By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater boys tennis team was in action two different days this past week with a triangular meet taking place on April 16. The team faced Black River Falls and Sauk Prairie in Sauk Prairie.
Without its No. 1 singles player, head coach Alex Mory was proud of how the team performed during the entire day.
“The Whippets did a great job and showed great heart throughout the two matches and played very well,” Mory said. “Our first match was against Black River Falls. Without our No. 1 singles player, Brodie Runez, everyone had to step up to the challenge and indeed they did. Our No. 1 doubles team of Nathaniel Jeppsen and Mitch Dalzin rolled through their match 6-1, 6-0 and our No. 2 doubles team of Griffin Nathan and Devin Samaranayake won convincingly without dropping a single game 6-0, 6-0.”
Mory talked about the rest of his team and how they performed, and the meet came down to the final singles match, between No. 4 singles players, to decide the final outcome. The Whippets won the three doubles matches while Black River Falls won the first three singles matches.
In that fourth singles match, Whitewater’s Jon Brunner won the first set, 6-1, and then fought off a tougher second set comeback attempt, winning, 7-5. The Whippets defeated Black River Falls, 4-3.
Later that day, the team faced Sauk Prairie, a Division 2 team that was recently in Division 1. Mory talked about how Sauk Prairie came out firing on all cylinders and was just too much at certain points.
All but one of the Whippets’ players took at least two games during their matches against Sauk Prairie opponents, but lost the overall meet, 7-0. Two days later, the team hit the road again, this time facing Edgerton.
The Whippets got Runez back at No. 1 singles and he delivered by winning his match, 6-2, 6-1. Mory said the Whippets showed resilience and battled back in all positions, eventually winning its conference-opener, 5-2.
Jan Maroske won his No. 2 singles match, 6-2, 6-3 and Dineth Gunawardena won his No. 3 singles match, 6-4, 6-4. In doubles, the top-two teams for Whitewater took care of business as Dalzin and Jeppsen won their match, 7-5, 6-4 and the duo of Nathan and Samaranayake won their match, 6-2, 6-2.
The Whippets’ next match begins at 4:30 p.m. on April 25 on the road against McFarland.
