It was close, but no cigar for the Wayland boys’ varsity tennis team Monday afternoon in 90-degree heat with a 5-3 dual meet loss to Otsego.

At No. 1 singles, Christian Sieffert played a tough opponent at first singles and came up just short 2-6, 4-6.

Jackson Chesley cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 2.  Andrew Murphy had a slow start, but fought back to take the second set  (7-6), which set up a 10-point tie break to decide the third singles match.  In the end, Otsego came out on top, with the tiebreaker score being 1-3.  Nolan Ritz cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win at fourth singles.

In the doubles flights, Mark Musgrave and Elijah Dollarhide fell 6-2, 6-1 to a consistent Otsego team.  The new second doubles team of Brett Bultsma and Kaden Coughlin also played an even match into a second set tie-breaker, with the final score ending at 4-6, 6-7 (7-9) in favor of the Bulldogs.

Another tie-breaker-deciding match was played at third doubles by Brady Atwell and Elijah Kincaid, but this time Wayland took the win.

“Elijah and Brady shook off a slow first set, losing 4-6, by taking the second set 6-4, setting up another tie-breaker to decide the match,” said coach Ben Adams. “Brady and Elijah took no mercy and won the tie break with a decisive 10-5 score.”

At fourth doubles, the freshmen pair of Austin Graham and Chase Robinson fell 6-2, 6-1.

“These players know that just a few points in any of the games or any of the tie-breakers may have changed the overall score in Wayland’s favor,” Adams added. “This was a well fought match for a team that is learning that each game in each match is important.”

Next up for the Wildcats is an away match at Plainwell Wednesday.