By By DAN WEISS / Vigilant/Argus
The Buchanan tennis team finally reached the pinnacle of the sport, but had to share that spot with the team from Ann Arbor Greenhills.
The Bucks finished in a tie with Greenhills for the Division 4 State title at Friday and Saturday's finals held at Kalamazoo College.
Both teams scored 22 points, just edging Jackson Lumen Christi which finished with 21. Grosse Ile took fourth place with 20 points.
Buchanan senior Bryce Coward became the school's first ever individual state champion as he beat Muskegon Catholic Central's Paul Scholten in the finals of the No. 1 singles flight.
The No.1 doubles team of Brandon Schmeling and Chad VanLue reached the semifinals as did the No. 4 doubles team of Dan Summers and Korey Camp.
Sean Jesse reached the semifinals in the No. 3 singles flight while Ryan Evick and A.J. Mottl each reached the semifinals of the No. 2 and No. 4 singles flights, respectively.
The Bucks will say goodbye to a group of six seniors who have left an impressive mark on the tennis program. Coward, Evick, Jesse, Mottl, Schmeling and Summers finish their careers having never lost a dual match. They also won four conference titles and four regional titles. They won 23 invitationals and never finished lower than fourth at the state finals.
Edwardsburg's Josh Rogers competed in the No. 1 singles flight at the finals. He won his first match of the tournament but fell to Connor Farrell of Kalamazoo Hackett in the second round.