Spring Lake and Mona Shores both have traditionally strong tennis programs, so the fact that the Reeths-Puffer girls team played both of those opponents to a 4-4 tie this week was a very good sign for the Rockets.
The Rockets battled Spring Lake to a draw on Tuesday.
R-P's Olivia Harris won her match at No. 2 singles for Reeths-Puffer. The rest of the Rockets’ success came in doubles, where three of their teams lost the first set but came back to win their matches.
Hope Latsch and Olivia Smith took the No. 1 doubles match, Miley Neel and Malania Eilers won at No. 3 doubles and Ava Dietz and Gabrielle Borgeson won at No. 4 doubles.
R-P's Olivia Harris, who won against Spring Lake and Mona Shores.
“At one point we were behind in all eight flights, so grinding back to a 4-4 tie was a great accomplishment for this young group – five underclassmen versus a talented area team fielding only juniors and seniors,” said R-P Coach Ryan Hankinson.
R-P had the same 4-4 outcome against Mona Shores on Wednesday in its first O-K Green conference match of the season.
R-P had a split in the singles matches, with Brooke Titus (No. 1) and Harris (No. 2) both winning in straight sets.
The Rockets also won two of four doubles matches. Emma Fraser and Lauren Matz won in straight sets at No. 2 doubles, finishing their match off with a 7-6 tie-breaker victory. Dietz and Borgeson won a tight match at No. 4 doubles, 7-6, 7-5.