By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PERRYSBURG — The Bowling Green boys tennis team battled strong winds to finish second in the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division tournament at the Perrysburg Tennis Center on Wednesday behind a trio of runner-up finishes.

The Bobcats also parlayed their performance into a second-place finish overall in the NLL. Southview captured both crowns.

“We did okay,” 11th-year Bowling Green coach Andy Drumm said. “We played some opponents that got the best of us, but we did pretty well. I wouldn’t say it was an A, but it was a B, C type of performance.”

Bowling Green competed for championships at second and third singles, as well as first doubles — all against Sylvania Southview.

Zack Mangan fell 6-0, 6-0 at second singles to Landon Vens.

“Zack did well,” Drumm said. “He played hard as ever. He hits a lot of slices which can get into the heads of his opponents. It didn’t today (with the wind), and Landon is a pretty good player. He’s a tough player. He plays long points.”

At third singles, Caleb Goff lost 6-2, 6-1 to Jasjit Singh on the indoor courts.

“Caleb is a tough player, likes to play inside,” Drumm said. “He didn’t have his best game today and struggled a little bit. He didn’t move the ball around as well as he should have.”

At first doubles, the duo of Robby Seiffert and Keegan Kriska were defeated 6-2, 6-0 by Christian Faber and Maxwell Malinowski.

This is Kriska’s first year with Bowling Green after transferring in from a high school in Virginia, where he had to play both singles and doubles.

“It’s a little different there,” Drumm said. “He’s adapted and become a pretty solid doubles player. He brings a calm demeanor.”

Outside of Goff, everyone else for the Bobcats played outside, battling the strong winds.

“It was tough outside with the wind,” Drumm said. “It was who adjusted the quickest was going to win the match today. We struggled with a few of our serves and our overheads. The wind is just tough out there because the wind comes over the building and it swirls around.”

Meanwhile, the duo of Trey Ladler and Jackson LaPointe took home a third-place finish with a win over Springfield in the consolation final.

“I think we played well with the wind,” Ladler said. “We hit through our balls. The wind did take some lob shots, so it was a little tough to follow the ball.”

Drumm said this season has been a learning curve for Ladler and LaPointe as it is their first time playing together. The duo will also split to play singles at sectionals.

On Wednesday, though, LaPointe said his team’s return game carried them to victory.

“The biggest thing for us personally is we kept fighting,” LaPointe said. “We were able to break them a couple times and that gave us the advantage in the set and put pressure on them.”

At first singles, Aaron Hershberger fell to Cole Kinsey of Fremont Ross before finishing sixth.

“Aaron ran into a kid who just had his absolute best day yesterday,” Drumm said. “It was tough sledding sometimes. He was fighting so hard and missed the wrong points at the wrong times.”

BG went 6-6 in the regular season, which included a 5-5 mark in NLL play.

“We played a pretty good, solid season,” said Drumm, who pointed out that his team fought through a lot of rainouts that mostly limited the team to conference matches only.

In addition to Ladler and LaPointe playing singles at sectionals, the BG singles duo of Aaron Hershberger and Mangan will join forces to compete in doubles.

“The kids are tough players,” Drumm said. “They don’t always have their best day, but they’re going to go out there, and they’re going to fight every point and give it their all every shot. That’s all I can ask for.”