West Iron tennis team drops close match

By Patrick Browne
    With the snow finally off the courts and the temperatures inching closer to 40, it was time to play tennis for the boys of West Iron.
    Their first match of the season took place on April 25 and, although the Wykons played well, they dropped the match 5–3 to the Escanaba Eskymos.
    In his first match as the West Iron Coach, Jim Anderson was excited to get his team on the courts.
    “It was good to finally get outside and see what the guys could do,” he said. “Overall, we were pleased with how things played out against a really well-coached Escanaba team.”
Both Drew Alexa (playing at third singles) and Zander Birmingham (playing at fourth singles) were able to win their matches. They looked strong and had convincing victories. Alexa won in two sets (6–2, 6–1) while Birmingham blanked his opponent (6–0, 6–0).
“They got into a groove early and executed their games well,” Anderson said.
The first doubles pair of Mathew Dutcher and Colton Holm took their match (7–6, 6–2) to finish out the scoring for West Iron.
The match contained the highlight of the day in the first set: The pair had to battle to tie on numerous occasions and a tie-break finally brought home the victory in the first set. Building on their momentum, Dutcher and Holm easily took the second set and the match.
In their first match with their new head coach, the Wykons played with enthusiasm and demonstrated they can stay with their opponents if they cannot always emerge victorious.
“We have some adjustments to make in the lineups and we will be back at practice right away this week,” Anderson said. “This was a good test of where the team is at and I think they are progressing well.”