Braves’ tennis falls to Maroons
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MARINETTE -- The Menominee boys tennis team hosted a triangular with Gladstone and Marquette at the REC Center in Marinette on Thursday.
The Maroons faced off against the Redmen in the first match. Due to time restraints, the teams played only two sets instead of three.
At No. 1 singles, Menominee's Tyler Kuester beat Nick Olivier 7-6 in a tiebreak in the first set before falling 3-6 in the second to earn a 1-1 split.
"Tyler had a great day," Menominee coach Sam Larson said. "He's been playing very well in this early part of the season."
Steve Polaski was at No. 2 singles for the Maroons, and he defeated his opponent, MQT's Jack Francino, 6-3, 6-4.
"Steve played well today. He really hustles on the court and does a nice job of extending points," Larson said.
Felipe Zamora dropped both sets (2-6, 0-6) to Robert Apple at No. 3 singles and Kyle Anderson and Cade Fernstrum were beaten 4-6, 3-6 by Connor Johnson and Trevor Lewis at No. 1 doubles.
The Maroons got their only doubles win from Noah Everard and Braeden Parrett, who beat Luke Ferzacca and Soren Higgins 6-0 in the first set before losing 4-6 in the second at No. 2 doubles.
Aidan Bellisle and Brady Schultz took on Abram Moffit and Ben Sternschuss at No. 3 doubles. The two freshman won a couple games, but in the end fell 3-6, 2-6.
The next match was Marquette and Gladstone, and besides for Gladstone's Tyler Bartled beating Francino 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles, the Redmen won every other match.
"Tyler did great winning that first match which we weren't really expecting," Gladstone coach Dan Williams said. "We started off really well, but after that it kind of went downhill. Didn't win a match after that, but we did some good things. We had some close matches."
Olivier defeated Ben Flamino 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles and Sternchuss took down Colby Torvinen 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. In doubles play, Ferzacca and Higgins beat Carter Hedman and Rane Castor 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 and Moffit and Apple won 6-1, 6-0 against Eric Leonoff and Cole Dawson at No. 3.
Menominee took on Gladstone to end the day and the Maroons were victorious all across the board.
Kuester came out on top 6-0, 6-2 against Flamino at No. 1 singles and Polaski beat Bartled 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2. At No. 3 singles, Jason Bowers stepped in for Felipe Zamora and defeated Torvinen 7-6 in the first match before taking the second easily 6-1.
"I think just playing has made a big difference for us," Williams said. "We really haven't had the experience to play. It's been really good. We have a lot of new players and a lot are seniors. They're all still learning and we have a lot of work to do. But we knew we were coming here to just get some experience and play a few games. We'll improve."
Anderson and Fernstrum beat Colin Smith and Dylan Anderson 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles; Everard and Parrett swept Castor and Hedman 6-4, 6-0 and Bellisle and Schultz picked up a 6-0, 6-1 win over Leonoff and Dawson at No. 3 doubles.
"Braeden and Noah really served the ball well today and that helped them to win a few games," Larson said. "Jason did a nice job of keeping the ball in play today. He was very consistent and played error-free tennis.
"We were happy to snag a few wins, but regardless, it's been a great week for our kids to knock some rust off and get some good playing experience against good U.P. competition. I think we've definitely gotten better over the last couple days."
Menominee's next match comes on Tuesday at Kingsford, while Gladstone hosts Gwinn on Monday.