A 7-1 defeat of Avondale on April 7 has the Wolves? boys tennis team leaping into spring.
‘We just wanted to get our first win under our belts,? said Clarkston Coach Chaz Claus. ‘You can think about what you have in practice, but you never know how the kids will do in competition until they get out there.?
In Claus? opinion, Clarkston was carried by the strong play of their doubles teams.
Clarkston’s number two doubles, sophomore Chris Graczyk and junior Pat McIlrath defeated Kevin Portelli and Josh Waldorf 6-1, 6-0.
The Wolves three (junior Zach McDonald and senior Dan Osterhage) and four (juniors Chris Hammond and Sean Kurowski) doubles pairings also dispatched their opponents in two straight sets.
‘Our two, three and four doubles really put the match away early for us,? said Claus.
Also playing well for the Wolves was junior Erik Maesch, Clarkston’s number four singles who trounced Avondale’s Jeff Rybak 6-2, 6-3.
Senior Amit Surapaneni triumphed in two straight sets as well in the number one singles spot.
Sophomore Zach Kerr vanquished Avondale’s number two single, Faleh Syed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Clarkston’s seventh victory in match play came at the number one doubles spot as seniors Paul Chun and Paul Gunckle rallied to defeat Kris Howard and Jeff Pawlowski 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Clarkston’s record is now 1-0 on the season. Last year the Wolves went 1-7-1.
The Clarkston tennis team’s next two matches are both at home, Lake Orion’s Dragons come calling on April 14 followed by the Rochester Falcons on April 19.