Blog Archives - West Ottawa Panther Tennis

C'MON!!!!!!!

4/30/2014

Total games West Ottawa won vs. Rockford: 29
Total games West Ottawa won vs. Hudsonville: 55

.....SOMEBODY'S GETTING BETTER:)

And today's special shout-out needs to go to 1 and 2 dubs. Makenna/Emily, that win was huge. Most impressively was that you got stronger and stronger as the match went on, and you did it with great emotional consistency. No highs or lows, just lots of solid tennis. Leah and Kelly, obviously we wanted the win, but you have to admit that battling Hudsonville 1 doubles to three sets showed great growth. I was more than a little impressed.

West Ottawa 7, Mona Shores 1

4/28/2014

Girls, this was another solid match today. I wanted to go into why I was so impressed after the match ended, but it was windy/cold and we can talk about it tomorrow. Although every did a nice job, here's a few flights that I think deserve special recognition today:

Makenna and Emily, winning 6-0, 6-0 in conditions this windy is very, very impressive. When the wind gets howling, you have to have perfect footwork every single game to get a score like that. Your score tells me that you never let up your focus/footwork for a single point. Well done.

Bethany, you were a bit sick today, and I was hesitant to even have you out there. However, you told me before the match that you wouldn't let being sick be an excuse for any kind of letdown, and you held your end of the deal. You never needed coaching or encouraging. The best way to handle being sick is to take care of business and get off the court, and you did that.

We are starting to play well on a more consistent basis. Keep it up, we will have another important practice tomorrow. Alright, see you tomorrow girls! -Coach

Saturday 5/3 Tournament at Holland High

4/27/2014

On Saturday, May 3, we are playing in a Holland High School Tournament. It was recently added and will be some good competition with schools from Cedar Springs, EK, FHE, Kalamazoo Central, Traverse City Central, Zeeland East and Holland. We will face most of these schools in our Conference and Regional Tournaments.

Items of importance:

1. ALL players report to the High School on 600 VanRaalte Ave. at a time TBD.
2. Players get themselves to schools
3. Play begins at 8:30 sharp
4. 1st, 2nd, 3rd singles & 1st and 2nd doubles will be at Holland High
4th singles & 3rd & 4th doubles will be at East K-7 School (373 E. 24th Street)
5. Play 2 out of 3 sets with a 10 point tie break for 3rd set

A food list will be added early in the week under Parent Central. The separate locations will be taken into account. Do not know at this point if everyone will convene at the Holland for championship matches.

West Ottawa Wins Caledonia Invitational

4/26/2014

Girls, thank you. The things we worked on this week are paying off. Thanks for wanting to improve so badly and for doing what it takes to get better. Congrats to all the girls who took first place at their flight today!!! These were important wins.

As a team, you are now 43-35 on the season in individual matches. You are now playing like a winning team, and the results are reflecting that. If you want to see your individual results, click on the results tab and check them out.

Special props to Kelly Burns and Susan Fender. You both improved tremendously as players today. You both worked hard to play the right way, and it showed. It was a lot of fun to coach both of you through your matches and watch you get stronger and stronger. Kelly, in my opinion you are now a true #1. You've got the strokes, you know how to use them, and you've got the attitude. Susan, I believe you are on the verge of being a force at #3 singles. Every match you are becoming a less fun person to have to play!

Special props to Coach Dirk for stepping in and helping coach the doubles. It gives me confidence when I'm at the other site to know that you are there. Julia, thanks for driving. Parents, thanks for such great food and for being entertaining company all day long. Whoever made those those scotcheroos bars, please don't bring them anymore...they are way too good and I eat too many:)

Coach Cramer (my coach when I played at Coopersville), if you are are reading this blog, thanks for all you continue to do for Coopersville. When you took over that program we could hardly get enough players to make a team, much less compete in matches. Today you've got over 40 girls out there, you are beating good competition, and you are competing for conference titles. It was obvious that the girls and parents are very appreciative of you, and it's easy to see why.

Everyone enjoy your Saturday night and Sunday. I'll see you in a couple days for more matches!!!

-Coach

FOREST HILLS DOUBLE DUEL

4/24/2014

Girls, I'm proud of you. Today was without a doubt the best we have performed as a team. Forest Hills Eastern is one of the best programs in the State. Currently, FHE is ranked 4th in the State of Michigan in Division 3. You beat a very solid team. More importantly, you did it by playing very smart tennis. You are improving SO FAST!!!

Obviously, all of our wins today were huge, but I think a special congrats needs to go to Susan, Annika, and Rachel. Susan, this was obviously a big win for you today, and I saw you turning into the type of competitor that can seriously contend at the Conference and Regional tournaments. Rachel and Annika, I hope you know how big your win against Forest Hills Northern was. They hold 50% of the Division 2 State Titles since 2000, and their strength is their doubles. And they weren't playing badly, you girls just went out there and beat them.

Reminder to everyone to bring their gear for team pictures tomorrow. We will be wearing our uniforms. See you at practice, then party at the VanDyne's!!!!!

Coach Schwallier

Caledonia Tournament

4/23/2014

The Caledonia tournament on Saturday begins at 9am. Matches will take place at the high school and middle school. We will have one central location and tent at the high school. Everyone will play 3 matches with no add scoring and super tie-breaker for 3rd set. The schools involved are Caledonia, Coopersville, Wayland, Mona Shores and WO. Caledonia and Mona Shores (who we play Monday) are in our Regional tournament in May. Coopersville is where Pete played and coached before coming to WO! Please see the food list under Parent Central for your assignment. The girls will decide on the departure time tomorrow.

Go WO!

MacBay 7.5 Holland 2

4/23/2014

Singles
1. Travis Bethke W 6-0,6-1   vs. Thad LeFebre
2. Dominic Aquino W 6-7(3-7), 6-0   (10-7) vs. Jack Kalman

Doubles
1. Michael Hoffman/Isaac VanDyke W 3-6, 6-1 (10-5) vs. Sam Accardo/Grant Hofland
2. Matthew Morow/Jordan Crook W 4-6, 6-4 (10-6) vs. Sean O'Keefe/Ezra Jarzembowski
3. Tyler Zoerhoff/Derek Maas W 6-3, 6-1 vs. Bill Shearer/Will Ash

4. Tanner Drain/Joey Tomcala W 8-3 vs. Eljah Babinski/Taylor Austin
5. Jared Andrews/Max Magliozzi W 8-4 vs. Josue Ponce/Manuel Barajas
6. Michael Weed/Nathan Overbeek W 8-5 vs. Will Hescott/Will Mallakowski
7. Willie Shinal/Ryan Bowker L 6-8 vs. Christian Krimendahl/Donovan Lance
8.Tyler Pilger/Sebastian Reinink W 8-3 vs. Manny Silva-Lopez/Christian Bigelow
9.Raymond Abbaduska/Alec Behrendt W 8-5 vs. Daniel Perez/Collin Price
10. Julio DelReo/Alexander Carpenter L 0-8
11. Singles Tyler VanderJaq   L 7-8 vs. Elijah Babinski

HOWIE!!! Wow super job today!!! Conditions a bit breezy :) but you all played very smart and didn't cut the lines too sharp!!!
Dominic, Michael H., Isaac, Matthew & Jordan way to pull it out in the super tie-breaker!!! That is not always easy, as truly EVERY point counts.
Don't forget guys ALWAYS be ready at the net - rackets up and be ready for EVERY ball to come your way!!! Serving is really coming along nicely.
You all are really coming along so nicely - Holland's coach gave you ALL such a nice complement in that "your boys are such a nice group and really seem to enjoy the game!"
Keep up the good work!
Coach "C"urtin

Harbor Lights defeats Holland Christian

4/23/2014

1st Singles-Sam Duckworth(L)0-6,1-6
2nd Singles-Drew Dykens(W)7-6(7-5 in tiebreaker)6-4
1st Doubles-Matt Cox and Drew Pedersen(W)6-0,6-0
2nd Doubles-Danny deForest and Jon Hofmeyer(W)6-0,6-2
3rd Doubles-Collin Robbins and Tucker Fritz(W)6-1,6-2
4th Doubles-Mike Walsh and Nick Wehrmeyer(W)6-0
5th Doubles-Sam Gruenler and Sean Seguin(W)6-0
6th Doubles-Braden Book and Brendan Stoel(W)6-2
7th Doubles-Taylor Auby and Aaron Weimer(W)6-2
8th Doubles-Daniel Mauger and Kyle Wiersma(W)6-0
9th Doubles-Brennar Schopp and Paul Stryker(W)6-3
10th Doubles-Branden Beltman and Brendan Lee(W)6-4
11th Doubles-Axel Perez and Andrew Sihavong(L)4-6
12th Doubles-Logan Chavez and Cody Wiersma(L) 4-6
13th Doubles-Nolan Briggs and Christian Rottier(L)5-6
14th Doubles-David Stanley and Matt Wiemer(L)2-6

Comments-A very solid day for Harbor Lights.Much IMPROVED play by ALL players today.Even our lower doubles groups won some games and made things interesting with IMPROVED play and doing the little things BETTER-getting more serves in,extending the vollies longer,and better COMMUNICATION w/their partners.Just a quick TIP to you guys-if a ball is going to be OUT,let it go so we can WIN the point.Too many shots that were hit LONG by the opposing team need to be left to go OUT so we can WIN the point.Highlights of today were Sam Duckworth winning a game versus Ryan Rhodes at 1 Singles and getting some confidence going into the rematch and Drew Dykens winning a thriller versus Robert Frieling at 2 Singles 7-6(7-5) and coming way back from an 0-4 hole in the 2nd set and winning 6-4 in straight sets in a match that took 1 1/2 hrs and ended at 6PM w/everyone else done.It was also great to see my 13th Doubles team of Nolan Briggs and Christian Rottier play a great competitive match only losing 5-6 and really improved both of their games.Also I was very proud of how well my 14th Doubles team of David Stanley and Matt Weimer played despite losing 2-6.Their match had a lot of long vollies,nicely placed shots,and to win a couple games is huge for these 2 guys and will give them some confidence and momentum going into our next match.Great job all of you guys! More match play coming up to keep you guys on your toes with my goal to pair you against playing better people to push you to match their game and help you improve.
***NOTE-Prosets for today were reduced to winning 6 games versus 8 games due to Holland Chr. having only 12 players.This was a joint decision we as coaches made to make sure ALL the WO kids could get their matches in.When we play them the second time at our place it will be an 8 game proset(unless we run short on time near the end)
Thanks and Great Job AGAIN!!!! Coach Dykens

WEST OTTAWA 4, GRANDVILLE 4

4/16/2014

Girls, it was a good match today. It's hard to play in the wind, and I thought you adapted very well as the match went on. Should be a beautiful day tomorrow, let's have a good practice! A reminder that if you ever want to check out scores from your season, go to to women's varsity and choose the results tab. I usually have them uploaded sometime before I go to bed. Thanks for working hard and I'll see you tomorrow. -Coach

Forest Hills Update

4/15/2014

The Forest Hills match has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 24. Students will be released from class after 5th hour and leave transportation at 2pm and head to Forest Hills Eastern (2200 Pettis Ave NE, Ada 49301). We play FHE then head to Forest Hills Northern (3801 Leonard St. NE, GR 49525) to play them. Super tie-breakers will be played instead of 3rd sets to move matches along. Expect players to be home close to dark.

For our away matches, players and drivers will meet at the WO Transportation Office where they will take vans to the schools.

See you at Grandville on Wednesday! Go WO!