Dow took 4th in the Sturgis Invitational on Thursday, earning 13 points, finishing 1 point out of third place. Dow finished with three flights in the finals which resulted in one champion (4D) and two runner ups(4S and 3D). Dow next plays SVL opponent Bay City Western Wed of next week.
Coach Terry Schwartzkopf: “Essentially, I think the finish is a good representation of where we are. We are still not full strength as we are waiting on Joaco to heal and we have seven players whom are still learning the program and getting used to varsity. Ann Arbor Greenhills and Cranbrook are perennial powers and they showed that today. However, in many of those matches we played them very close and even took a few from them. Of the 11 losses suffered today as a team…8 were from those two schools. Our position on the day is a direct result of the draws as we were 4-1 in direct matches against the team who placed third above us. We learned a lot about where we are and what to work on. Special call out to Austin King who battled all day long and played three players who were all seeded in last years state tournament, losing to the 1 seed, to the 4th seed 10-8 in the third, and beating the 8th seed. Also, congrats to our four doubles team of Michael McGaugh and Jonathan Song for winning their flight and Logan Yu for pulling out what most considered the biggest upset of the tournament with his win over Greenhills. Extremely proud of this team.