Coming into the regional tournament, Clarkston’s tennis team did not have the talent to win, but the Wolves made sure they were relevant by the end of the day.
Two Clarkston upsets of Brother Rice doubles in the second and third doubles flights allowed West Bloomfield to take the regional crown with a score of 28 points.
?(West Bloomfield and Brother Rice) are strong programs year in and year out. They are the cream of the crop and that’s what we are working towards,? said Clarkston Coach Chaz Claus.
Clarkston’s best win of the day came in the third doubles flight courtesy of senior Dan Osterhage and junior Zach McDonald, who posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory over their counterparts from Brother Rice.
‘Realistically, the three doubles settled (the regional). We kind of put Rice on the ropes,? said Claus.
Senior Paul Chun and sophomore Brett McMillen worked harder in the second double flight, but managed a come from behind victory against Rice in three sets.
Also picking up wins to help Clarkston tie for fourth place with 10 points were No.1 single senior Amit Surapaneni and No. 3 single Eric Maesch.
With the conclusion of the regional tournament, and the wolves missing the cut for states, the season is over, but Claus feels it was a success ? especially in terms of the future of the program.
‘We’ll be as deep next year as we were this year,? said Claus, who could return ten players from this year’s team.
This season saw a marked improvement in the Wolves record as they leapt up from a 1-7 mark a year ago to 4-4-1 this year.
One thing the Wolves will be lacking is a solid No.1 singles player, something they are losing in Surapaneni.
?(Surapaneni) might not have been able to hang with the elite players, but he knew what to do on the court. He needed very little coaching and he won a lot of matches for us,? said Claus. ‘As we sit right now, I don’t think we have a true No. 1 singles player. We’re going to have to see in the off season who works hard and develops.?