By BUTCH HARMON
The Lansing Catholic boys tennis team turned in a solid season this fall, capped by a top-five finish at the Division 4 state finals. The Cougars totaled 14 points to tie for fifth place at the meet that was won by Ann Arbor Greenhills.
“I thought that we performed as well as we could,” coach Ron Landfair said. “The guys played hard, and I’m very proud of them. They are a good group of guys who play the game the right way.”
The state meet capped a season that saw the Cougars win both a conference title and a regional title for the second consecutive year and for the third time in the past four years.
The highlight of the finals came at No. 1 singles, where senior Matt Heeder met Nick Solarewicz of Grand Rapids West Catholic in a rematch of last year’s state championship match. Heeder won last year’s title, but this time, Solarewicz came away from one of the best matches of the tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
“They both came out throwing bombs at each other,” Landfair said. “It was like Ali/Frazier matches, with two champions going head to head. You don’t get those too often. They were out there throwing haymakers. They asked no quarter and gave no quarter. They played hard all the way through.”
Two other Cougars singles players made it to the quarterfinals, Chris Heeder at No. 2 and James Davison at No. 4. In doubles action, the No. 1 team of Matt De Le Fe and Ben Clark reached the quarterfinal round as did the No. 4 team of Brent Smith and Matt Phelps.
This year’s squad had a number of seniors. Even so, Landfair expects the Cougars to be back in the thick of things next season. “We had a lot of seniors in the lineup, but at the same time, we had six guys who had not started before,” Landfair said. “We will return five players next year, and we have four of five guys on the jv who are ready to step up. We will also have three incoming freshmen who are very experienced players that we are looking to help us. I’m excited about next year’s season.”