On a picture perfect day for tennis at the Zandee Tennis Center, the Boy's honored the late Hall of Fame Coach Ken Zandee by claiming their second straight Team Regional Championship Title yesterday.  Showing dominance in doubles, the squad swept the Flight Championships at 1-4 Doubles, despite only two of the flights having top seeds.  In Singles, the Eagles bookended Flight Championships at 1 and 4 singles.  The Eagles finished with 21 out of a possible 24 points with their next closest competitor a massive 8 points behind, sending the team to Kalamazoo for their second straight trip to the State Finals where they finished 4th a year ago.  

Senior Tri-Captain Eli Kuiper finished his last match at Zandee Tennis Center displaying the type of Championship grit every coach wants in a player.  In the Final, cruising to a first set of 6-1, Kuiper started severely cramping in a tight second set.  Up 4-3, with the team pushing him to the finish line, he played perfect strategic tennis to secure a 6-4 victory and his first Regional singles title.

At #3 Doubles, Senior Tri-Captain Jack Long and Senior Dan Betten fought through a shaky second round, splitting sets with Zeeland West before stopping Holland Christian in the final 6-4, 6-4. The two earned the top seed despite heading into the Regionals with only 3 matches together and during the day started to click more and more. With Betten showing some positive energy and Long controlling the net, the two came through with the W.

At #2 Doubles, Senior Tri-Captain Devin Meeuwsen and Sophomore Sam VanSchepen were the #2 Seed behind Zeeland West.  They too have not had a tremendous amount of match experience together.  They defeated a very good Holland Christian team easily in the second round.  With Meeuwsen executing the aggressive gameplan effectively using VanSchepen's steadiness from the baseline, the pair claimed the Regional Title over Zeeland West 6-1,6-4.

At #4 Doubles, Senior Owen Greer and Sophomore Cade Boender, a unique tandem playing together, were the #1 Seed heading into the day.  Despite showing some nerves in the semifinal and final, the two were able to work well with Boender's fantastic day of serving and Greer's superlative net play, defeating Zeeland East 6-4,6-4 in the Final.

At #1 Singles, Sophomore Simon Volkema, at #1 for the second year in a row, was not pressed all day long.  He was successful in defending his individual #1 Regional Title from a year ago, and helped the team this year again, cruising through his bracket and only dropping 3 games in 3 matches the entire day, crushing Holland Christian 6-1,6-2.

At #1 Doubles, Junior Grant Moorhead and Sophomore Tanner Warners continued their stellar campaign, coming in as the #1 Seed. Their first two matches ran about an hour combined, dropping only 2 games over Thornapple Kellogg and Hamilton before shutting down Zeeland East 6-2,6-0.  The duo have worked extremely well together during the year, with Warner's crazy anticipation skills and Moorhead's aggressive serve and groundstrokes.

Every single Flight contributed to the overall team victory.  Junior #2 Singles Alex Lowell won his first two matches to earn two points to get to the final before retiring to Holland Christian due to a hamstring injury, and Sophomore #3 Alex Cook held his seed in getting to the semifinals, where he pressed top seed Holland Christian to 3 sets and actually had a better score than Zeeland East did against HC in the final.

The team travels to Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College next week Friday for the State Finals. GO EAGLES!