When West Ottawa’s Trevyn Bethke started the tennis season, he could barely lift his arm.
Bethke tore his labrum while playing the week before tryouts.
It was painful and forced Bethke to change the way he played. He was able to find a way to serve underhand all season and didn’t let that stop him.
Despite having to serve underhand, Bethke was conference champion at No. 2 singles and on Thursday, won the Division 1 regional title, leading the Panthers to a co-regional championship – their fourth in the past five seasons.
“It feels amazing. I love winning. With all that happened to me, it just felt really good to close out that last match,” Bethke said. “The underhand serve was pretty bad at the beginning, but as time went on, it just got better. I had to know my limits.
“Winning regionals is the cherry on top of all of this. I am excited for what the team can do.”
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Serving underhand takes away a huge advantage of having the serve as Bethke just had to get it in and do his best.
“It was pretty painful. I just felt like I couldn’t do anything and I lost a lot of service games,” he said. “It was about getting it in, but figuring out what spin works. When it first happened, I could only hit backhands, so that got a lot better this year. I had to rely on my groundstrokes more because my serve really wasn’t in the picture.
Bethke won the flight title at No. 2 singles, capped by a 6-4, 6-0 win over East Kentwood in the finals.
“He has had to serve underhand and overcome his injury and here he is as a conference and regional champ. I couldn’t be prouder of him,” West Ottawa coach Brian Metz said.
The Panthers and Rams each scored 23 points to share the regional title. Hudsonville was third just one point behind with 22 to also qualify for the state tournament.
“I couldn’t be happier. Any time you can win a regional title that is huge for your program,” Metz said. “This is the fifth year in a row to go to state and we will be pushing for a top-10 finish as we always do.”
Drew Rothstein was a flight champion at No. 3 singles, earning a 6-4, 6-2 win in the finals over Grand Haven.
At No. 4 singles, Luke Koschmann reached the finals before losing 7-5, 6-4 to Hudsonville.
At No. 3 doubles, Brylan McConnell and Lincoln Taylor were flight finalists, falling 7-5, 6-3 to Rockford.
At No. 4 doubles, Harper VanNoord and Lukas Woudwyk reached the finals where Rockford won 6-3, 6-0.
The three West Ottawa flights that didn’t reach the finals all reached the semifinals and fell in three sets.
Sebastian Dozeman reached the semifinals at No. 1 singles and lost a three-setter to Rockford, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
At No. 2 doubles, Landon Meyer and Teddy Mauger reached the semifinals before losing 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to Hudsonville.
At No. 1 doubles, Cody Schurman and Brayden Goodwin reached the semifinals and lost in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to Rockford.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: West Ottawa’s Trevyn Bethke serves up regional title – underhand
