TRAVERSE CITY — The heat and winds at Traverse City West had zero effect on the rival Traverse City Central Trojans during Tuesday’s boys varsity tennis match.
The heat rose above 90 degrees with the winds picking up steam at the start of the matches, but the Trojans played through it in their 8-0 win against TC West.
“The conditions were challenging with the wind and the heat, so you always look to see if your guys are prepared and taking care of themselves physically,” TC Central head coach Casey Christensen said. “Anyone can play when the conditions are ideal, but when you can still find a way when it’s tough, that’s an impressive thing for us today.”
The Trojans collected wins in every flight, but the Titans held their own.
“All my boys fought all the way through,” TC West head coach Ed Bernard said. “We’re a young team that didn’t have a lot of players come back from last year. I’m pretty happy. I’d like better results, but I’m happy with what we were able to do.”
The Trojans’ Riley White defeated Jonah Arbuckle in one-singles (6-0, 6-1). The Titans’ Seth Munro made it a match against Central’s Alex Lamphier in two-singles, but Lamphier would come out on top (6-2, 6-1). Cody Wall defeated Edward Chan in three-singles (6-2, 6-2), and Henry Taylor took down Titans Carter Carroll in four-singles in three sets.
Christensen was pleased to see one-doubles junior Max Betten and senior team captain Alden King collect their ninth win this season.
“When they can find consistency, they’re both talented, and I like them against anyone when they are playing well,” Christensen said.
King and Betten didn’t let West’s Ryan Goodrich and Nathen Meyers collect a point. Meyers got bumped up from junior varsity to start at one-doubles for the day.
Betten wasn’t sure what to expect in his first varsity matchup against TC West, but it was what he’d hoped for.
“I haven’t gotten to experience this before, but it was pretty successful,” Betten said. “It was sort of effortless.”
Betten and King are doubles teammates for the first time this season and sit at 9-5 overall.
Central’s Caden Kowal and Sam Galoci made it a match against West’s Tucker Ballenger and Alex Pashchuk in three-doubles, but the Trojans collected the win.
Oliver Schrock and Drew Parson defeated Trey Stewart and Patrick Milne in four-doubles.
Bernard sees this season as one where his team can learn life lessons that come with losses. Bernard has been pleased with how the team handled themselves whenever they win or lose.
“My whole thing is making sure that the boys learn life lessons,” Bernard said. “Tennis is great, but we like to teach them the right way. No throwing racks or swearing on the court, making sure that they’re attentive to all things you’re supposed to be doing on the court because it is a gentleman’s game.”
The Trojans’ quest to defend the Big North Conference continues on Sept. 12 as they welcome Petoskey. Christensen doesn’t want his team to get ahead of themselves after defeating a BNC opponent.
“Petoskey is good this year, and they’re going to be good for the next few years,” Christensen said. “We are trying to get one match at a time and not look ahead.”
Christensen added that he doesn’t want his players to take anyone for granted, despite how well his team matched up against TC West.
“There’s a lot of speculation about how the match is going to play out, and I’m trying to just get them to be in the moment and focus on just playing the tennis that day. The results will take care of themselves,” Christensen said. “If you take a test like West, if you sleep on them, they’re going to make you pay — and so will Cadillac and Petoskey.”
TC Central hosts the Trojan Invitational on Friday, and the Titans travel to Petoskey on Thursday.