Escanaba Ends Title Wait, Stops Negaunee Title Streak
By
Ryan Stieg
Special for Second Half
June 2, 2021
NEGAUNEE – Heading into Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals, the Escanaba boys tennis team hadn’t won a championship in 14 years.
Maybe all it needed was some heavy rain to end that title drought.
The Eskymos battled through two lengthy weather delays to win their first U.P. Finals title since 2007. Escanaba’s win also ended Negaunee’s three-season tenure as champion as the Miners finished with 13 points, six behind the Eskymos.
Escanaba took three of the four doubles finals (Nos. 1, 2 and 3) and Nathan Howes took home the championship at No. 3 singles to lift the team to victory.
“It’s been 2007 since we’ve won this, and that’s a long time,” Escanaba head coach Tom Penegor said. “I’m just proud of these guys. They worked hard. Our two biggest goals throughout the year were to have fun and to get better.
“Normally in past years, Negaunee was always the team to beat. We’d play them early in the year and we’d be somewhat close to them, but by the end of the year, they’d widen the gap. This year, we actually closed the gap. It’s a great accomplishment for these guys because Negaunee, that’s a program that we try to get close to and this year, we did and passed them. So I’m very proud of that. Plus, we only have four seniors, so hopefully we can come back and do some damage again next year. That’s something to shoot for.”
Negaunee got title wins from Will Luke at No. 1 singles and Luke Syrjala at No. 2, while also getting the victory at No. 4 doubles to keep pace with the Eskymos. However, those just weren’t enough to overtake them.
Even though Negaunee’s reign at the top came to an end, Miners head coach Kyle Saari was proud of how his team of newcomers performed.
“If you look at it, we entered this year, we had 10 new kids in the varsity lineup and this is kind of a big unknown,” he said. “When you end up entering the UPs, it’s kind of seeing and kind of trying to predict how they will respond on this day. That includes how do they respond to a 1 or 2 seed, how do they respond if they have a first-round match. And I think kind of as a whole, what it turned into for us today, it was just pretty much a learning experience, how to handle that down time.
“If you kind of look at the day as a whole, Escanaba had a terrific day; hats off to them. They responded and they had a really strong showing at 3 singles today, at 4 singles. With them being able to get through the finals into those flights, that really kind of set the table for them to be successful later in the day.”
Menominee finished third with 10 points and won the last match of the day as Danny Birch defeated Escanaba’s Connor Smale in a three-set thriller (6-4, 2-6, 6-2) at No. 4 singles. Marquette took fourth with five points, followed by Gladstone with two and Kingsford with one.
PHOTOS: Escanaba’s Nathan Howes returns a serve during his No. 3 singles match Wednesday in Negaunee. He went on to win the match and the flight. (Middle) The Miners’ Will Luke serves during a No. 1 singles match. He finished the season undefeated. (Photos by Ryan Stieg.)
Midland Dow Travels Little to Go Far
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2022
MIDLAND — Midland Dow's boys tennis team didn’t have to travel far to claim another MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 title Saturday at the Midland Tennis Center.
With top performers in every flight, the hometown Chargers were well-represented in their quest for the championship trophy, leading the likes of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, which made a late charge; Mattawan, Birmingham Seaholm and Birmingham Groves.
Dow finished with 32 points, followed by Northern with 27 and Seaholm at 22.
All seven Finals team titles have come under coach Terry Schwartzkopf, who was the face of frustration as things got close during the semifinals. The Chargers previously had won titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
Dow lost semifinal matches at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. But sophomore and top seed at No. 4 singles Nimai Patel clinched the championship for Dow with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over Sebastian Madlangbayan of Forest Hills Northern.
“I started out pretty strong, I was up 4-0 and then he started playing really well,’’ said Patel. “I started feeling the pressure. I finished out the first set, but the second set I was up 3-2 and my foot started cramping. I started hitting out every single ball. I had to regroup. I put some cream on where I was cramping, and I started playing a lot better.''
Patel said he understood Schwartzkopf’s frustration.
“We’re a very talented team and we were capable of getting through every flight,’’ said Patel. “We finished third last year. So, to get through this year and win was great.’’
Grosse Poitne South senior Connor Stafford upset top seed Sammy Yin of Forest Hills Central 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to claim the No. 1 singles title.
“I felt like I made a lot of silly errors in the first set,’’ said Stafford. “I thought the match turned when I was up 4-1 in the second set. Mentally I was concentrating on hitting my shots. I didn’t want to lose my last high school match. It was great to get here and win.’’
Dow claimed No. 2 singles when top seed Aaron Li came back from losing the first set and prevailed, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 over Karan Deol of Forest Hills Northern.
Li advanced to the final at No. 2 Singles when Chris Shang of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central had to retire because of cramping.
“In the first set I didn’t have a good forehand,’’ said Li. “My coach talked to me after the first set, and I was able to find my forehand.
"We were hungry for the title this year. Coach will be happy for us.’’
Nolan Ackerman of Mattawan won No. 3 singles over Logan Yu of Dow, 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-1.
Rivals Groves and Seaholm played for the fourth time this year in No. 1 doubles. Seaholm won all four with Alex Lewis and Zane Chutkow earning the title 6-3, 6-4.
“We just bring the fight every time we face them,’’ said Lewis. “We can say we’ve never lost to Groves.’’
Dow captured No. 2 doubles as top seed Roofy Elsaadany and Aiden Tanis won 6-1, 6-2, in their final.
“It was a long year,’’ said Elsaadany. “I was out three weeks. We worked hard to get to this point.’’
Added Tanis: “Everything we did was to get to this point. The hard work paid off.’’
At No. 3 double,s Dow’s top seed Vishagen Karthikeyan and Shubhan Nagarkar lost to Northern’s Kyle Cornell and Tanay Shenoy 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
No. 4 doubles went to Seaholm’s Ricky Sparby and Nick Kelley with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
PHOTOS (Top) Midland Dow celebrates its latest Division 2 championship. (Middle) Mattawan's Nolan Ackerman sends back a volley on the way to winning the No. 3 singles title. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)