By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
On April 28, the Whitewater High School boys tennis team faced Watertown Luther Prep at home and lost, 6-1. Whippets head coach Alex Mory said the match was in cold conditions and it was a tough match that showed the team had great perseverance.
“The final score was 6-1, with our lone win coming with Brodie Runez at No. 1 singles,” Mory said. “Runez played a very steady player, but with his usual aggressive tennis playing, was able to withstand and defeat him, 6-4, 6-3. At No. 3 singles, Dineth Gunawardena played a mirror image of himself against a very steady player with very long points.
“The first set was a dogfight and ended 7-6 to Watertown, and eventually Dineth just lost the steam and the second set, 6-2, but it was a very entertaining match to watch. The Whippets played well and showed they can hang with the top teams once again and they are growing through every match they play.”
No individual or duo in doubles for Whitewater lost without taking at least two games. Gunawardena was the only player to force a third set.
The team was 3-3 overall after the loss heading into its next match, which was supposed to be a quadrangular invite on April 30, but turned into just one match against Wilmot due to weather conditions causing the rest of the matches to be delayed.
“The Whippets played Wilmot in the first round and came out with the win while our No. 4 singles player, Cole Kinson, had yet to finish his match,” Mory said.
Runez won his No. 1 singles match, 6-3, 6-3. In No. 2 singles, Jan Maroske won his match on a forfeit. In No. 3 singles, Gunawardena won his match, 6-1, 6-0.
In doubles, Wilmot won both No. 1 and No. 3 matches, but No. 2 doubles went the Whippets’ way. Mitch Dalzin and Justin Brantmeier won, 6-4, 7-5.
The team’s next match came against a conference foe, East Troy, on May 2 on the road. Despite not being at home, the Whippets ended its week with a 4-3 victory thanks to its doubles teams.
In the four singles matches, only Runez won, 6-1, 6-3. In No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles, East Troy won each of its matches in two sets, with Gunawardena putting up the best fight, losing 7-5, 7-5.
“Our doubles looked strong as all three doubles matches took the wins for the Whippets,” Mory said. “No. 1 doubles Mitch Dalzin and Nathaniel Jepson showed their aggressive doubles style while attacking many balls and coming up with a 6-3, 6-2 win. No. 2 doubles team of Devin Samaranayake and Griffin Nathan started a bit slower but found their groove and defeated East Troy with a 6-3, 6-0 win.
“The drama came down to our No. 3 doubles team of Michael Fernandez and Justin Brantmeier. While losing the first set, 2-6, they realized they had to come up with something special in the second. They started to move much better, be aggressive at the net and with some monstrous first serves from Justin Brantmeier followed by aggressive play from Michael Fernandez, they prevailed, 6-3, 10-7 in a third set super tiebreaker to solidify the win.”
The team is now 5-3 overall in 2016.
