BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Senior Brendan Aughe battled during his third and final match of the day on the Singles No. 4 court at Okemos, Aug. 25.
“He played the match of the day for us ,” said Clarkston Boys Varsity Tennis Head Coach Chas Claus. “He had a very long 3-set match which was the last match of the day. Both players running on fumes and he did a nice job running with a second set tie breaker and third set super breaker to bring home a win. It was probably our best match.”
The Wolves used their matches against Okemos, Green Hills and Northville as a chance to grow with the young team they have this season.

“We played three of the best teams in the state,” said Claus. “For some of the guys it was good to see this is what elite competition looks like. For everyone– it’s just always good when you play teams like that. You get three matches that count and you get to measure yourself against the very best.”
The Wolves play at Lake Orion on Tuesday. Then, head to Ann Arbor Pioneer, Sept. 12, and Rochester, Sept. 15.
Each competition helps the young team continue to grow.
“Tennis is a little quirky because each flight counts equally,” Claus said. “You really need a lot of depth when it comes to overall success. Our youth is what it is in the case of losing a lot of experienced players and high quality players. We still have some really good players but we have some guys who are getting used to what top level varsity looks like. They haven’t really seen a lot of it or any of it before. We will be young all year but every time we go out, like Tuesday (at Okemos), we doubled our experience for a lot of these guys. We will grow fast but for a lot of the guys this level is new to them. It will be a work in progress.”
Looking at the season, the boys are looking forward to meets.
“Given COVID era sports, I think in some ways we are looking forward to every competition that happens is good as far as we are concerned,” Claus said, adding some of their usual tournaments have been cancelled and some teams aren’t ready to compete. “I think we will pick those up and play a full schedule.”