Grand Haven Tennis

Placing 5th last Thursday may have forced us to come up short on our pre-season goals in terms of wins and loses. A proud moment, however, was when the team decided to stay and watch the semi-finals and finals. As we watched the teams still left compete, there were many conversations that summed up one simple statement, "we can do this, we need to focus more on our committments." 

"TEAM" we really have a great team.

"Work-in-progress" that is what the Grand Haven Boys Tennis program is all about. Top down we need to develop the talent we have. We need to continue to practice hard. Most important, we need to all buy in that tennis is not a 3-month committment.

This officially ends the 2008 Grand Haven Boys Tennis Season.

Grand Haven Varsity Tennis traveled to Zeeland West on Tuesday in search of a win to put us over .500 for the season, the end result was a tie. Great match play from the 2, 3, and 4 doubles flights, as well as the 2, 3, and 4 singles flights.

Overall Season Record: 3-3-2

Flight Wins

4S - Arjun Biddanda defeated John Knott 6-1, 6-0

2D - Spencer Krug and Blake Shultz defeated Cam Beilder and Matt Strube 7-6(3), 6-4

3D - Tom Sleva and Nate VanArendonk defeated Sean DePottey and Nick Casterline 6-2, 6-0

4D - Jordan Hoogerhyde and Scott Deater defeated Aaron Lutz and Logan Schreur 6-1, 6-1

JV Results

Nate Niemerowicz and Noah Thelen defeated Zeeland West 8-4

Steve Heyboer and Nathan Kelly defeated Zeeland West 8-3

Staying positive is easy when playing with a lead, real character is revealed when playing from behind.

From the beginning I have been saying, it is not how we start but how we finish. As a team I cannot be happier to be sharing this time with such a great group of young men. Our conference tournament on Saturday may not have been what we wanted from some, but for the team it was an improvement based on season play. This week we have a match versus Zeeland West on Tuesday and then we travel to East Kentwood on Thursday for our Regional Tournament. I do not want Thursday to be the end of our season. I believe in this team... we have to become more focused and practice harder to achieve our pre-season goals. We can do this, together, we can do this.

Our Tennis Awards Banquet is on Monday, October 27th at 6:30 PM. Please make sure forms and checks (payable to GHAPS) are turned in to Coach Case in room 2102 prior to this Friday. All players are expected to show. Please complete form even if parents or other family members will not be attending.

Tonya DeGryse has offered to create a Tennis Video for our banquet. She needs pictures prior to this Friday. Please send them to me via email casej@ghaps.org Questions please contact Tonya. Each player will be receiving a copy so she is asking for a $1 donation for the cost of the CD.

Last Week

(JV) Jenison 5, Grand Haven 4

(V) Grand Haven 7, Jenison 1

This Week

Tuesday @ Zeeland West

Thursday @ East Kentwood - Regional Tournament

On Saturday, the Grand Haven Varsity Tennis team traveled to West Ottawa to compete in the OK Red Conference Tournament. As a team, we improved from conference play during the season, tying East Kentwood for 4th place in the tournament. As a result of our conference record (2-3-1) and placing 4th at the conference tournament, the Grand Haven 2008 Varsity Tennis Team officially placed 5th in the OK Red Conference.

OK Red Conference Tournament Results

1S - Farid Damasio 7th

2S - Brenden Magnan 5th

3S - Mitchell Borchers 4th

4S - Arjun Biddanda 6th

1D - Max Bradley/Trevor Soule 5th

2D - Blake Shultz/Spencer Krug 2nd

3D - Thomas Sleva/Nathan VanArendonk 4th

4D - Jordan Hoogerhyde/Scott Deater 2nd

Grand Haven 7, Jenison 1

OK Red Conference Record: 2-3-1

Overall Record: 3-3-1 

On Wednesday, after two days of rain-outs, the Varsity tennis team traveled to Jenison for the final OK Red Conference match of the season and came away with a 7-1 victory.

Looking at how we performed in Fall-like weather is good to see. We kept moving and as a result we came away with a win that should help us for OK Red Conference Tournament seeding taking place on Thursday.

We have two days of practice prior to our OK Red Conference Tournament on Saturday at West Ottawa. A goal at the beginning of the season was for us to finish strong at conference that would seed us for regionals and advance us to the state tournament. I keep telling the boys, its kind of like baseball... there is nothing like going deep into October, knowing that you are still playing a game you love to play.

Flight Wins

1S – Farid Damasio

2S – Brenden Magnan

4S – Arjun Biddanda

1D – Max Bradley & Trevor Soule

2D – Spencer Krug & Blake Shultz

3D – Tom Sleva & Nate VanArendonk

4D – Jordan Hoogerhyde & Scott Deater

Jenison.doc