By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON- The number one doubles team of Colin Chapman and Kole Kolinski advanced to Madison by winning their first match of the day at the WIAA Sectional boys tennis tournament hosted by Bay Port (May 23).
Chapman was playing in his first Sectional and Kolinski was going for four in a row (individually) at Western Racquet Fitness and Tennis Club.
In the opener versus a very game Phantoms team of Jared Colucci and Jared Johnson, the Jaguars duo continually made the Jared’s hit backhands and forced a number of unforced errors.
In the end, Chapman and Kolinski dropped only three games.
“We knew we had a tough matchup in the opening round to qualify for State,” said Scott Conradt, Jaguars Tennis Coach. “The West De Pere team had some good wins on the year and we had to keep our focus. I was proud of the guys for maintaining their nerves and getting the job done.”
In the semis, the duo matched up with a similar foe in Janssen and Remington of Notre Dame Academy.
This time around, the tennis was cleaner and more crisp than the earlier meeting in April played outdoors.
On many points, the end result was an outright winner.
By the time the match had ended, Chapman and Kolinski had one more break in each set to move onto the finals.
In the championship match, the Jaguars pair met the number two seed of Jayden Wartman and Ben Fredeen of Green Bay Southwest.
It was the first meeting of the year between the two high powered squads.
Wartman and Fredeen grabbed an early 3-0 lead, before the Jaguars battled back to 5-4.
Chapman and Kolinski then broke the Trojans duo to level the match.
The first set eventually went to a tiebreaker in which Southwest prevailed by eight points to six.
In the second set, the Jaguars got broken twice to lose the match and finish in the runner-up position.
The number two doubles team of Grant Atwood and Alex Steinfest needed to win both their matches to qualify for State.
They took of care of business in the opening round by defeating West De Pere and then met up with a familiar foe in Green Bay Southwest.
The tandem from Ashwaubenon got off to a slow start but recovered to even the second set at four-games all.
In the ninth game, the Jaguars had three game points, but the Trojans saved all three and went onto to capture the deciding game to advance to State.
“I thought our two doubles team played well in the Subs and then in round one of the Sectional,” added Conradt. “I think they knew in in the final what was at stake and played tight to open the match. They settled down, but Southwest is just a spectacular team.”
Number one singles player Freshman Jacob Hanson was in a tough position.
He was matched up against top seeded and nationally ranked Nathan Balthazor of De Pere to advance on.
If Hanson was nervous, it didn’t show on the court.
He went blow for blow with Balthazor for 10-15 hit ralley’s for much of the match.
In the end, the Redbird phenom captured the match and went onto win the Sectional.
“I am really glad that Jacob got to experience the Sectional this year,” Conradt added. “ He defeated a state qualifier earlier in the season and continued to get better as each match progressed. I look for real big things out of him the next three years in a Jaguars uniform. He’s a tremendous talent.”
WIAA Boys Tennis Sectional Team Results:
Green Bay Southwest 54, De Pere 28, Notre Dame Academy 27, West De Pere 24, Ashwaubenon 20, Kaukauna 18, Bay Port 12, Green Bay Preble 12, Kimberly 8, DC Everest 6, Wausau West 4, Manitowoc Lincoln 4, Green Bay East 0, Pulaski 0, Wausau East 0
