ISHPEMING — While Ishpeming, Westwood and Iron Mountain high school boys tennis teams played in a trio of pitched battles on Tuesday afternoon, the Negaunee squad breezed to victory.
Westwood just squeezed past Ishpeming 5-3 in their meet, while both the Patriots and Hematites fought IM to 4-4 ties when they met up, all three meets held at the Westwood courts.
Meanwhile, the Miners improved to 5-0 this season while losing just five games in the seven contested matches for an 8-0 victory at Gladstone.
Here is a roundup of the action:
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Westwood, Ishpeming, Iron Mountain play triple dual
On Tuesday at Westwood, the host Pats pulled out the victory over Ishpeming by winning three of the fourth flights in singles. The teams split the four doubles flights.
Westwood also won three flights in singles vs. Iron Mountain, while the Hematites were winners in three doubles flights against the Mountaineers.
Westwood’s only two-time winner was No. 1 singles player Andrew Niemi, though Cameron Mahaffey and Jaxson Alderton were each winners in their only shot at No. 4 singles.
“Today was another beautiful day for tennis,” Patriots head coach Sarah Massie said in an email. “We had a lot of close matchups between (our) two meets and I was happy to see the guys fight through some three-set matches.
“With the lineup changes early in the season and the delayed spring we had, the guys have been learning to adjust from one match to the next.”
From Ishpeming, No. 3 singles player Caden Luoma won twice, as did the No. 2 doubles tandem of Logan Hurkmans and Ben Rubick and No. 3 doubles duo of Ethan Corp and Griffin Argall.
The two Hematites doubles duo each won in three sets in their meet against Westwood.
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Negaunee 8, Gladstone 0
On Tuesday at Gladstone, the Miners won five flights by perfect 6-0, 6-0 scores — No. 1 singles Luke Syrjala, No. 2 singles Gavin Saunders, No. 3 singles Mick Kumpula, No. 2 doubles Tyler Lajimodiere and Gavin Downey, and No. 4 doubles Brandon Borlace and Ethan Harris.
“We served really well as a team, which generally starts to happen as the weather improves,” Negaunee head coach Kyle Saari said in an email. “Tyler kicked over to play doubles today and did a nice job with Gavin Downey.
“It’s been a solid start to the week, but we’re still eager to keep progressing.”
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is [email protected].
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