By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
MADISON—The greater Green Bay area had a record 9 players place in the top six in the Division 1 and 2 state individual tennis tournament held May 30-June 1 at Nielsen Stadium in Madison.
In addition to the Division 1 final recipients (John Zakowski and Nathan Balthazor), the doubles team of Michael Vivian and Ben Fredeen finished third capping off a 21-3 campaign for the senior and junior duo.
In Division 2, Notre Dame Academy had Myles Krzewinski, Will and Alan Schneider, and Josh Janssen and Christian Remington make it to the final day of competition.
Number four seed Janssen and Remington upset previously unbeaten John Ewing and Chris Perry (25-0) of Shorewood in the semis before falling in the championship.
“With the exception of one flight, we had the rest of our team competing at individual state,” said Notre Dame head coach Steve Burns. “That is a school record. I am very proud of the way we performed. We are still a young team with only three seniors on our varsity roster. We had a second, third, and fourth place finish which not many schools can say they accomplished.”
With the individual state tennis tournament wrapped up, the focus shifts to the team portion.
Green Bay Southwest (seeded sixth) will take on Eau Claire Memorial (seeded third) June 7 in Division 1, while Notre Dame (seeded first) will entertain Lacrosse Logan (seeded fourth) on June 8. It is a single elimination tournament with four singles, and three doubles vying for seven total points.
“We’re excited for team state to begin,” added Burns. “We are looking to bring home a championship to Notre Dame Academy and represent our school well.”
WIAA State Individual Tennis Results:
Division 1 Singles:
1st Place Match: Zakowski (Southwest) over Balthazor (De Pere) 7-5, 6-3
Division 1 Doubles:
3rd Place Match: Fredeen/Vivian (Southwest) over Max Loen/Danylo Ripeckyj (Eau Claire Memorial) 7-5,6-4.
Division 2 Singles:
3rd Place Match: Daniel Taleghani (University School of Milwaukee) over Krzewinski (Notre Dame) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Division 2 Doubles:
1st Place Match: Kelby Mack/Noah Wankerl (Sauk Prairie) over Janssen and Remington (Notre Dame) 6-1, 6-2
3rd Place Match: W. Schneider/A. Schneider (Notre Dame) over Ewing/Perry (Shorewood) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
