Congratulations to the Varsity Boys Tennis team for taking 4th place in the OK Gold Tournament this past Saturday!!  The team beat out TK, Kenowa Hills, Cedar Springs and Ottawa Hills in a grueling, 3-match day, missing 3rd place by only 2 points!!  This was a great warm-up tournament as they get ready for Regionals this week!!  Great job Wildcats!

The Boys Tennis team took a modified lineup to Comstock Park Thursday night for a non-conference match.  Even though there were 3 missing players, Wayland players stepped up and came together for a 6-2 win!  Nolan Ritz came through at 1st singles, taking his opponent in a 3rd set tie-breaker, after dropping the first set.  Austin Graham continued his phenomenal season, taking wins in whatever position he's at, winning handily in the 2nd singles position 6-2, 6-0.  Theo Oddy and Cam Sieffert fells short, as they were put into singles matches rather than their usual 1st Doubles position.  However, in the doubles flights, Wayland players again stepped up to the challenge, having all been moved up in the lineup.  At 1st Doubles, Andrew Hinds and Chase Robinson put together a win after splitting sets and taking the 3rd set tie-breaker, 10-8.  Zach Rookus and Christian Haveman also went to a 3rd set tie-breaker, winning in the end by a score of 10-7.  The 3rd singles pair of Aiden Ketchapaw and Jacob VanDuine won their match, only losing 1 game, 6-0, 6-1.  At this point in the season, the Wildcats are showing resilience in their matches and getting confidence in their skills as they progress through a match.  This will be critical as they head into their own Quad Tournament on Saturday and prepare for the OK Gold Conference tournament on September 30th.

The Wayland Boys Tennis team took on Cedar Springs on Wednesday night at their home courts.  While the Redhawks were short in 2 flights, they still made it a tough match, taking wins against Wayland at 1st, 2nd and 4th singles.  However, Wayland prevailed by staying strong at 4th singles, with Austin Graham continuing his phenomenal season, and the 1st Doubles team of Andrew Hinds and Cam Sieffert pulling through at 1st Doubles.  It all came down to the 2nd Doubles team of Christian Haveman and Chase Robinson, in a grueling, 3-set, 3-1/2 hour match that featured 2 tie breakers to decide the first 2 sets.  The team battled back and forth with Cedar Springs, making good shots, making errors, but staying together as a team as they neared the end of the third set.  Leading 5-4 in the 3rd set, Wayland's Chase Robinson was serving for the match.  After double-faulting on the first point, chase settled in and focused on getting his serves in.  At 40-15, Chase ended the match with a blistering 1st serve that the Redhawks could not return!  A fantastic end to a roller-coaster match that started at 4:15pm and ended at 7:30pm.  With that, Wayland took the match 5-3.  Today, the team travels to Comstock Park to continue their march toward the OK Gold Conference tournament.

On Saturday, the Wayland Boys Varsity Tennis team traveled to Caledonia for the Caledonia Invitational Tennis Tournament against Big Rapids, Comstock Park and the hosts Caledonia.  Overall, Wayland came in 3rd place, missing 2nd place by only 2 points.  Congratulations to Flight Champion Austin Graham at 4th Singles, Jackson Chesley, Flight Runner-up at 1st Singles, and Nolan Ritz, Flight Runner-up at 3rd Singles.  The Wildcats take on Ottawa Hills and South Christian this week in OK Gold Conference matches.

Before the Labor Day holiday, the Boys Varsity Tennis team traveled to TK to take on their cross-town rivals on their newly constructed courts.  In a tight match, Wayland was able to come away with a 4-4 tie.  3 of the 8 matches went to 3 sets or were decided by tie-breakers.  At 1st singles, Jackson Chesley dropped a 3 set match 6-0, 2-6. 4-6 while at 2nd singles Andrew Murphy came out victorious in a 3-set marathon lasting almost 3 1/2 hours, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.  Nolan Ritz and Austin Graham won handily at 3rd and 4th singles.  In the doubles flights, 1st Doubles Cam Sieffert and Theo Oddy lost 0-6, 2-6 to a talented TK team.  At 2nd doubles, Andrew Hinds and Chase Robinson came alive after dropping the 1st set 3-6.  Andrew and Chase learned to play as a team and be aggressive tennis players, taking the 2nd and 3rd sets 7-6, 7-6, both with tie breakers.  TK came out on top at 3rd and 4th doubles to complete the 4-4 tie.

The Wildcats Boys Tennis team began the dual match season with a tough loss to Otsego, 3-5.  Bringing home wins were Jackson Chesley (12) at 1st singles, Nolan Ritz (12) at 3rd singles and Austin Graham (11) at 4th singles.  The 1st doubles team of Cam Sieffert and Theo Oddy played a tough Otsego team that brought experience and rocket serves.  While Wayland lost the first set, 3-6, they played evenly to a tie-breaker in the 2nd set, only dropping the final set by a tie-break score of 3-7.  It was a tough loss for the team and an eye-opener for things to come in the season ahead.