Sturgis tennis team returning to state finals
The Sturgis tennis tradition continues.
On Thursday, the Trojans won another regional championship, resulting in a return trip to the MHSAA state finals. Sturgis has now made the trip to the state finals in six consecutive seasons.
Sturgis piled up 18 points at the regional tournament, which saw only one other school qualify for the state finals. That was Stevensville-Lakeshore with 15 points, the Lancers finished second overall.
“Coaches Earl and Taylor are extremely proud of the boys,” SHS coach George Earl said. “They showed class and heart out on the tennis court.”
Earl said the recent passing of SHS coaching legend Budd Munson had an impact on the Trojans.
“The entire tennis team and coaching staff would like to dedicate this regional win to the late Budd Munson, who taught us all so much about the sport of tennis and the game of life,” Earl said.
Sturgis piled up four regional championship flights on the day. They also had a pair of runner’s up and two flights who reached the semifinals.
Three doubles teams earned regional titles.
At first doubles, the Sturgis team of Christian Perry and Luke Frost came in as the third seed for the tournament. That duo won handily over Vicksburg’s Harrison Barton and Luke Wilson by scores of 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round. In the next round, the Trojan team beat Dylan Chandler and Sam Bronkema, the second seed from Otsego, in three sets. Sturgis won the first and third sets by scores of 6-2, but fell in the second 6-4. The finals also went three sets. There, Perry and Frost won over Nathan VanderLugt and Sam Pickens of Lakeshore 6-4, 1-6 and 6-1.
Preston Gump and Drake Harker came into the regional tournament as the top overall seed. They won with scores of 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round over Lakeshore’s Henry Lemon and Logan Bellinger. In the second round, Tyler VanderLugt and Jack Chapman of Otsego were no match for the Trojan duo with Gump and Harker winning 6-1 and 6-4. The finals matchup was against St. Joseph’s Elias Coar and Luke Murdoch. Sturgis dropped the opening set 6-1, but rebounded to win the next two at 6-1 and 6-2.
The Ians — Earl and Golden — won the regional title at fourth doubles. They beat Sawyer Kite and Connor Rugg, the top seed from Vicksburg, by scores of 6-2 and 6-3 in the finals. Prior to that, the Sturgis pair beat Lincoln Benson and Brayden Triemstra in the opening round 6-0, 6-0 and then rebounded to win in the next round. That’s because the Lakeshore team of Rishi Kapalura and Dante Mondardo won the opening set 6-0. The Ians responded by winning 6-4 and 6-3 in the next two sets.
Grady Miller walked to the regional title at fourth singles. He lost only four games on the day and was the top overall seed coming into the regional tournament. Miller beat Phoenix Orona of Otsego 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round before winning over Logan Schwenk of Vicksburg 6-1, 6-0 in the next round. In the finals, Miller upended Josh Tomlinson of Lakeshore with scores of 6-0 and 6-3.
Earning second place was Walter Ebert at first singles. He won his opening match over Elias Babler of Niles 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinals, Ebert has to come from a set down to win. He played Bhavesh Burramukku of St. Joseph and dropped the first set 6-2. Ebert then rebounded to win the next two at 7-6 (4) and 6-3. In the finals, Landon Coates of Lakeshore won with scores of 6-1 and 6-2.
George Ebert also claimed second place at second singles. He won in his first match over Jake Emenaker of Edwardsburg 6-1, 6-0 and also had to win in three sets during the semifinals. There, George beat Anirudh Ale of St. Joseph 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4 to reach the finals. Spencear Coates of Lakeshore would win the regional title in that match with scores of 6-0 and 6-1.
In third singles, Aidan Whitehead had his tournament ended by injury default after the first match. He beat Austin Susang of Plainwell with scores of 6-1 and 6-0, but failed to play in another match on the day. Whitehead was the top overall seed at third singles but could be ready to go when the Trojans play in the state finals.
The third doubles team of George Bucklin and Adam Barker had their day ended in the second round. They beat Tyler Hosang and Brandon Hosang of Edwardsburg by scores of 6-3, 2-6 and 6-1 in the opening round. In the second, they were upended by Lakeshore’s team of Andrew Wessendorf and Bergen Fischer by scores of 6-0 and 7-6 (5).
The Trojans will be playing in the Division 3 state finals. This year’s finals will be hosted by Mason High School, Haslett High School and East Lansing High School. On Friday, all four singles flights will take place at Mason High School. Haslett will play host to the first and second doubles flights on Friday while East Lansing will host the third and fourth doubles flights Friday. All finals flights will then be played on Saturday at Mason High School.
Missing out on the state finals were both St. Joseph and Vicksburg by a slim margin. Otsego, Niles, Edwardsburg and Plainwell also competed and missed the finals.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis tennis team returning to state finals
