The Fruitport girls tennis team had a very good outing at Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament, winning the championship in three of four singles flights.

Grace Sweet repeated her title at No. 1 singles, Audra Peterson won the championship at No. 3 singles and Josalynn Nowicki won the top spot at No. 4 singles.

Rachel Hines (No. 2 singles), Bailey Poort and Abby Poort (No. 2 doubles) and Gracie Ferrell and Emma Fecher (No. 3 doubles) finished in third place and won team points for the Trojans.

Fruitport was very much in competition for the team championship, finishing third with 43 points, one point behind second-place Mona Shores. Reeths-Puffer won the team title with 48 points.

“Saturday was a challenge as the weather became much warmer and we rose above the rising heat to finish strong in our matches,” said Fruitport Coach Brad Busscher. “I especially enjoyed seeing the girls supporting and cheering for each other as a team should. The girls are enjoying these successful moments together.”

Sweet’s championship at No. 1 singles made it the fourth straight year that a Fruitport player has won the city title in the top singles flight. Sweet also won it last year and was a city champion at No. 2 singles as a sophomore.

She won two matches en route to her latest title, beating Mona Shores’ Ella Wasserman 6-0, 6-3 and Reeths-Puffer’s Brooke Titus in the finals, 6-1, 6-0.

Peterson defeated Muskegon Catholic’s Ella Staniforth 6-0, 6-0, Reeths-Puffer’s Molly Matz 6-1, 6-1 and Whitehall’s Ella Gould in the No. 3 finals, 6-3, 6-3.

Nowicki, just a freshman, won the No. 4 singles title by defeating Whitehall’s Addy Broton 6-0, 6-0 and Reeths-Puffer’s Mylie Neel in the finals. 6-2, 6-0.

Sweet, a regional champion and state qualifier last season, improved her record to 19-1. Her only loss came against a standout exchange student from Coopersville.

“She is definitely one of the top players in the state,” Coach Busscher said about Sweet.

Nowicki, the first-year player, improved to a perfect 20-0 on the season, which is remarkable considering her age and how she was playing at the start of the season.

Nowicki struggled in preseason challenge matches against her teammates, and gave few clues that she would do so well, according to Busscher.

“In our challenge matches at the beginning of the year our 2 and 3 singles players beat her and it wasn’t close,” the coach said. “She struggled a bit with the mental piece, but she has overcome that. She’s now in a groove. She’s quite a player.”

The city tournament performance capped a very solid few weeks for the Trojans, who have posted a 3-2-1 record in dual matches since April 22.

The good stretch started when Fruitport tied a good Hudsonville Unity Christian squad 4-4.

Then came a 6-2 victory over Sparta, a 7-1 win over Western Michigan Christian and an 8-0 sweep of Fremont.

The losses in that stretch were to strong conference opponents Spring Lake and Coopersville.

The Trojans also performed well at the Thornapple-Kellogg Invitational.

The Trojans finished third in the event with 12 points, behind first-place Vicksburg (20 points) and second-place Thornapple-Kellogg (14).

Grace Sweet was undefeated in the tournament, going 3-0 while only dropping eight games over six sets.

Hines was 2-1 in the tournament while Nowicki went 3-0.

The No. 1 doubles team of Tara Sweet and Lena Saffell posted a 2-1 record.

Overall, Grace Sweet has posted an 10-1 record since April 23, Hines is 8-3 and Nowicki is 11-0.

“There is definitely a feeling among the players that our team is getting stronger and is poised for a great run at the conference tournament and regionals,” Busscher said.