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Westwood Patriots runners-up, Ishpeming 4th, Gwinn 5th at Upper Peninsula Division 2 tennis finals

KINGSFORD — West Iron County, with its senior-heavy roster, won every flight but one in dominating the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 boys tennis championships on Thursday afternoon at Kingsford High School.

The lone flight not won by the Wykons was at No. 1 doubles, claimed by Garrett Mann and Ryan LaFountain of runner-up Westwood. David Juul of Iron Mountain gave eventual No. 1 singles champ Nolan Anderson another of the best challenges to the Wykons, falling 6-4, 6-1.

Anderson, who lost only one match all season, was happy with winning U.P.’s as a senior.

“This is a good way to go out,” he said. “I have never won U.P.’s before. So I am glad I could do it.”

West Iron finished with 23 points, followed by Westwood with 13, host Iron Mountain in third with 10 points, Ishpeming with seven and Gwinn with three.

“You come into these type tournaments and every school has at least one strength throughout the flights,” veteran WIC head coach Joe Serbentas said. “We’ve been steady and deep throughout the lineup all season. We’ve never had as strong of a performance in the U.P.’s as we did today, as long as I have been coaching.”

That’s saying a lot. West Iron has won 13 finals championships in total, including seven under Serbentas’ leadership. The Wykons had most recently won in 2018, after two straight runner-up finishes and before finishing runner-up again in 2019. Last season was canceled due to COVID-19.

With 10 seniors, Serbentas expected his team to fare well again.

The Patriots had three runners-up, two of them in singles. Westwood No. 3 singles player Chase Prophet lost to WIC’s Alex Wickstrom 6-0, 6-1 in the finals, while No. 4 singles player Alex Adriano fell to the Wykons’ Drew Alexa in their final, 6-3, 6-3.

In doubles, the Pats’ No. 3 tandem of Zak Senske and Gabe Tossava fell to WIC’s Lucas Shovald and Colton Holm 7-5, 6-1.

Ishpeming had a single finalist — the No. 2 doubles duo of Logan Hurkmans and Ben Rubick lost 6-0, 6-0 to WIC’s Lucas Isaacson and Cole Alexa.

In addition to those other West Iron winners listed, Mitch Ballinger won at No. 2 singles and Justin Nelson and Andy Fredrickson at No. 4 doubles.

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