West Ottawa, Holland Christian tennis dominate way to regional championships

The West Ottawa girls tennis team made it nine regional championships in a row with a dominating performance at home. The Panthers won the Division 1 regional with 27 points on Thursday, May 14. Rockford was second with 20, Byron Center qualified for state with 18, Hudsonville took fourth (10), while Grand Haven and Grandville tied for fifth with six points in the 10-team event.

West Ottawa's Evie Price won a three-set thriller at No. 1 singles, defeating Rockford's Grace Ferry 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Price beat Ferry during the regular season, but Ferry knocked off Price in Saturday's OK Red Conference tournament.

Freshman Izzy Gitler won the regional title at No. 2 singles, defeating Rockford's Sophie Burns 6-0, 6-1 in the finals. More: Maggie Rothstein makes most of move to singles, leads West Ottawa to 9th straight OK Red title More: Zeeland West claims first ever girls tennis regional title in thrilling fashion At No.

3 singles, another freshman dominated with West Ottawa's Sydney Shafer topping Rockford's Ella Fix 6-1, 6-3 in the championship round. "We have been looking forward to what they can do all year and they have not disappointed. I would argue they have exceeded any kind of expectations were put on them," West Ottawa coach Pete Schwallier said.