The Varsity Tennis Team traveled to Midland Dow for the second time this season to play 3 State Ranked opponents and hoping for some revenge against the #6 Ranked Division 2 Dow Chargers.  Proving that revenge is a dish best served cold, the #6 Ranked Division 3 Eagles came away with a tournament victory over Dow, Division 2 #10 Traverse City Central, and Division 3 #8 Ranked St. Joe.

The Eagles opened up the day against Division 2 #10 Ranked Traverse City Central.  Fighting off a slow start, the team won the first match 5-3, with key performances by Simon Volkema, Alex Lowell, and Eli Kuiper at #1, #2 Singles and #4 Singles, respectively, and Tanner Warners/Grant Moorhead and Owen Greer/Cade Boender at #1 and #4 Doubles, respectively.

Up next came a very important Division matchup against St. Joe.  The Eagles dominated what was actually a very competitive match 7-1.  There were 4 match break tiebreaks to decide the match that could have meant a complete swing the other way for a loss, 3 of the tiebreaks were decided by 2 points, meaning that the difference between a match win and loss meant whatever team could literally win two points in a row first.  #1 Doubles Grant Moorhead and #2 Doubles, Devin Meeuwsen/Charlie Walters were two of these matches clinching the victory for the Eagles, and #4 Singles Eli Kuiper lost one of these ridiculously close tiebreaks 11-9.  #3 Doubles Daniel Betten/Sam VanSchepen also won their match in the decisive victory. #3 Singles Alex Cook played an outstanding second set in a big win, 6-3,6-0.

The rematch against #6 ranked Dow came in the last match of a near 12 hour day, yet the Eagles were able to dig deep and find some energy. The Eagles really had the momentum, winning the first set and were in control in the key matches to decide the victory.  Ultimately, however, a dual match victory eluded the team with a 4-4 tie.  #3 Doubles Sam VanSchepen/Daniel Betten won a huge 3rd set tiebreak, as did Eli Kuiper at #4 Singles.  Even though the team tied against Dow, because of their better scores against TCC and St. Joe the Eagles claimed the tournament title.  

This week the Eagles travel to the Wyoming Wolves and host Wayland in OK-Gold matches before traveling to Rockford this coming weekend.