By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent
PORTAGE-The Ashwaubenon Jaguars boys tennis team opened their season (April 21) by edging out the Crimson Tide of Edgerton to win the Portage Invite.
The Jaguars won five of the seven Championship flights in gathering 24 points for the day.
Freshman Jacob Hanson made his high school debut at the top spot and didn’t disappoint.
He dropped only four games the entire day showcasing his powerful serve, baseline to baseline ground strokes, and deft touch with his volleys at the net.
“I thought Jacob came out and played very free tennis,” said Scott Conradt, Jaguars Tennis Coach. “He has been in so many big matches the last few years. The new scene didn’t faze him.”
The powerful duo of Freshman Colin Chapman and Senior Kole Kolinski won the number one doubles title by not giving up a single game in the Finals!
The team connected on 13 aces in just two sets of game action.
The most competitive matches of the day came at three doubles.
Seniors Jack Kiser and Matt Luebke came out for tennis to try something new.
Suddenly, they found themselves on varsity the first contest of the season.
They opened up against the duo from Portage in which they quickly fell behind 5-2.
After some minor adjustments, Kiser and Luebke ran off 11 straight games to win the match; setting up the Final against Edgerton.
The Championship match consisted of two evenly matched teams.
With the score 4-4 in the opening set, Kiser held his serve and then the team broke the Crimson Tide’s serve to capture the first 6-4.
The second set went back and forth before the Jaguars prevailed 7-5 to give them the individual win but also propel the team to the overall victory by a mere two points!
“We were missing four guys today to illness and a school activity,” added Conradt. “Seven of our ten players had never set foot on the court to play a varsity match. I was really impressed with Cole, Jack, and Matt that stepped into big roles. They made the difference in us capturing the tournament today.”
Team Totals: Ashwaubenon 24, Edgerton 22, Portage 13, Mauston 10
Singles:
1 Hanson (Ashwaubenon) over Jason Narel (Portage) 6-0, 6-1
Hanson over Nick Rusch (Edgerton) 6-2, 6-1
2 Bailey Conradt (Ashwaubenon) over Lewis Kim (Edgerton) 6-0, 6-1
Conradt over Logan Larson (Mauston) 6-1, 6-0
3 Sam Spika (Ashwaubenon) over Zach Lund (Mauston) 6-0, 6-0
Spika over Connor Masanz (Edgerton) 6-3, 6-1
4 Brandon Hall (Portage) over Leatherberry 6-2, 6-2
Cole Leatherberry (Ashwaubenon) over Dravan Robinson (Mauston) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles:
1 Chapman/Kolinski over Default (Mauston) 2-0, 2-0
Chapman/Kolinski (Ashwaubenon) over Garrett Yttri/Michael Ferraro (Edgerton) 6-0, 6-0
2 Henry Conway/Matthew Pierce (Edgerton) over Justin Heller/Aidan Christensen (Ashwaubenon) 6-3, 6-1
Heller/Christensen over William Buckley/Nick Holmes (Portage) 6-1, 6-4
3 Kiser/Luebke (Ashwaubenon) over Michael Erickson//Walker Voight (Portage) 7-5, 6-0
Kiser/Luebke over Nolan Fox/Tyler Bavery (Edgerton) 6-4, 7-5
