By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
The Allegan girls tennis team served as host of the Tiger Duals on Saturday, May 4, welcoming Battle Creek Lakeview, Ludington and St. John’s to town.
The Tigers finished with a 1-2 record for the day, besting Ludington 5-3 and falling to Lakeview and St. John’s 5-3.
“It was a very competitive day with a lot of close matches,” Allegan coach Damien Arthur said. “We worked hard and put ourselves in position to potentially take a runner-up finish, but ultimately we fell to some very solid programs.”
Allegan finished third (11 points), with Lakeview securing the top spot (18 points) and St. John’s placing second (14 points). Ludington was fourth with five points.
“All in all, this was a good stepping stone to get us ready for our conference tournament,” Arthur said.
No. 4 singles Lilly Dame and No. 2 doubles Hanna Kievit/Taylor Fuller had the best showings for Allegan, winning their respective flights with 3-0 records.
Included in the wins by Kievit/Fuller was a 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 decision over Lakeview.
No. 1 doubles Ragan Meeter/Luna Ruiz also earned a three-set win over Lakeview, as they won 6-3, 2-6, 10-6. They went 2-1 overall—their other victory was a 7-5, 5-7, 10-6 decision over Ludington—to place runner-up.
No. 1 singles Addy Fales, No. 2 singles Bristyn Neldon and No. 3 doubles Ireland Dewey/Maidson Cook placed third in their respective flights with records of 1-2. Fales and Neldon each had one loss by default, as they were nursing injuries and coaches elected not to have them take any unnecessary risks.
Two days later, Allegan squared off with familiar foe Hamilton and suffered a 6-2 loss.
Wins for the Tigers came from Fales at No. 1 singles (6-1, 6-0) and Neldon at No. 2 singles (6-0, 6-3).
Hamilton got wins from No. 3 singles Natalie Grunst (6-2, 6-1), No. 4 singles Kenzie Eding (6-4, 5-7, 10-7), No. 1 doubles Joell Boeskoel/Haylie Peterman (6-4, 4-6, 10-6), No. 2 doubles Dani Wedeven/Drew VanHouten (7-6 (2), 6-2), No. 3 doubles Abby Atwood/Sophia Blauwkamp (6-2, 6-0) and No. 4 doubles Lydis Luess/Erin Kapenga (6-1, 6-0).
