Williamston Tennis

The Williamston High School boys’ tennis team has started their season with a series of strong performances.  The Hornet’s are 5-0 in dual matches, have won two four team invitational matches, and finished second and fourth in two eight team invitationals.  “This is a strong team,” said varsity coach Phil Brillantes.  “Most of the guys spent their summers working on their tennis games and it shows.  There is a lot of work to do still if we are to reach our potential, but the first two weeks have given us a solid start.”

The first week was spent determining the line up as the players vied for either a singles or doubles flight position.  The week ended with Peter Sienko playing number one singles, Bret Graham at two, Nathan Fedewa at three and Benno Pueppke at number four singles.  The doubles line up was lead by Ben Taylor and Kyle Bartrem at one doubles, Zach Frenzel and Scott Bennett at number two, Andrew Hall and Andy Johnson at three and E.J. VanAllsburg and Scott Evans at number four doubles.  These twelve guys traveled to Petosky for a tournament with Elk Rapids, Harbor Springs, Saginaw Nouvel and Williamston.  The Hornets carried home the first place trophy with 22 points.  The Hornets brought home championship medals in all the flights except one and three singles.  The only negative to come out of the day was a hamstring injury to Peter that forced him to retire from his match with Elk Rapids and miss the next two weeks of the season.

The injury to Peter forced a reshuffling of the singles line up.  The line up representing the Hornets in the Williamston Invitational on August 21, put Bret Graham at one singles, Nathan Fedewa at two, Benno Pueppke at three and Ryan McGuire at four singles.  The match was very close.  In the end, all three teams tied each other with four wins and four loses.  The Hornets were able to secure the championship when the number of game losses were counted the Hornets had lost the fewest games as a team.

With Peter’s continuing absence the Hornets had to reshuffle the line up again.  “We had several matches approaching against teams we might see in either Regional, and if we work hard, State final competitions and I wanted to try to keep our players in the flights they would be in when Peter returns,” said Coach Brillantes.  The line up that represented the Hornets in Kalamazoo at the Parchment Invitational shifted Ryan McGuire and Benno Pueppke out of the singles line up and into the four doubles flight.  The Parchment Invitational included a division two school, in Lowell and several teams that qualified for state finals the previous season.  The Hornets finished fourth behind Lowell, Essexville-Garber and three points behind Traverse City St. Francis.  Placing second in their flights were Scott Bennett and Zach Frenzel at two doubles, Andrew Hall and Andy Johnson at number three doubles.  Placing third in the eight team field were Ben Taylor and Kyle Bartrem at number one doubles and Ryan McGuire and Benno Pueppke at number four doubles.

The Hornets completed the two week opening season schedule by traveling to Haslett for an invitational against another eight teams.  The Williamston squad finished a disappointing second behind host team Haslett.  “You always learn more from your losses than you do from your wins,” said junior varsity coach Steve Stanley.  “Some of the flights played really well in the early rounds and then just broke down as the day progressed.  These guys will work hard in practice and learn how to maintain their intensity during a long day of tennis.  This team has shown the coaches they know how to win, they just have to work on their mental discipline so they can maintain winning strategies and tactics through several tough matches,” he concluded.

WHS Boy's Tennis Team

Photo credit:  Jenn Johnson
Photo id:  Front row from left:  Andrew Hall, Billy Schlenke, Nathan Fedewa, Coach Brillantes
Back row: Andy Johnson, Zach Frenzel, Kyle Bartrem, Bret Graham, Benno Pueppke, Scott Bennett, Ben Taylor, E.J. VanAllsburg