By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg girls’ varsity tennis team finds itself in a good position to make a run at the Conference this year with only one dual-meet loss on its record.
The Bulldogs have handily defeated Eaton Rapids 7-1, Paw Paw 7-1, Three Rivers 8-0, and Niles 6-2 in the early part of the season. Vicksburg started off the season strong with a win in its own invitational tournament.
At the invitational, Gracie Breitenbach took second in the number one singles. Scarlett Hosner won the two singles. Sadie Grossman finished third in three singles, and Maya Grossman rounded up the Bulldog’s efforts with a second-place finish in four singles. In doubles action, Natalie Balkema and Avery Sands came in second place in number one doubles. Two and three doubles were both won by the teams of Clara Centrofanti and Sydney Glerum, and Olivia Penney and Hannah Vallier, respectively. The team of Isabella Hahn and Stella Reitenour finished second four doubles to round out the tournament and give Vicksburg a narrow one-point win over Coldwater.
The Bulldogs had a more dominant win in the Marshall Sports Fest tournament, where only a second-place finish in the number one singles prevented Vicksburg from doing a clean sweep of the competition from Jackson, Leslie, and Marshall.
For Head Coach Warner Offord, it’s been an exciting start to the season, especially considering this year’s squad has no seniors. After sweeping rival Three Rivers, he said not having perennial powerhouses like St. Joseph, Sturgis, and Stevensville Lakeshore in their Conference this year has helped tremendously.
“I think we have a good shot at the Conference,” Offord said. “It should be us, Otsego and Sturgis. We have a good shot of winning at Regionals and going to state this year.”