MARQUETTE — Marquette met Kingsford in the championship match in a majority of the flights at the Great Northern Conference boys tennis tournament held at the Sentinels’ court on Tuesday.

And Marquette won three of the five finals when they clashed with the Flivvers, just enough to pull out the conference meet title.

Altogether, the Sentinels won five flights en route to scoring 36 points, just three points ahead of runner-up Kingsford’s 33.

Escanaba, the only other school to have a finalist, was third with 21 points, while West Iron County had 16, Gladstone 8 and Munising 5. Menominee didn’t field a boys tennis team this spring.

WIC and Munising aren’t regular members of the GNC, but the conference has allowed them to participate as WIC’s West PAC and the Mustangs’ Skyline Central Conference don’t have a championship tourney.

“Coming into the meet, I knew it was going to be up in the air with all the talent in the GNC,” MSHS head coach Karl Thomsen said in his emails detailing the meet. “I’m real proud of how our guys came in with a business-like attitude and played like it.

“All our doubles teams played great … with us being able to capture three titles.”

With Marquette making seven of the eight finals, the Sentinels won three doubles titles and two in singles.

“At No. 4 doubles, Bode Helman and Kane Bush are a couple of really sharp kids who had to make some adjustments late in the first set,” Thomsen said as the pair won 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 over Kingsford’s Clark Rob and Andy Yu in the finals. “Once they adjusted, they were able to ride the momentum to a nice victory.

“At No. 2 doubles, Lucas Belkowski and Conner Henry had some hiccups in the first set, but the fundamentals came back around in the second set,” the Marquette coach said as they won 7-5, 6-0 over Escanaba’s Adam Prey and Cayden Fulsher in their final. “The positive there is even when they aren’t at their best, their athleticism and competitiveness takes over until the ship can get righted. I’ll take that (kind of) heart every day of the week.

“Our No. 3 doubles team had a mission mindset and they did just that,” Thomsen said of Connor Dunn and Winston Leonard winning 6-1, 6-1 over the Eskymos’ Loic Fletcher and Logan Stephens in their ultimate match.

“The same thing can be said about Elan Chu at No. 4 singles,” he added as Chu won 6-4, 6-3 over Kingsford’s Fletcher Hulkonen in that final. “He has been consistent all year and continued that trend (Tuesday).

“Chase Thomsen showed a lot perseverance … as he had to weather the storm in the first set,” the coach said of the Sentinels’ No. 1 singles player winning 6-4, 7-5 over the Flivvers’ Gavin Moore in the title match. “Once he got his feet under him, he began to hit the ball like we know he can.”

Marquette had another pair of finalists, too. At No. 2 singles, Kingsford’s Landon Adam defeated the Sentinels’ Caden Laurn 6-2, 6-2 in the finals, while at No. 3 singles, the Flivvers’ Evan Grymes outlasted Marquette’s Brady Janofski in their final, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.

In the only championship match missing a Marquette competitor, No. 1 doubles, Kingsford’s Isaac LeBouef and Jacob Crockford downed Escanaba’s Alex Morgan and Andrew Lord, 6-3, 6-4.

“Based on (Tuesday), and throw Westwood and Negaunee into the mix, next week’s Upper Peninsula Finals is shaping up to be quite an event,” Thomsen said.

The MHSAA U.P. Division 1 finals includes the regular members of the GNC — Marquette, Escanaba, Gladstone and Kingsford — along with the Miners and Patriots, which were the top two finishers at the Mid-Peninsula Conference meet held the same day as the GNC.

The D-1 Finals are set for Escanaba at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Story contents based on email received from MSHS head coach Karl Thomsen. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.