By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Lakeshore Lancers left their mark on Niles' home court Monday afternoon.
Lakeshore, which finished seventh in the state last year, walked away with an 8-0 SMAC West Division win.
Colin Smith suffered a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Brock Plangger at No. 1 singles, while Nate Fink fell to Eli Plangger at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-0.
Lakeshore's Pat Kosciuk took a 6-1, 6-2 win over Dan Rodts at No. 3 singles and Julian Freas fell to Kyle McKey 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
At No. 1 doubles, Levi Grooms and Jon Poole fell to Jake Kiesel and Jeff Ong, 6-1, 7-5.
The No. 2 doubles team of Mark Neeser and Jonathan Smith suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Ben Halling and Pete O'Neil.
At No. 3 singles, Lakeshore's Matt Holling and Jon Dogget took a 6-2, 6-4 win over Dan Ott and Scott Bailey.
No. 4 doubles Zach Hermann and Aaron Dibble fell in the first set to Matt Weiss and Steve Schultz 7-5, but rallied to win the second set 6-1. However, the team fell in the final set 6-1.
Niles will travel to Three Rivers on Thursday. Match times are set to begin at 4:30 p.m.
Junior Varsity
The Niles junior varsity tennis team traveled to Lakeshore Monday and had a tough time competing with the Lancers.
The Vikes suffered a 7-1 loss in what coach Greg Gunder said was not one of his team's best matches.
The Vikes' only win came at No. 2 singles, where Josh Pugh won in four sets.
Pugh lost the first 3-6, won the second 6-1, tied in the third 6-6 and won the fourth 7-5.
Nick Zechlin fell at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-0. Jordan Parks suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss at No. 3 singles and Matt Ftacek fell 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4 singles.
At No. 1 doubles, Zach Payne and Tad Raven fell 6-3, 6-2.
The No. 2 doubles team of Phil Bosler and John Rothfuchs suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss.
Rick Jurgonski and Dustin Jankoviak fell 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3 doubles and Jordan Bailey and Kyle Lee fell 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 doubles.
Kyle Looney and Chris Archer fell in an extra match 8-0.