However, the Ishpeming and Gwinn boys tennis teams put forth a pretty good match Tuesday afternoon with the squads finishing in a 4-4 deadlock. The Modeltowners took all the singles matches, while the Hematites won all the doubles.

The match ultimately came down to the No. 2 doubles match as Gwinn held a 4-3 lead in flights won. However, the Ishpeming team of Drake Asgaard and Otto Swanson outlasted Gwinn’s John Deatrick and Alex Rautio in a competitive three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

“Either we were going to tie or we were going to win and that’s OK,” Modeltowners head coach Dan Turecky said. “Our singles won and they won doubles. So it worked out pretty evenly. That is the thing about tennis. Sometimes the score doesn’t indicate how good of a match it was or how close it was. So when you have those three-setters, it shows it was a close one.”

In singles, the Modeltowners’ Jacob Porubsky (No. 1) and Jared Rowland (No. 2) both won their matches in two sets, while Mason Bockert (No. 3) and Chris Sirois (No. 4) didn’t lose a game as each won 6-0, 6-0.

Gwinn’s Jacob Porubsky hits in a No. 1 singles match at a high school tennis meet held at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Tuesday afternoon. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

“Our singles are really playing well,” Turecky said. “That’s our strength this year. Our doubles are young and we’ve had some challenges, but for singles, we’re doing well.”

“I think we’re starting to peak now. We have one more match against Iron Mountain and then (Mid-Peninsula Conference meet and Upper Peninsula finals). I think we’re going to finish strong.”

In doubles, things went better for the Hematites. Ishpeming’s Joey King and Drake Sundberg won at No. 1 (6-4, 6-1), Kyle Ericson and Tyler Larson took No. 3 (6-1, 6-4) and Landen Kiviniemi and Beau Mager won No. 4 by default.

“We lost a lot of experience this year and with the weather, we haven’t got the court time that we’ve needed, but hopefully, the kids out there are having fun,” Hematites head coach Erl Langness said.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.