Most years the Reeths-Puffer boys tennis team makes a quick appearance at Division 2 regionals, then heads for home.
That’s because the Rockets have to go up against a bunch of powerhouse teams, mostly from the Grand Rapids area, and there is little hope for success.
But this year the Rockets hung around for a while, winning first-round matches in all eighth flights and getting all of their players into the quarterfinal round, which was a big accomplishment, according to R-P Coach Ryan Hankinson.
Reeths-Puffer finished fourth out of 10 teams with eight points. Byron Center won the regional title with 19 points.
R-P's Cade Paugh
“Most years only 2-3 players ever made the second round, and by noon we were usually all finished and the boys were negotiating where to go for lunch,” Hankinson said about regionals.
“It was an amazing feeling to have multiple coaches come up and comment about our team as they were heading home themselves around that time of day. We had every single flight take the courts in the afternoon.”
The Rockets went 1-1 on the day in all eight flights.
R-P’s Ethan Frang won his first match at No. 1 singles, beating Wyoming’s Matteo Pagliara 6-0, 6-2.
R-P's Cory Judd
Frang went on to play top-seeded Karan Deol of Forest Hills Northern and won the first set before losing the next two.
R-P’s Quinn Alderink beat Ottawa Hills’s Elias Van Drunen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Cory Judd downed Greenville’s Suton Schroeder 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, and Adam Miller beat Wyoming’s Diego Deleon-Lopez 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles.
R-P's Cade Paugh and Holden Earnest downed Wyoming’s Zander Creamer and Jacob Miles 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles. Trent VanDam and Leo Kretschmar defeated Wyoming’s Michael Siguenza and Jacob Clark 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
R'P's Adam Schrumpf and Jackson Baldus defeated Greenville’s Ethan Dekraker and Knowlton Phelps 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 doubles. Henrik Ketner and Erik Trulsa defeated Northview’s Athiya Maheswaren and Calvin Towers 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 doubles.
The regional tournament marked the end of a very good season for the Rockets, who won the first city tournament championship in program history this fall.