The Reeths-Puffer girls tennis team posted a huge win on Tuesday, downing traditional power Whitehall 7-1.
The Rockets were dominant, winning seven of eight flights, including all four singles flights.
A lot of the matches were hard-fought (including the No. 3 singles match, which had a marathon tiebreaker to determine the winner), but the R-P girls battled and got the type of victory over a powerful opponent that they haven’t had in a long time.
“The win was so big on so many levels for the girls program,” said R-P Coach Ryan Hankinson. “It’s the first win over Whitehall that I know of, after informally checking with former coaches, almost back to 2000.
Brooke Titus, who won both of her matches at No. 1 singles.
“To establish ourselves on par with the best area teams that consistently reach state in their respective divisions - North Muskegon, Whitehall and Mona Shores - it requires learning how to compete at a level beyond just showing up to play. A new 'one team' approach was crucial, because now the girls are playing for someone beyond themselves when they take the court.
“Now the challenge is to do this consistently and not have one great result be an outlier.”
Brooke Titus set the tone for the Rockets by beating Whitehall’s Elizabeth Bentz 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match.
Olivia Harris won in straight sets at No. 2 singles, Lauren Matz won a three-set match that included an exhausting 14-12 tiebreaker at No. 3 singles, and Molly Matz won in straight sets at No. 4 singles after capturing a grueling first set by a 7-6 score.
Ali Jacoby (left) and Emily Champoux won both of their doubles matches.
Ali Jacoby and Emily Champoux (No. 1 doubles), Malania Eilers and Gabrielle Borgeson (No. 2 doubles) and Olivia Smith and Hope Latsch (No. 4 doubles) all won in straight sets.
The victory over Whitehall followed an impressive 7-0 win over Fremont in the opening match.
Titus, Harris, Miley Neel and Lauren Matz all won their singles matches in straight sets, losing only one of a combined 49 games.
Whitney Dulyea and Emma Fraser (No. 1 doubles), Jacoby and Champoux (No. 2 doubles), Grace Seiber and Tapanga Foster (No. 3 doubles) and Eilers and Borgeson (No, 4 doubles) also won their matches in straight sets.
