MARQUETTE — Considering the opposition, a tie doesn’t seem like such a bad thing for the Marquette Senior High School boys tennis team when the Redmen hosted Escanaba on Monday.

The teams finished knotted 4-4, but Esky has been proving its mettle this spring after first tying undefeated Negaunee on Thursday, then losing to the powerful Miners by just two points at the Kingsford Invitational on Saturday.

Marquette won three flights at singles, while Esky did the same in doubles. Despite how close the entire meet was, none of the individual matches went to a third set.

The Redmen’s singles wins came at No. 2, where Connor Johnson felled Shaun Beauchamp 6-1, 6-3; at No. 3, when Beau Belkowski downed Connor Smale 6-0, 6-1; and at No. 4, where Justin Andray zipped past Samuel Rivera 6-0, 6-2.

MSHS also got a victory at No. 3 doubles as Matt Barsch and Brian Belkowski got a 6-2, 6-1 win over Brad Roberts and Trevor Mathieson.

The Redmen had two rather close losses. At No. 1 singles, Esky’s Viktor Pospisil snuck past Nick Olivier 7-6, 6-3, while at No. 4 doubles, the Eskymos’ Cayden Lyykki and Parker LaFond slipped around Liam McFarren and Andrew King 7-5, 6-3.

Marquette gets back on the courts this afternoon with a match at West Iron County, then hosts Westwood on Thursday.

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Negaunee 8, Westwood 0

On Monday at Westwood, the Miners were pushed to a third set at two flights but emerged unscathed to run their record to 11-0-1, the only blemish a tie vs. Escanaba last week.

At No. 4 singles, Negaunee’s Mick Kumpula was pushed to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Alex Adriano, while at No. 3 doubles, the Miners’ Zack Brundage and James Dank held off Gabe Tossava and Zak Senske 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

NHS coach Kyle Saari also mentioned No. 4 doubles player Brayden Oglesby, who paired with Nathan Marcotte for a 6-1, 6-0 win over Patrick Klumpp and Mason Hietikko.

“This was Zack (Brundage) and Braydon’s first day back in the lineup and both adjusted pretty well,” Saari said. “Zack was without his partner, but James Dank has stepped up with different people at (Nos.) 3 and 4 doubles, and did so again.

“Braydon and Nate’s strengths fit well together, and should give us a good option with some experience at (No.) 4 doubles.”

One other match included an end-of-set tiebreaker when Negaunee’s Nick Jacobetti and Preston Toutant earned a No. 1 doubles victory with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over Ryan LaFountain and Garrett Mann.

Outside the three most contested matches, Negaunee lost a total of six games combined at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles and No. 2 and 4 doubles.

The Miners are scheduled to play at Iron Mountain this afternoon.

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