Senior Aidan Rynbrandt and freshmen brother Cole Rynbrandt stood on opposite sides of the court Wednesday night. Aidan stood at one doubles for FHC and Cole at one doubles for rival FHN. Aidan’s partner, senior Jacob Wiltjer, has moved from two singles to play with Aidan. Cole’s partner and good friend of Aidan, Parker Morey, has sat at one doubles for multiple years.

Crowds filed in, and the match was as highly anticipated as a high school tennis match could be. An MHSAA camera man in the corner, nervous Rynbrandt parents at the fence, and brothers ready to compete. After an tough match, Aidan and Jacob fought back to win 6-3, 6-1. For the pair, this match was huge going forward, but the Rangers fell 6-2 as a team.

Aidan had mixed emotions about playing his brother in a conference match.

“I’m not gonna lie; I never thought it would happen,” Aidan said. “It’s pretty impressive he’s playing doubles as a freshmen. I didn’t think he would be.”

With high adrenaline running between the brothers, controversy was bound to be part of the match.

“There was a little controversy in this match, so I got a little upset, but in the end it was just fun and I enjoyed it,” Aidan said. “At the end of the day, we are brothers for life and tennis players for a couple of hours.”

It wasn’t just Aidan’s match that had high energy with FHN playing on FHC’s home courts. The team took a rivalry mindset to the match against the Huskies.

“I take more pride in beating Northern then anybody else,” Aidan said. “You have to protect your backyard, so I always try to take them down.”

Senior Connor Genschaw also took a win last night at one singles, 6-1, 6-4. This was an important match for Connor in conference seedings for later this season. However, Connor knows as a team, there are plenty of things to improve upon if they want to be competitive throughout the rest of the year.

“What we are doing well right now before the match is pumping each other up,” Connor said. “We are struggling to keep the fire and energy alive in the match. I don’t think we move our feet enough, and that comes with the fire and getting pumped up.”