SOUTH BEND, Ind. – While Berrien Springs was winning its third straight Division 4 Regional Tennis Tournament championship Thursday night, another streak came to an end.
Berrien Springs and Kalamazoo Christian tied for the regional championship with 23 points each.

Buchanan finished third with 17 points, one short of qualifying for the state finals for a 17th straight season.

Bridgman was fourth (15), Paw Paw fifth (12), Kalamazoo Hackett sixth (7), Coloma seventh (3), Dowagiac eighth (2), South Haven eighth (2) and Brandywine 10th (0).
The Bucks picked up a pair of regional championships.

Derek Blank won the No. 4 singles title with a 6-2 and 6-4 victory over William Choi of Berrien Springs.

At No. 3 doubles, the team of Corey Thompson and Alex Kuhn defeated Berrien’s Alex Ro and Amir Benjelloun 5-7, 6-2 and 6-4.

“I am extremely proud of how my team overachieved today,” Buchanan coach Steve Bender said. “On paper we were supposed to finish fourth as a team and end with 14 points. Well, we finished third and scored 17, pulling three huge upsets – Corey and Alex at three dubs (twice) and Derek at four singles – getting two flight champions and finishing ahead of Bridgman (who beat us handily during the season) was a feeling of great satisfaction.

” Yes, we were dejected that we got within one point of qualifying, but just to be in the hunt was fun. Our goal every year is to play our best at the regional and we accomplished that. Every player gave us all they had, and what coach could ask for anything more,” he added.

Division 4 Regional
Tennis Tournament
At South Bend and Niles
Team Scores
Berrien Springs 23, Kalamazoo Christian 23, Buchanan 17, Bridgman 15, Paw Paw 12, Kalamazoo Hackett 7, Coloma 3, Dowagiac And South Haven Tied At 2, Brandywine 0

Championship round
Singles
1. Robert Stevens (Kalamazoo Christian) d. Tim Spitzer (Kalamazoo Hackett), 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-2; 2. Brad Plaisier (Kalamazoo Christian) d. Jonathan Shembarger (Berrien Springs), 6-1, 6-2; 3. Matt Bacon (Berrien Springs) d. Michael Brown (Paw Paw), 6-4, 6-3; 4. Derek Blank (Buchanan) d. William Cho (Berrien Springs), 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
1. Jared McCarver/Matt Little (Berrien Springs) d. James DeNooyer/Andrew DeNooyer (Kalamazoo Christian), 6-4, 6-2; 2. Matt Jackson/Billy Meyering (Kalamazoo Christian) d.Nate Pagel/Zach Shelton (Berrien Springs), 6-2, 6-1; 3. Corey Thompson/Alex Kuhn (Buchanan) d. Alex Ro/Amir Benjelloun (Berrien Springs), 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; 4. Ethan Waldron/Will Harbert (Kalamazoo Christian) d. Michael Hong/Ben Brackett (Berrien Springs), 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5