Going into regionals on May 19, the Clarkston tennis team is definitely flying under the radar.
‘We want to be emotionally ready to play (at regionals). This week is about getting crisp and maintaining our good play from the weekend. Hopefully we can pull some upsets,? said Clarkston Coach Chaz Claus.
While the team posted a pedestrian 4-4-1 record in dual meets this year, they made a dramatic improvement over last year’s team which went 1-7.
Claus has also been heartened by the team’s play as of late. The Wolves finished fifth in the OAA division II league tournament on May 12, which netted them fourth place overall in the league.
‘I was reasonably pleased with our play at the league tournament. We won a couple of matches I didn’t expect we would and we lost a couple I thought we would win,? said Claus.
Senior Amit Surapaneni won two matches in the number one singles flight at the league tournament. The Wolves were also buoyed by the play of their number one doubles pairing: sophomore Chris Graczyk and junior Pat McIlrath and number two doubles pairing: senior duo Paul Chun and Paul Gunckle as both tandems were defeated in the championship match. All of Clarkston’s doubles tandems won at least one match at the league tournament.
Rochester Adams won the league tournament with 14 points followed by Farmington (12 points) and Troy Athens (10 points); Clarkston scored 4.5 on the day.
The Wolves were also able to squeeze one more tournament in prior to the start of regionals? on May 14 the team took part in the Holly tournament.
‘The Holly tournament went real well. We had wins in every flight,? said Claus.
Clarkston finished fourth out of eight teams at Holly. Grosse Pointe North and Midland tied for first place, with host Holly placing third.
Rochester schools are hosting the regional tournament on May 19 with matches starting at 9 a.m. and being played at both Stoney Creek and Rochester High School.