CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR April 23, 2013
Men's Tennis Falls to Hope in MIAA Final - Shares League Crown with Kalamazoo
and Hope
MEN'S TENNIS
Hope 6, Calvin 3
Story by Mitch Blankespoor
HOLLAND, MI - The Calvin men’s tennis team traveled to the DeWitt Tennis
Center on the campus of Hope College Tues. afternoon in search of an outright
MIAA men’s tennis championship. The Knights clinched a share of the title with
a 7-2 win over Albion on Apr. 19. Hope defeated Calvin 6-3 to clinch a share
of the MIAA title with Calvin and Kalamazoo.
The Flying Dutchmen jumped all over the Knights early on. Hope went up a
break in all three doubles flights early on, and won all three doubles flights.
Calvin seniors Preston Phillips (Bexley, OH/Bexley) and Phil Reinken (Morton,
IL/Morton) were defeated by Hope seniors Bobby Cawood (East Lansing/East
Lansing HS) and Gabe Casher (Ann Arbor/Pioneer) 8-2 at first doubles.
Calvin senior Brian DeMaagd (Grandville/Calvin Christian) and junior Loukus
Peterson (Brentwood, TN/Brentwood HS) fell to senior Jason Muller
(Petoskey/Petoskey HS) and junior Parker Bussies (Zeeland/Zeeland West) 8-3 at
second doubles.
Senior Jarrod Brower (Holland/Holland Christian) and junior John Strikwerda
(Holland/Holland Christian) were defeated by seniors Kyle Kreps
(Holland/Holland HS) and Davis Vander Veen (Clarkston/Clarkston HS) 8-4 at
third doubles.
“Usually whoever wins two of three or in this case all three doubles flights
is going to win the match,” Calvin head coach John Ross said in a post-game
interview.
Calvin needed to win five of the six singles flights to win the match. The
first singles match off the court was the second singles flights. Phillips
defeated Bussies 6-1, 6-3. Hope responded with a straight-set win of its own.
Cawood defeated DeMaagd 6-3, 6-1 at first singles.
The match-clinching flight came at sixth singles. Calvin sophomore Tom
Griffin (Elmhurst, IL/Elmhurst) fell behind a set, but battled back to force a
decisive third. Hope sophomore Jan Panzer (Rockford/Rockford HS) won the set
and won the match by scores of 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Hope also won at third singles.
Muller defeated Reinken 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Calvin won the final two flights. Peterson defeated Kreps 7-6 (2), 7-5 at
fourth singles while Brower defeated sophomore Cody Herbruck (Grand
Rapids/Forest Hills Eastern) 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 at fifth singles.
“There was a lot of pressure on us, but I give a ton of credit to Hope,” said
Ross. “They played very well.”
Calvin shares the MIAA title with Hope and Kalamazoo. The Hornets’ incredible
streak of 75 straight conference titles, dating back to 1936, continues.
Through a tiebreaker, Calvin gains the number-two seed for the MIAA Tournament
semifinals next Thursday while Hope is the third seed and Kalamazoo the
number-one seed. The fourth seed has not yet been determined. Calvin will host
Hope next Thursday in an MIAA Tournament semifinal match at 4 p.m.
Received on Tue Apr 23 22:41:02 2013
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