Holland West Ottawa Remains Unmatched in Duals with 35-Win Streak
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
May 18, 2023
HOLLAND – The West Ottawa girls tennis team has experienced unbridled success in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red over the last six years.
The Panthers own an impressive streak of 35 consecutive dual wins dating back to 2017.
And while several factors have contributed to West Ottawa’s dominance, a devotion to reaching its full potential has been a mainstay.
“The girls have been terrifically dedicated,” said Panthers coach Pete Schwallier, who’s been at the helm of the program for 16 years.
“They've had access to all these different coaches helping them. It’s one thing to have it, it’s another thing to really take it in and use it and they have just 100-percent committed themselves to doing all of these things.
“Whether it be the strength training, the mental side of it or the on-court training. Just all of it. They’ve been doing so much.”
The Panthers will compete in a Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional today at Hudsonville and chase a fifth-consecutive title. The LPD1 Finals are slated for June 2-3.
The last time West Ottawa lost a dual match to an O-K Red school was May 8, 2017, against Rockford.
Three days later, the Panthers avenged that loss by winning the conference tournament. They’ve won six straight O-K Red championships, including four outright.
“There’s a lot of pride in that, but I think it’s been earned with a lot of hard work,” West Ottawa sophomore Jessica Zhang said. “We put a lot of hard work into these matches. A lot of physical strength and effort along with the mental aspect of the game.”
Despite recently extending their current dual winning streak, the Panthers did finish second to Rockford in this week’s conference tournament by a single point, 60-59 – resulting in a shared league title.
Schwallier said the setback won’t change his team’s intense focus as the Panthers embark on the final two weeks of the season.
“These girls have worked really hard to not use wins and losses as a motivator,” he said. “Their core values are to be people of integrity and to give their very best. They are very adamant about that.
“They want to win very badly, but they do have this belief that the best way to get there is to not focus on how many wins we've had or which teams we’ve been beating this year. They maintain a strong character and work ethic on the court, and they have a belief that wins will be the result of that.”
The success of the program has been fueled by several people behind the scenes, as well as the team’s local club, the DeWitt Tennis Center.
Andy Blake is the team’s strength and conditioning coach and works with West Ottawa consistently throughout the season, while Hope College junior Kayla Wolma is looking toward a career in sports psychology and has been the Panthers’ mental training coach.
West Ottawa boys coach and girls assistant Brian Metz and past Kalamazoo College All-American David Borski also have played vital roles.
“It’s been a gradual ramp-up in the amount of community members who have been willing to volunteer as assistant coaches on our staff, and their expertise in particular areas has helped the girls’ development,” Schwallier said. “They are examples of individuals who have helped us make big gains.”
Sophomore Eden Hamilton said Blake and Wolma have been instrumental in assisting the team.
“He helps us do lifts and cardio drills to help with footwork and upper-body strength,” she said. “He also helps with nutrition, and it helps us play better throughout the season. Kayla helps us with our mental state, and we feel like we can play to our full potential because we are preparing ourselves mentally and physically.”
Former players Chloe Karp and Kennedy Dumas also helped set the bar.
Karp graduated in 2019, and according to Schwallier, was the best player to go through the program.
“A lot of young girls in middle school and the underclassmen watched what she did and how she trained and how she got good,” Schwallier said. “The girls started copying her training regiment, and now we have several Chloes. She was the catalyst, and then it was Kennedy Dumas, who was part of the young crew watching Chloe and then took it to the next level.”
Those who have benefited from looking up to past standouts include current singles players Chloe Duckworth and Kam Dumas, both seniors, junior Megan Blake and sophomore Danielle Lebster.
“This next group is continuing that,” Schwallier said. “These four have many young players in middle school who are watching them just as closely as they watched the girls before them. It just shows the power of role models and the value of having good role models.”
This year’s senior group also has influenced younger ones.
“The upperclassmen on our team have definitely set an example for me, starting in middle school,” Zhang said. “They’ve always been around, and I've always looked up to them when it comes to not only tennis but mindset, and how to carry yourself as a person.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTO courtesy of the Holland West Ottawa girls tennis program.
Built Right, No Rebuild Needed: Cornelius Taking Gull Lake Back to Tennis Finals
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2025
RICHLAND – Once the boys season ends later this week, Roger Cornelius will begin preparing for his 50th year as varsity girls tennis coach at Gull Lake High School.
That tenure may have been cut short at 22 years, if not for the Gull Lake tennis community.
In January 1998, Cornelius’ 16-year-old daughter, Lindsay, died as a result of a winter car crash.
He had recently ended the fall season with the girls team and “I didn’t know if I could (coach) the boys that spring,” he said, still emotional when talking about the tragedy.
One of his former students, Jason Ryan, now a vascular surgeon at Beacon Kalamazoo Hospital, contacted Cornelius.
“He and one or two other guys talked with me and, if not for them, I would have quit tennis,” Cornelius said. “I decided to continue with tennis, and I’m glad I did. I found out that God was going to carry me through the toughest time of my life. The tennis community was really big for me back then. Richland, especially, came beside me and lifted me up.”
Although tennis is his sport of choice, Cornelius played football at Western Michigan University and was first hired at Gull Lake in 1975 to help with the football program. He jumped at the chance to coach the tennis team that spring and has coached either the boys or girls, and sometimes both, every year since.
He has been named Regional Coach of the Year several times and was enshrined in the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association (MHSTeCA) Hall of Fame in 2018.
Cornelius will lead the boys (12-2-1) to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals this Friday and Saturday at Midland Tennis Center. The Blue Devils finished 10th the last two years, earning eight points both times.
In a rebuilding year after losing all four singles and two doubles players to graduation, Cornelius was surprised and thrilled that this year’s team earned 20 points at its Regional, finishing second to St. Joseph and qualifying for the Finals.
At the beginning of the season, senior Peyton Orley said he wasn’t sure how good the team would be.
“Last year at the beginning of the season, we could tell we had a really good team,” Orley said. "This year, we lost a lot of our seniors and it didn’t look promising for states.
“Everyone on the team was mission-motivated to get to the state tournament.”
Orley pairs with senior Sullivan Abegg at No 1 singles and the pair did their part, winning their Regional flight. For Abegg, it was a three-peat after taking the title at No. 3 doubles two years ago and No. 2 doubles last year.
The Blue Devils are led at No. 1 singles by freshman Kade DeMaagd, whose father also played for Cornelius.
“Kade’s got the best strokes on the team,” the coach said.
Lucas Nichols, at No. 4 doubles, is the other freshman in the lineup. The other three seniors are Max Uppal (No 3 singles) and Dylan Piwko and Evan McCann, both doubles players. Three juniors, who all play doubles, are Jaden Jones, Jackson McDermott and McGuire Abegg. Two sophomores round out the singles flights: Jake Worgess at No. 2 and Jacob Nichols at No. 4.
Comparing old & new
Cornelius said there isn’t much difference between the tennis players today compared to those 50 years ago.
“I think what’s changed the most is today’s athletes have so many different options, so many different interest areas,” he said. “A lot of the kids have early college classes, some of them have to come to practice from off site and so many things are happening, whether it’s the Model United Nations or tutoring someone at the high school or DECA. I think that’s the biggest difference.”
While the boys are competing in Division 3, the girls are in Division 2, a more difficult road to the Finals, Cornelius said.
“It does make it pretty tough for the girls to make it out of Division 2 with the Mattawans, Portage Central, St. Joe, Battle Creek Lakeview,” he said.
Orley’s sister, Ava, a junior who plays at No. 1 doubles, said the girls team has already bonded.
“We build our team off loving each other,” she said. “It’s not everyone out for themselves, it’s all of us (working together). We focus on being a good role model.
"We’ve had coaches tell us how we played with class and how it’s an honor to play us because we learned from (Cornelius) that you always want to be a good sport.”
Competitive, compassionate
Cornelius, who taught French at the high school for 32 years, currently tutors French-speaking African and Haitian families for the district.
“I tutor the kids and work with the families,” he said. “It’s vastly different than what I did in the classroom. The greatest thing that’s ever happened to me in my nearly 50 years working with Gull Lake schools was working with a little African boy who was blind.”
Cornelius and some friends pooled money to take the boy to a specialist in Grand Rapids. The specialist asked Cornelius to translate for the mother that he thought he could help the young boy regain some sight.
“The two surgeries were successful,” said Cornelius, choking up a bit with emotion. "He has to wear glasses, but he can see. It’s the high watermark of my life.”
That compassion is visible on the tennis courts, said retired Allegan coach Gary Ellis, now a volunteer assistant tennis coach at the school.
“I’ve known Roger since 1977,” Ellis said. “We started competing against each other when he started coaching the boys.”
He said that although Cornelius wants to win and likes to compete, “at the same time, he’s got a good perspective on the whole thing and the value of high school sports, and tennis in particular. He’s very positive, both with his team and with the opponents.”
Cornelius was so supportive of opponents that one year Ellis’ girls team invited the Gull Lake coach to their awards banquet at the end of the season.
“He had a conflict and couldn’t attend, but he sent a really nice letter to the girls,” Ellis said.
Cornelius makes it a point to talk with opponents, both coaches and players.
“I love to get to talk to the kids that I would never get to talk with,” he said. “My favorite is Battle Creek Central because they have struggles that most of us at Gull Lake don’t know about.
“For them to commit their spring or their fall to tennis, that’s a major decision. I want to make darn sure that after the match, I get to meet every one of them, talk with them, talk with their coach.”
Cornelius doesn’t expect this to be his last season.
“I will step down when the good Lord says, ‘I think it’s time,’” he said. “And I don’t think it’s time quite yet.
“I wouldn’t mind if they put on my gravestone ‘Loved God, Loved People.’”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Richland Gull Lake tennis coach Roger Cornelius hits with his players during practice this season. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Cornelius, assistant Gary Ellis, junior Ava Orley and senior Peyton Orley. (Below) Cornelius talks things over with his team. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)