GLADSTONE — The Escanaba Eskymos won for the first time this season, earning a 5-3 tennis victory over the Gladstone Braves here Tuesday.

Junior Connor Howes secured Esky’s victory in a hard-fought 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 triumph over senior Drake Johnson in No. 1 singles.

Howes led 4-0 in the opener before Johnson, showing strong overhead serving, pulled within 4-3 on this partly sunny and seasonably cool afternoon.

“Drake is a good player,” Howes said. “I tried to keep the ball away from him at the net. I needed this one. It’s good to get one on the board. Losing my first three matches created a sense of urgency today.”

Johnson was still within 5-4 before Howes closed out that set. After Johnson took the second set, Howes gained a 4-1 lead in the third.

Johnson, however, climbed within 4-3 before Howes sealed the verdict.

“I started slowing my game down,” Howes said. “I was rushing my shots. His overhead serves came out of nowhere and I had a lot of issues with those. I was unable to convert on my easy shots. It was good to finally get a match without wind. It actually took a little while to get used to playing without it.”

Senior Jackson Cousineau (2-2) gave the Eskymos a 4-3 lead by taking 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 decision from Teagan Reynolds at No. 2 singles.

“His net play is really good,” Cousineau said. “It was hard to get the ball over him. My first serve was kind of shaky in the second set, but when I got it over he struggled with that. This was a nice day for tennis. This is a confidence builder going into Marquette (Wednesday).”

Gladstone senior Thomas Tackmen improved to 2-1 with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over junior Reid Brazeau.

“I finally started to find my groove,” Tackman said. “I started to get my shots in, but had trouble getting the ball over him. Then, I started getting my serves in and gained a lot of momentum.”

The Eskymos won 3-of-4 doubles, including the No. 3 match in which junior Adam Prey and sophomore Kaden Fulsher took a 6-2, 6-0 decision from Sam Hedman-Grady Nelson.

“It feels good to finally get one,” Prey said. “This is probably the best day we’ve had for tennis. You could kind of lob the ball up more. This is probably the best we played all year. Once we get more comfortable with the win, we’ll be fine. This is kind of a transition year. Our singles were senior-heavy last year. We have a lot of guys coming back next year.”

Both teams resumed in Marquette Wednesday.

“This was a close match,” Esky coach Tom Penegor said of Tuesday’s match. “There were a lot of good, competitive matches out there. We lost four 3-set matches to Westwood (in a 4-4 tie in Escanaba Friday). Jackson and Connor played two long matches that could have gone either way, but they prevailed in the end.”

Esky (1-2-1) hosts Munising and Iron Mountain Friday. Gladstone visits Kingsford today at 2:30.

Singles

No. 1 — Howes, E, def. Johnson, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3; No. 2 — Cousineau, E, def. Reynolds, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; No. 3 — Tackman, G, def. Brazeau, 7-5, 6-1; No. 4 — Soderman, G, def. Fletcher, 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles

No. 1 — Chaillier-Lord, E, def, Barron-Veeser, 6-2, 6-0; No. 2 — Hagebush-Wilson, G, def. Morgan-Stephens, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; No. 3 — Prey-Fulsher, E, def. Hedman-Nelson, 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 — Garcia-Gardner, E, def. Lesnieski-Thill, 6-2, 6-3.