News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Kevin Cook returns a volley during a No. 2 doubles match against Petoskey on Thursday at Alpena High School.

Going into Thursday’s home match, the Alpena boys tennis team knew it would have its hands full against one of the top teams in the Big North Conference.

In the end, Petoskey proved to be too much for the Wildcats as the Northmen finished off the home team by a score of 8-0 at Alpena High School.

“Petoskey is tough and they’re always tough. They are solid all the way through the lineup, but my team is doing better. We have some young kids that have been playing in the offseason and spending some time working on their game,” Alpena coach Charlie Giordano said. “We were pretty competitive in all of our flights despite not winning any, but it took Petoskey a little longer this year to beat us than it has in the past and that was good.”

Alpena’s Alec Paulsell suffered a loss at No. 1 singles as he lost to Will Pizzuti 6-0 and 6-1. Nehemia Rao dropped a match at No. 2 singles to Garrit Reynolds by scores of 6-1 and 6-0. Josh Pokorzynski fell at No. 3 singles 6-2 and 6-2.

The Wildcats were forced to forfeit at No. 4 singles because they are still one man short of completing a full roster.

“These kids are more serious and more focused on what there doing out here and it’s not just during games, but it’s also at practice too. They are gaining a better understanding of trying to use strategy in order to force closer matches,” Giordano said. “Competing against a team like Petoskey will make everyone better because it makes our kids play harder. I always tell the kids to play with your head up and play with confidence even if the opponent is better than you. Playing people with a better skill set will ultimate make you better and that’s going to help us.”

Alpena’s No. 1 doubles team of Garrett Dickey and Logan Pinger suffered a loss to Cooper Self and Gunnar McNamara losing by scores of 6-1 and 6-1. Kevin Cook and Ashawin Chhapomohan lost at No. 2 doubles to Ben Taylor and Ben Cleland by scores of 6-1 and 6-0. Brett Boniface and Harrison Butch fell to Seth Izzard and Jayson LaGrou 6-1 and 6-0. Dean Kowalewsky and Hunter O’Neil also fell at No. 4 doubles by scores of 6-1 and 6-0 to Landon Brantly and Connor Liddy.

“I thought for the most part the kids played with confidence and fought for every point they had and were able to keep our opponents out on the court for as long as they could,” Giordano said.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Cadillac for another conference matchup before they head to Flushing to participate in a weekend quad where they will compete against teams that will be in their region.