By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
SOUTH BEND,Ind. – The Buchanan boys' tennis team dominated the Lakeland Conference tennis tournament Friday afternoon and claimed its 15th straight conference championship.
The Bucks, along with Brandywine, Edwardsburg, Berrien Springs, Coloma and Bridgman, met at Leeper Park in South Bend, Ind.
Buchanan scored a total of 46 points, while Bridgman came in second with 30 points and Berrien Springs was third with 30. Brandywine ended fifth with 20 points.
The Bucks had six flight champions on the day and had teams in all eight flights in the final round.
True Sulier defeated David Moskala of Berrien. Sulier fell in the first flight, 6-4, but rallied and won the next two, 6-3 and 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
At No. 3 singles, Eric Lentz took a 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 win over Coloma's Joe Stonebraker.
The win came as a surprise to Buchanan head coach Steve Bender, as Lentz suffered an injury at work on Thursday night.
"Eric did a phenominal job today at No. 3 singles. He was bitten by a dog at work and had received 12 stitches in his hand. He still wanted to play and ended up winning 2-3 set matches and the third singles title," Bender said.
Brad Burns rounded out the singles play with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the Shamrocks' Drew Teed.
At No. 1 doubles, Harper Sulier and Taylor Oake defeated Bridgman's Tyler Fisher and Blake Barker, 6-3, 6-2.
Dillon Bailey and Andrew Frederick claimed a 6-1, 7-6 win over Robby Clark and David Englund of Bridgman at No. 2 doubles.
Sean Thornton and Gabriel Meirelles were victorious at No. 3 doubles with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Ethan Schaller and Aaron Klug of the Bees.
Mario Bonardi fell to Berrien Springs' James Yoon at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 7-5 ad Bridgman's Pat Beach and Tyler Allen defeated Buck players Andrew Scoggin and Josh Niven at No. 4 doubles, 7-5, 6-4.
"Very pleased with how hard we competed today in all flights. The conference is much more balanced this year and we probably set a record for three set matches throughout," Bender said.
All sex of the teams will compete in the regional tournament being held next Friday.
"This sets up to be a barn burner, with how close we all played today," Bender added.