HILLSDALE — Hillsdale boys tennis represented the county at the MHSAA postseason tournament this year. This fall, the Hornets had to travel out to Gross Ile and Riverview High School to compete in the Division 4 Region 20 tournament. The meet featured several top 10 ranked teams including Jackson Lumen Christi.
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Two athletes in the singles flights won matches for the Hornets. Freshman Landon York won a match against Boyer Zimmerman of Jackson Lumen Christi 6-4, 6-4. York then moved on to the semifinals of the No. 3 singles flight. He lost to Liam Leitzinger of Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 6-3, 6-0.
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Junior Ben Champion won a match against Jonathan Marceri of Clawson 6-3, 6-3. Champion moved on to the second round of the No. 2 singles tournament, losing to Hayden Dean of West Bloomfield Frankel Jewish Academy 6-0, 6-1. Dean was the eventual regional champion of that flight.
For the Hornets and second-year coach Matthew Duff, it was the end of a fun season of tennis that saw the careers of two four-year senior members come to an end.
“We lost quite a few guys from last year, and it was tough to fill in for those guys,” coach Duff said. “I was a little worried about team chemistry because it was amazing last year, but they picked it right up. It’s a good group of guys who hang out outside of here… Alex and Brahm will be tough to replace. They’ve really ran this team. They would formulate drills and really worked with the younger guys, and really ran things until this job came along. I can’t say enough about them.”
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Seniors Alex Portteus and Brahm Gambill were two of the most accomplished tennis players out of this year’s season. Both have been with the program for four years and were a large part of the success for many of the under classmen as well. Gambill lost his first match of the tournament 6-1, 6-1. Portteus lost his matchup but one a round. The scores were 6-0 in favor of Tyson Harp of Gross Isle, 6-4 in his favor and 6-0 in favor of Harp.
“This program is awesome and means the world to me,” captain Gambill said. “It’s really made by the players and the guys that come out every day and try their hardest to get better at tennis… I really also have to thank the guys who stepped up to coach like coach (Matthew) Duff and also all the parents for driving us to our matches this season.”
Portteus was both a singles and doubles competitor for the team during his final season, and the senior said it helped improve his skill as a player.
“I really improved a lot, and it was a lot of fun this year,” Portteus said. “It’s fun being in singles, and I love doubles, but I love singles too.”
Both seniors were a part of four team academic all-state awards. The team earned that honor this year, as well. Gambill plans to go to a four-year college for a bachelor’s in biology.
In addition, senior Griffin Spratt, who has competed in dual sports for two years, competed in his last doubles matches of his career. The senior also competed recently in his last soccer game of his career, as well.
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Senior Charles Macy joined his final fall semester to compete with friends like Alex Portteus. Both athletes will be back out for the bowling team this winter. Portteus plans to join Trine University’s bowling team.
“My buddy Alex has been playing his whole high school career,” Macy said. “I didn’t do a sport last year. I did soccer my freshman and sophomore year. I decided I might as well get a sport in, have some fun. I had a lot of fun with the guys.”
The team will return several athletes to next year’s team, including coach Duff’s son: Tyson Duff. The team is always looking to add new competitors to its roster each fall sports season, and it’s a sport many of the seniors believe can be played in addition to the other sports offered during the fall months. In addition to coach Duff, who will be back with the program next season, assistant coach Jonathan Degtyaryov will be taking on a larger role within the program.
“Everybody should do it,” Alex Portteus said. “It’s a lot of fun. You can do it your whole life… join tennis.”
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This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Hillsdale tennis seniors play final matches at Gross Ile regional tournament
