Despite the loss, Coach Charlie Giordano had plenty of positive takeaways from the team’s performance.

“The team played well,” Giordano said. “We had many good points and games. The kids fought hard and did not quit.”

In singles play, Landen Gagnon, Nathan Pokorzynski, Dillan Gagnon, and Juan Meno battled but were overpowered by Cadillac’s steady performance. Landen Gagnon, a senior, played a competitive match but ultimately lost 6-4, 6-4 to Cadillac’s Connor Hill, while Pokorzynski faced a similar fate, dropping 6-3, 6-2 against Keeston Johnson.

Cadillac’s dominance extended throughout all singles matches, as Mason Freeman and Kyle Ross added more wins to Cadillac’s tally.

News Photo by Leslianne Johns Austin Derosia stands ready for a tennis match on Thursday in Alpena. AHS lost 8-0 in the matchup against Cadillac.

The doubles teams also faced stiff competition. Evan McDonald and Hunter Orr fought but could not overcome Cadillac’s duo, losing 6-4, 6-0. Austin Derosia and Jack Caplis faced a 6-0, 6-0 loss, with the third doubles team of Maddox Chabot and Liam Kieliszewski also falling by the same score.

Though the match didn’t go in Alpena’s favor, Giordano noted that the consistency of Cadillac’s players was a crucial factor in the game.

“Cadillac is a very consistent team with many good athletes. We will face many of them Wednesday at our (Big North Conference),” Giordano said. “Our plan stays the same: keep the ball in play and make the other team beat you with better shots.”

Despite facing increasingly more challenging opponents, Giordano reflected on the team’s improvement over the season.

“The team has improved tremendously this year,” he said. “Unfortunately, as the year goes on, we seem to play tougher opponents, so the growth is difficult to see in our results. Players are more consistent and play with more confidence than they did at the start of the year.”.

The team plans to focus on fine-tuning their game, emphasizing consistency, and reducing unforced errors.

“We plan on focusing on consistency and eliminating mistakes in their game,” Giordano emphasized.

With their eyes set on the Big North Conference matches on Wednesday, the Wildcats are gearing up to bring their hard-fought lessons into the next round of competition.