Yesterday the GRC Varsity girls tennis team competed at the 2023 Regional championships for Division 3 hosted at Portland and DeWitt, MI and your 2023 Varsity Eagles came out with the 1st place trophy! After starting the day getting some inspiration from Coach Rolls's hometown (De-What?), the Eagles finished the day getting all 8 flights in the championship matches. 7 of those 8 flights then went on to take 1st place! Here are results by flight:

• 1s Brynn Uchman: 1st place! Brynn only lost 1 total game on the whole day. Her domination improves her record to 26-0. According to tennis reporting, Brynn is currently ranked as the top player in the state across all divisions. Lets go Brynn!!
• 2s Natalie Poortenga: 1st place! Natalie is the one player on the team with back to back regional championships under her name. Natalie is now 20-4 on the season.
• 3s Alex Vermuelen: 2nd place! Alex had a really good comeback win against SC to get her into the finals and played a really tough FHE player that was the #1 seed and played her heart out. Alex is now 14-11 on the season.
• 4s Kaitlyn Schmitt: 1st place! Kaitlyn dominated on the day, only losing 4 games on the whole day. Kaitlyn is now 18-8 on the season.
• 1D Carolina Mignini/Hope Alvesteffer: 1st place! These girls had a battle in their last match against a strong SC team. The first two sets were as close as it could get, 7-6, 6-7, and these two had the resilience to outlast the team in the end, beating them in a 6-0 statement set to close the match. They are now 20-6 on the season.
• 2D Marissa Sullivan/Ashley Wolfe: 1st place! These girls also won in dominating fashion only losing 5 total games on the day. This brings their record to 22-4 on the season.
• 3d Olivia Cook/Avah Jerke: 1st place! Another flight and another dominating showing, these girls only lost 1 total game on the day! They improved their season record to 18-7.
• 4d Alexia Meeuwsen/Betta Klein: 1st place! This team ran into a SC 4 dubs team that was playing out of their minds in the final match, but yet in the end proved who had the best all around 4 dubs game and grit in the state...by winning a 3 set thriller. These girls now have an astonishing 25-1 record on the season.

I also want to give a special shoutout to our 5 dubs Grace Brandt and Frankie Volkema. It is always tough this time of season since 5 doubles isn't a flight at regionals/states but our team is only as good as how much everyone pushes each other at practice, and these two girls push everyone to be better every single day and is a big reason why we are as good as we are. When they are unable to play, they are then the teams biggest supporters and I can't thank them enough. This team's success has been a full team effort!

This brings our team to a combined flight record of 163-41! What is also truly amazing is our combined record of our 1 singles and 4 dubs teams are 51-1. We are a legit full top to bottom team that is has been a force to be reckoned with at every flight and will be ready to make a big rumble at states. Finishing 1st place has officially qualified the Eagles for the MHSAA State championships for Division 3 in Ann Arbor that will take place on 6/2 and 6/3. Can't wait! 4+4! Go Eagles!!