Fowlerville senior off to great start in quest for school record for tennis wins
FOWLERVILLE — Fowlerville’s tennis team is comprised almost entirely of multi-sport athletes each year, as coach Jim Jonas recruits the hallways for boys who might not be competing in the fall.
But few members of his team, no matter how successful they become on the court, can say that tennis is their favorite sport.
Lucas Anderson is an exception.
When he picked tennis an eighth-grader, he figured it would always be secondary to baseball during his high school career.
Baseball had become ingrained in him, growing up in a family that was involved in the sport and playing it since he was 5 years old.
But tennis soon grew on him to the point that it’s now his No. 1 sport.
His dedication to tennis is paying off. Anderson, a senior, is Fowlerville’s No. 1 singles player and has a shot to become the winningest player in program history.
He got off to a great start Monday by winning all three of his matches in the season-opening Livingston County quad at Fowlerville.
The three victories bumped his career record to 48-16, tying for ninth on the school’s all-time list. Caden Flanery, who was a star baseball pitcher who graduated in 2019, holds the school record with 63 victories.
“I’m starting to put all my time into tennis now, because I’m trying to go to college for tennis,” Anderson said. “So, I kind of gave up baseball in the summer for tennis, and it’s paying off for me.”
Anderson was 11-8 at No. 4 doubles as a freshman, 18-1 at No. 4 singles as a sophomore and 16-7 at No. 2 singles as a junior. Having to navigate his way through the top singles flight will make securing the record more challenging.
“It’s always hard to play the best player,” he said. “I’ve just got to play my game. I think I can do it.”
Jonas said Anderson has put in the work to succeed at No. 1 singles.
“You don’t get any freebies at 1 singles,” Jonas said. “Pretty much every team has at least one kid who’s pretty good. That’s going to be one big adjustment for him is the mental part. You don’t get that break, but he’s worked pretty hard. He didn’t play basketball last winter, because he wanted to focus on tennis all summer long. He’s played all kinds of USTA tournaments and what-not. He’s solid. He’s a tough player.”
Anderson’s toughest match Monday was his first, a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Hartland’s Payton Bell. He then won 6-0, 6-0 over Howell’s Jacob Clark before finishing the day with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Pinckney’s Trevor Jones.
“I felt great,” Anderson said. “Ground strokes were pretty good. Serving was OK, but could be better.”
Also going 3-0 at singles were Fowlerville’s Cole Sova at No. 2, Hartland’s Ben Krause at No. 3 and Fowlerville’s Ryder Lukasik at No. 4.
Fowlerville also won three of the four doubles flights. Oliver Farmer and Alex Jonas (No. 1), Mikey Hatfield and Ethan Way (No. 3) and Ben Durbin and Grant Wilkinson (No. 4) were 3-0 for the Gladiators.
Hartland’s Jonathan Waske and Logan Demeniuk were 3-0 at No. 2 doubles.
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Fowlerville took first place with 22 points, followed by Hartland with 17, Pinckney with six and Howell with three.
“Lucas and Oliver at 1 doubles, they’re cousins and they’ve done all this together,” Jonas said. “Other than that, I don’t know anyone else who has tennis as their primary sport, but I will say this summer the attendance at our workouts has been phenomenal. It’s been almost 100%, unless a family goes on vacation; that’s totally understandable. Other than that, kids are here three, four times a week and they’re here on their own time.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Fowlerville senior off to great start in quest for tennis wins record
