NLC Tennis Championships: Panthers, Minutemen Make Statements
PLYMOUTH – NorthWood had double its pleasure and a handful of awards to show from the Northern Lakes Conference Boys Tennis Championships. Concord, on the other hand, had its hands full with a conference championship trophy.
NorthWood’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams both won court titles in Saturday’s steamy championship round at Plymouth. The No. 1 team of Brant Mast and Jared Hoffman conquered the bracket as the two-seed with a 6-3, 6-3 final over top seed Bailey Buhrt and Spencer Britton of Warsaw. Both finals teams had to rally for three-set wins in the semi-finals.
At No. 2 doubles, Trevor Klotz and Trajan Schwartz won a battle with Concord’s Drew McDougle and Jacob Shetterly. Again, the two-seed beat the one-seed in a 6-3, 6-4 championship final.
Concord would have the No. 1 singles champion in a convincing 6-1, 6-0 result over Simon Grevengoed of Northridge. Simon Myers of Goshen took out Concord’s Nate Slabach in the No. 2 singles final 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Goshen got a second title from Ryan Harmelink at No. 3 singles with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 championship over Minuteman Freddy Buckingham.
The Minutemen, with its 7-0 mark and the tournament success, scored 49 points to secure the conference championship outright. NorthWood, with its only loss to Concord, were 6-1 and second with 40 points. Goshen, Northridge and Warsaw were all 4-3 overall, the RedHawks taking third in the tourney with 37 points, the Raiders 35 points and the Tigers 29 points. Plymouth (2-5, 22), Wawasee (1-6, 3) and Elkhart Memorial (0-7, 6) concluded the field.
All of the championship players were named automatch All-Conference. At-Large All-Conference went to Warsaw’s Colton Lind, Wes Troyer of NorthWood and Grevengoed. Honorable Mention All-NLC went to Britton and Buhrt, Wes Beck of Goshen, Tommy Holloway of Plymouth, Gabe Rodino of Northridge and Slabach. NorthWood’s Tiffini Schwartz was named the NLC’s Coach of the Year.