Boys tennis

The boys tennis team ended their regular season 6-8-3 and 2-2 in the MAC red. They placed second in their region, finishing only behind University of Detroit Jesuit. In the Division II state tournament, the team found success as four of their eight flights made it to the quarterfinals. The number one doubles team of seniors Jack Williams and Ben Zacharias saw the most success, finishing 27-3. The pair went into the state tournament as the number two seed and ended up losing to Midland Dow in the finals. The team finished eighth in the state.

Head coach John Van Alst isn’t disappointed about not reaching the goal they set in the beginning of the season for being a top-five team in Division 2. However, said this team was unique on the court.

“They were just one of those groups of kids that were always having a lot of fun out on the court, and they were always chuckling and laughing and had a lot of humor. That was one of my favorite things about the team,” Van Alst said. “And if there is one thing that I’m going to remember most was when the entire team was at the state finals, and we were one of the last teams they’re playing at the state finals, so it was a really, really cool experience for everybody.”

First-year varsity player Joey Haney experienced his first states this season. The  sophomore thinks it had a positive influence on him.

“Probably our most memorable moment was watching when doubles in the state finals,” Haney said. “It was really exciting, and it really pumped (me) up. It was fun to watch.”

Van Alst knows that the team’s success relies on how much time the players are willing to put in and how hard they want to work in the off season.

“I would hope to try to have the same kind of athletes that we had in years past and then just have all of the returning players stay focused with their goals because they want to improve, too,” Van Alst said. “For me to try and improve is really tough. It’s the players that have to determine if you want to improve.”