Glen Lake boys tennis captured its third straight Division 4 regional championship with dominant performances Thursday.
Glen Lake senior Hawthorn Sutherland cruised his way to a regional championship Thursday as the Lakers dominated as a team in the regional at the Bandrowski Family Tennis Complex at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Middle School in Traverse City.
"We've been practicing hard all year and improving our strokes," Sutherland said. "I had some competition in the finals for sure ... But our team is definitely improving. We're a lot better than we were at the start of the season and we definitely have a chance at states."
Glen Lake senior Hawthorn Sutherland captures his first regional championship Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Jan-Michael Stump.
Sutherland defeated Phillip Sturtz (Saginaw Nouvel Catholic) and Colton Pritchard (Essexville Garber 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1) on his way to his first regional championship.
Sutherland defeated Traverse City St. Francis' Casey Jackson 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles regional final. Jackson advanced to the finals after an impressive 6-1, 7-6 (7) win over Vincent Niegir (Midland). Elk Rapids No. 1 singles Kalen Croftchek defeated Cooper Gensch (Hemlock) before falling to Jackson in round two.
Glen Lake's Porter Martin met Traverse City St. Francis' Gavin McClellan in the finals and earned a No. 2 singles championship 6-0, 6-1.
"It feels pretty good; this is the 1st time we've ever swept at regionals, which is pretty awesome, considering it's my senior year," Martin said. "We need to trust our game, maybe swing out and go for everything we can."
Martin defeated Ian Booker (Frankenmuth) and Gavin Hockstra (Midland Bullock Creek) 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1 in round two and the semifinals.
McClellan defeated Elk Rapids No. 2 singles player Matthew Barton, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to reach the finals.
Glen Lake's Owen Pierce won a regional championship over Essexville's Carter Radtke (6-0, 6-4) in No. 3 singles. Pierce won his first two games 6-3, 6-1 against Riley Rottiers of Frankenmuth and Luke Davis of Traverse City St. Francis.
Glen Lake rounded out its terrific regional day as Levi Lamb dropped only three games all day to cruise to a No. 4 singles regional championship and defeated Traverse City St. Francis’ Jake Bixby 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals.
The fourth-seed No. 1 doubles team for St. Francis, Joel LaDuke and Tristan Durkin, crashed regionals and made it to the finals after winning a thrilling semifinal, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5). LaDuke and Durkin battled Glen Lake's Keegan Bridges and Elliot MacTavish, in the regional championship, winning 6-1, 6-0, and 6-3, 6-2.
The Gladiators and Lakers were determined to meet in the No. 3 doubles final as the three and four seeds overcame multiple matches to set up the championship match. Garret Bridges and Brodie McKeller of Glen Lake defeated Nickolaus Goodwin and Gus Buell of St. Francis 6-1, 6-4.
"My favorite part, just supporting the team. Everybody was supporting each other," Bridges said. "It was just really nice to see, especially seeing you here, all of us coming together to win. We came out with a lot of energy, played our game ... We just have to grind this week in practice and get focused up. All the flights can compete, so we'll be going hard in practice this week, and then we'll just be ready for it."
Glen Lake's Bryce Cundiff and Luke Selby cruised to the No. 2 doubles championship with 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0 wins before defeating Midland Bullock 6-1, 6-0.
"We were moving our feet, making sure we didn't slack off or get too tired," Cundiff said. "There's a lot to keep in mind (heading into states), which is just moving a lot, getting low with the ball, and as soon as you forget to do that, I feel like you just become a lot more inconsistent. We are mentally thinking about those things, and giving it all your physical effort really does help with consistency and just playing better."
Glen Lake No. 4 doubles team of Aiden Doher and Aidan Lang dominated from the four seed in round two, defeating Hemlock 6-0, 6-1 and then Midland Bullock Creek in the semifinals 6-3, 6-0.
"We started our first game and we weren't really warmed up ... But then we locked in and we got through the rest and did really well for the rest of our games," Doher said. "This has been a good prep, and I'm just gonna have to give it my all (at states), and we're gonna do great as a team."
The Lakers won the finals 6-1, 6-4 over Essexville Garber.
Glen Lake won with 29 points, TC St. Francis (17) finished second and is heading to the state championships, followed by Midland Bullock Creek and Essexville Garber tied for third with 14, then Saginaw Nouvel, Elk Rapids, Hemlock, Harbor Springs, Frankenmuth, Alma and Boyne City.
The D-4 boys tennis state championship is Oct. 20-21 in Midland.
