By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Buchanan's tennis team is traveling to Michigan State University today for the Division 4 tennis finals in hopes of coming back with a win.
This is the 13th straight year the Bucks have gone to the finals and in May they captured their 13 straight regional win. Last year Buchanan placed fourth in the state.
Earlier this season, the team ran into problems when six of its players violated the athletic code of conduct, thus losing some of their top players.
But the Bucks stepped up and handled business. They are not only on their way back to once again try for a state final, but the entire tennis team was named to the 2005 Academic All-State team, whih means all have carried a GPA of 3.51 or higher.
Matches are as follows:
At No. 1 singles Korey Camp will face Peter Keshtkar of AA Greenhills High School.
At No. 2 singles Harper Sulier has a first round bye, but will face Danny Vacaguzman of Grandville Calvin Christian High School.
At No. 3 singles Mario Bonardi will take on Luke Hendrick of Saginaw Nouvel High School.
At No. 4 singles Brad Burns has a first rounbye and will play Justin Klooster of Charlevoix High Schoool.
At No. 1 doubles Andrew Gordon and David Wright have a first round bye and will take on Dave Ausema and Jon Wiita of Kalamazoo Christian High School.
At No. 2 doubles Dillon Baily and Andrew Scoggin will face Jeff Kulhanek and Trevor Smith of Chesaning High School.
At No. 3 doubles Sean Thornton and Josh Niven will play Will DeFries and Charlie Armstrong from Harbor Springs High School.
At No. 4 doubles, Taylor Oake and Justin Lovelady will face Matt Bator and Ryan Rokita of Nouvel High School.
The Bucks are coached by Steve Bender, who is in his 17th year as head coach.