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Westwood netters top Marquette, Munising ties Gladstone

MARQUETTE — The Upper Peninsula Finals are quickly approaching and the Westwood boys tennis team seems to be hitting its stride at the right time.

The Patriots took down Marquette 7-1 Thursday and swept all four of the doubles matches as they improved their record to 7-2-1.

In the singles competition, the most competitive match took place at the No. 4 slot where Westwood’s Austin Brewer outlasted Jack Franchino in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 7-5). Fellow Patriots Anthony Couveau (No. 2) and Matt Paavo (No. 3) won their matches in two sets.

Over on the doubles side, the Patriots’ Dylan Willey and Jared LeRoy were in a dogfight with Marquette’s Mitchell Connon and Trevor Lewis in the No. 1 slot. The match went to three sets before Willey and LeRoy prevailed (6-2, 2-6, 7-6).

“Dylan and Jared found another gear after losing the second set and being down in the third,” Patriots head coach Chris Jackson said. “This was a big confidence booster.”

Westwood won the other three doubles matches in two sets.

Marquette’s lone win came at No. 1 singles where Alec Olivier emerged victorious in two sets (6-0, 6-0).

Jackson praised Olivier after watching him play in person.

“Alec is amazing and I hope he inspires others to play the game at a high level,” Jackson said. “I have never seen a player dominate the game like he does.”

Both Westwood and Marquette will compete in the Negaunee Invitational Saturday.

Munising 4, Gladstone 4

At Gladstone, the Mustangs swept all four doubles matches to force a tie with the Braves.

The Munising tandem of Landon Peters and Eli Werner won at No. 1 doubles, 6-0, 6-1 over Gladstone’s Tyler Barteld and Colby Torvinen, while the Mustangs’ Nick Miles and Russ Holloway topped Ethan Dawson and Peter Noblet 6-3, 6-2. Bryce Bowerman and Bailey Masters won at No. 3 for Munising and the tandem of Ryan Pond and Jordan Humphrey notched a victory at No. 4 doubles.

“We were solid in doubles and Landon and Eli came ready and focused and put together a quality match,” Mustangs head coach Rod Gendron said. “We communicated a little better today and thus, covered the court well.”

Munising was missing its No. 1 singles player and were also short a player so it had to forfeit the No. 4 match. Still, Gendron was happy with how his team performed considering the situation it was put in.

“Cade (Contreras) played his first ever varsity singles match and he served well and moved well,” Gendron said. “In the end, Gladstone just had a little too much experience for our bumped-up lineup, but I liked the way they competed at higher levels than they normally play. They fought to the end and they didn’t give up.”

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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