MENOMINEE — West Iron County ended a Great Northern Conference boys tennis dry spell Thursday.

The Wykons chalked up 43 points to win their first GNC boys tennis title since 1986, according to WIC Coach Joe Serbentas.

“I told the guys before the tournament that it would be nice to get out of this drought,” Serbentas said. “They took it to heart and performed well.”

Kingsford and Escanaba tied for second at 34 points.

“Overall, I’m very proud of a tie with Escanaba,” said Kingsford coach John VanDusen, noting a 7-1 loss to the Eskymos this season.

Munising, with 22 points, finished third, followed by Marquette with 21 and Menominee with 12.

“I knew we were capable and we have a deep team,” Serbentas said of his Wykons, unbeaten in dual matches this season.

The Wykons won five GNC flights — No. 2 singles with unbeaten Neil Tomasoski, No. 4 singles with freshman Mitch Ballinger, No. 2 doubles with Tyler McCarthy-James Swanson, No. 3 doubles with Steven Nelson-Caden Pellizzer ad No. 4 doubles with Nolan Anderson-Drew Hebert.

“Our No. 4 singles and No. 4 doubles did a great job,” Serbentas said. “I’m surprised to some degree but I thought they were capable.”

Kingsford’s Daunte Fortner and Tyler Beauchamp beat WIC’s Brandon Henschel and Kevin Ballinger 6-1, 6-3 for the No. 1 doubles crown. They recently played a three-set match.

“We played Munising for the first time,” VanDusen said. “They gave us some fits and took our one doubles to three sets. Daunte and Tyler turned up the heat against West Iron.”

The Wykons had thirds from No. 1 singles Holden Ross and No. 3 singles Bernie Forte.

Ross lost in the semifinals to Kingsford’s Brett Hicks, who bowed in the finals to defending champion Alec Olivier of Marquette.

The tournament was held inside at the Marinette Civic Center along with the Menominee High School and Water Tower Park outdoor courts.

Smith and Kopp rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the first set against Munising and came back to tie it 6-6. They were down in the tiebreaker 6-3 and ended up winning 9-7.

“That didn’t break Munising’s will,” VanDusen said. “They still won three games in the second set, but Kopp and Smith held on to win 6-3.”

Taff and Strong lost their first set of the day to Marquette. They came back to beat the Redmen in three sets. They also went three sets with Escanaba to pull out a win.

“Travis and Preston had a great day of tennis,” said VanDusen, noting a loss in the finals to the Wykons.

The U.P. Finals will be held Wednesday, with Division 1 at Kingsford and Division 2 at Westwood.