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NEGAUNEE — For several years now, it seemed that one team — usually Negaunee — would dominate most any multi-team high school tennis meet held in the Upper Peninsula.

Maybe it’s because of the age of the coronavirus pandemic, or maybe it’s just the ebb and flow of the strength of various teams, but the Negaunee Invitational broke that trend of dominance and instead proved to be ultra competitive on Saturday.

The Miners “only” finished as runners-up by one point, 46-45, to West Iron County.

Marquette's Nick Olivier returns a serve during the No. 1 singles championship match on Saturday at the Negaunee Invitational Tournament boys tennis meet held in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Ryan Stieg)

And Escanaba was only four points out of the top spot with 42, while Marquette wasn’t much further behind at 39.

Gladstone was fifth with 21, Westwood had 19 and Kingsford 12.

Each of the top four schools won at least one flight, with the quartet together winning all eight flights.

“I don’t remember a tournament where there was so much parity heading into the finals,” Miners coach and tournament host Kyle Saari said. “We had four teams with four flights in the finals, and then it became a battle to the end.”

West Iron won championships at three flights, Negaunee and Escanaba two each and Marquette one.

“West Iron did a terrific job closing its matches out. It was razor-thin at the end, and their seniors showed some toughness,” Saari said. “Many brackets played true to their seed (Saturday), but days like (Saturday) help teach players how to handle their flight in the future.”

Negaunee claimed its championships at No. 1 singles and No. 4 doubles.

In singles, Miners No. 1 Will Luke opened with a bye before defeating WIC’s Nolan Anderson 6-2, 6-2, and in the finals, dropped Marquette’s Nick Olivier 6-0, 6-1.

“Will Luke has continued to improve seemingly each time out,” his coach said. “That’s a huge credit to him because he entered the year playing at a high level, too. He’s been laser focused each match.”

In doubles, Negaunee No. 4 Brayden Oglesby and Nathan Marcotte also opened with a bye, then downed the Redmen’s Liam McFarren and Andrew King 6-4, 6-2, and in the finals, dropped Escanaba’s Brayden Roberts and Joe Hubert 6-4, 6-2.

“Braydon and Nathan had a strong day at (No.) 4 doubles,” Saari said. “They fought off a few challenge matches in practice along the way and they’ve settled into their spot nicely.

“It’ll be a really exciting and interesting stretch run for the conference and U.P.’s. Today showed how even all of these teams are.”

Marquette picked up its championship at No. 4 singles with Jason Andary. He opened with a bye, then dropped Gladstone’s Lucas Hughes 6-0, 6-1 before fending off Negaunee’s Mick Kumpula 6-3, 6-4 in the finale.

In addition to Olivier and Kumpula, a number of other Negaunee and Marquette players also reached finals.

The Miners’ No. 1 doubles team of Preston Toutant and Nick Jacobetti advanced on a bye and won in the semifinals before falling to Escanaba’s Victor Pospisil and Ryan Moreau 6-1, 6-4 in their final.

For Marquette, No. 2 singles player Connor Johnson won a pair of earlier matches before losing to WIC’s Mitch Ballinger 6-2, 6-0 in that championship encounter.

And Redmen No. 3 singles player Beau Belkowski notched a pair of preliminary wins before losing a three-setter in the finals to WIC’s Alex Wickstrom, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Negaunee had three flights win a third-place match while Marquette had one.

Miners in third were No. 2 singles player Luke Syrjala, No. 3 singles player Corbin Marshall, and the No. 2 doubles duo of Gavin Saunders and James Thomson.

Marquette’s third-place finisher was its No. 3 doubles duo of Brian Belkowski and Matt Barsch.

Westwood had a pair of doubles teams win a first-round match before being eliminated.

The Patriots’ No. 1 doubles tandem of Garrett Mann and Ryan LaFountain defeated Gladstone’s Carter Hedman and Sam Sailer 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 before losing to the Miners’ Toutant and Jacobetti in one of the closest matches of the day, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Mann and LaFountain lost in their third-place match to a West Iron duo.

WHS No. 2 doubles pair of Bob Papp and Tony Misale defeated Gladstone’s Dragan Graham and Chad Britton 6-2, 6-3 before losing to Esky’s Isaac Makil and Dawson Williams 6-1, 6-1.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.