The Reeths-Puffer girls tennis team met up with three very tough non-conference opponents on Saturday and struggled overall, but Molly Matz held up just fine.
Matz, the Rockets’ senior No. 3 singles player, captured two of the three R-P wins on an otherwise difficult day.
Matz beat Hudsonville Unity Christian’s Avery Hertenstein 6-2, 6-0 and Spring Lake’s Tresa Groendyke, 6-1 , 6-4.
Matz, who will be R-P’s valedictorian in this year’s graduating class. finished Saturday with a 2-1 record and is now 3-3 on the season against six very tough opponents.
Molly Matz
“We are so fortunate to have a singles specialist playing three singles, and her season will continue to ramp up as she keeps improving her serve and diversifies her game with more volleys, drop shots, and slices,” said R-P head coach Ryan Hankinson.
“Molly made her college choice Friday night and created a divided house. She will be a Michigan Wolverine and intends to study engineering. Her older sister Lauren is a Spartan!”
At the team level, the Rockets found little success on one of the toughest days on their schedule. They lost to Zeeland East 8-0, Hudsonville Unity Christian 7-1 and Spring Lake 6-2.
The Rockets’ other win against Spring Lake came at No. 4 singles, where Kaitlyn Durow downed Sophia Baumgardner 6-3, 6-2.
Despite the one-sided outcomes, R-P was not that far away from having a better team result, particularly against Spring Lake.
Kaitlyn Durow
At No 1 singles, R-P’s Olivia Smith split two sets with her Spring Lake opponent before losing the tiebreaker. She is now 3-3 on the season, despite having three losses on Saturday.
Lauren Slater and Grace Cousens also pushed their Laker opponents to three sets at No. 3 doubles, while Hope Latsch played tough at No. 2 singles and nearly forced a tiebreaker, falling 6-3, 7-5.
If two of those matches had flipped the Rockets’ way, the final team score would have been 4-4.
The Rockets will return to action on Monday against Kenowa Hills.