  #3 Doubles Senior Daniel Betten and Sophomore Sam VanSchepen followed it up holding off a comeback team with a close 7-5 second set.  #1 Singles, Sophomore Simon Volkema, faced a hot start from his opponent but Volkema cooled him off with some solid decision making and consistency from the baseline.  At #2 Singles, Alex Lowell proved that revenge is truly a dish best served cold, as he played an opponent that was troublesome from year ago.  Lowell had an answer for every tactic his opponent employed, and showed exceptional decision making in a 6-0,6-1 domination.

After the 6-2 win over the Chix, the team did not let up versus Jenison, a team outside the Division but nonetheless facing several Eagles common opponents.  #3 Singles, Sophomore Alex Cook was done almost before any other match went on winning easily 6-0, 6-0 to start the fun.  One of the best performances of the day came at #4 Singles, where Sophomore Cade Boender stepped up to play his first singles match ever, Varsity, JV, or otherwise against Jenison.  Before he knew what planet he was on Cade lost the first 4 of 5 games to go down 4-1.  Showing resilience and a positive attitude and with his whole team behind him, Boender stormed back to go up 5-4 before falling 7-5, 6-4. It was a fantastic team effort to get behind Cade who played phenomenally in a very tough match.

The wins this weekend, combined with the Eagles wins to date over Holland Christian and indirect wins over Zeeland West put the team in prime position for top Regional seeds as the team seeks to defend its Regional Championship from a year ago.  The Eagles face several important tests this week, as they host their final regional obstacle in Thornapple Kellogg tonight before traveling to East Grand Rapids Wednesday in a OK-Gold Showdown with first place in the Conference on the line.  The Eagles will decide what type of competitors they truly are, as after EGR they host Northview before traveling to Midland Dow to face some of the top teams in the State in Dow, Traverse City Central, and St. Joe.