Rain Can't Soak Olivier, Negaunee 3-Peats
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2018
KINGSFORD — What rain delay?
A pause in the action due to the elements for more than two hours failed to slow down Marquette junior Alec Olivier on Wednesday as he earned his third consecutive No. 1 singles tennis title in a 6-0, 6-0 conquest of Negaunee senior Luke Skewis at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Kingsford High School.
“I guess I just played well,” said Olivier, who also went undefeated for the third straight season. “I’ve had rain delays in other matches. It’s not that big of a problem. I just drank a lot of water, did some stretching (exercises) and walked around and stayed loose during the break.
“I’m glad we got it finished today. I was willing to stay here as long as it took.”
Negaunee, which won six of eight flights, was crowned champion for the third straight season with 22 points. The Miners were followed by Escanaba with 14 and Kingsford with eight among top finishers.
“We knew there was potential to be pushed by Kingsford and Escanaba,” said Miners’ coach Kyle Saari. “The unique thing about this group is they’re coachable. They buy into everything we tell them and push each other to be better.
“It feels great to win three in a row. This all started for us in 2010, and we’ve since won seven of nine. Every group wants to build upon the success of the previous.”
Olivier went right back to work after the rain delay, placing many of his overhand shots with near pinpoint accuracy. The match ended when Skewis was unable to return one of Olivier’s serves.
“I’ve been around (high school tennis) since 1971,” said Marquette coach Charlie Drury. “Without any question, he’s the best player I’ve seen at the high school level within that span. He’s a very dedicated player.”
Among Negaunee’s champions were juniors Peyton Anderson and Jake Larson, who rallied past Escanaba seniors Alex Valentine and Soren Thompson (4-6, 6-2, 6-1) in No. 2 doubles.
“We started playing with more energy after the first set,” said Larson, a U.P. champion at No. 4 doubles a year ago. “It took us a little while to get back in the flow after the rain delay. Then, we understood what was happening. There’s a lot of difference between No. 2 and No. 4 doubles. “I’ve learned not to get mad at myself, which didn’t work today in the first set. It’s nice seeing everybody happy with the results. Kingsford and Escanaba are always good. We know they’re always going to give us a match.”
Senior Josh Grassel became the first Escanaba player since 2012 to win a flight in the U.P. Finals, taking a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 decision from Negaunee sophomore Chas Kumpula at No. 2 singles.
Grassel forced the tie-breaker in the second set by overcoming a 5-2 deficit. Kumpula, however, was able to hang on and force the third. Grassel responded by taking a 3-0 lead in the finale.
“When it went to 3-0, I felt my chances were pretty good,” said Grassel. “I think I may have caught him by surprise in the third set. I felt I had a lot of momentum at the end of the second set, even though he won it. I thought (Kumpula) played well. He’s a good player for being as young as he is.”
Also among Negaunee’s champions was Tom Sertich, who blanked Escanaba senior Nathan Pascoe 6-0, 6-0 in No. 3 singles. Freshman Will Luke dispatched Escanaba’s Cody Stevens 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. Sophomores Jakson Sager and Drew Lindberg outlasted Kingsford juniors Duante Fortner and Tyler Beauchamp (7-5, 1-6, 6-2) in No. 1 doubles, and senior Evan Hassell and junior Tom Kinjorski defeated Escanaba’s Garrett LaMarch and Tom Mayville (6-2, 7-5) at No. 4.
PHOTOS: (Top) Negaunee’s Jakson Sager and Drew Lindberg volley with an opponent on the way to winning the No. 1 doubles title Wednesday at Kingsford. (Middle) Marquette’s Alec Olivier returns a shot during one of his matches; he claimed his third MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 championship at No. 1 singles. (Photos by Adam Niemi.)
Always Contender, Allegan Now Champion
November 19, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Allegan’s championship story began nearly a half-century ago.
A longtime coach retires after 45 years building one of the state’s strongest tennis programs, even receiving national recognition for his work spreading love for the game – but he never won a championship at the highest level. His program is taken over by a pair of former players, one the longtime girls coach whose son fills the No. 1 singles flight and is among a number of second-generation players on the team.
At the beginning of the season, they write three goals on the dry-erase board in their team room – to win league, Regional and MHSAA Finals championships. They’re finally able to check off every single one, returning home from the season’s final tournament to a police escort after achieving that previously unattainable ultimate goal for the first time.
The Allegan boys tennis team is still celebrating its Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship won Oct. 18-19, a crowning achievement following the 45-year coaching career of Gary Ellis which concluded after the 2018 season. Former players Jen Aldrich and Seth Arthur took over as co-coaches this fall and – with a lineup of players brought up through the community’s tennis program – added the highest prize to Ellis’ legacy while creating their own.
“We had three goals … so every time we (accomplished one), we would bring them in the check it off the board – ‘Ok, step one is done. Now to step two,’” Allegan co-coach Jen Aldrich said. “I think everyone bought into ‘team’ this year. In previous years, we had a lot of individual successes. This year was different; we were going to win as a team. Nobody talked about individual flight championships. That was a huge key – everybody knew they were important, and everybody knew they had to get points at states.”
The MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” actually tied for the LPD4 championship with Kalamazoo Hackett, after defeating Hackett 6-2 in match play earlier this season and winning the Regional title ahead of the second-place Irish on Oct. 10. (And of course, this is not to take anything away from Hackett’s fine Finals performance. The Irish earned the shared title – their first Finals championship in the sport since 2005 – by tying Allegan with 21 points at the Finals.)
The Tigers’ quest reached back generations. As reported by the Allegan News when Ellis retired, he had led the program to 30 league and 12 Regional titles, 32 MHSAA Finals appearances and 23 top-10 finishes at the year-end event.
But taking those final championship steps last month at Hope College truly took a team effort.
Freshman Eli Festerling gave Allegan a boost at No. 4 singles with the program’s first Finals flight championship since 1990. Noah Festerling and Ben Groth also made the championship round, taking runner-up honors at No. 3 doubles.
The Tigers also got at least one win at six flights and made semifinals at five – although the team entered with only four flights seeded (among the top four) to advance to the second-to-last round. Total, Allegan flights finished 16-7 at the Finals.
One of those semifinalists was No. 1 doubles pair Jack Nahikian and Korbin Sisson – after Nahikian had played No. 4 singles the year before. Vance Muenzer was a Regional runner-up at No. 3 singles this fall after making the jump from playing No. 4 doubles in 2018.
Tyler Aldrich – Jen’s son – was a Regional champ at No. 1 and won two Finals matches while entering unseeded. No. 2 singles Tim Lyon also won a match at the Finals, while Owen Clearwater and Walker Michaels at No. 2 doubles and Chase Williams and David Roark at No. 4 also made semifinals. Aldrich, Eli Festerling, Clearwater/Michaels, Noah Festerling/Groth and Williams/Roark were Regional champs to pace that team title victory.
“I think our strength is our depth. We were strong all the way through,” Jen Aldrich said.
“It’s extra special too for such a small town,” she added, “because Gary and I, we run the summer tennis program so most of these kids we’ve had in the program since they were 3 and 4 years old.”
Aldrich had played for Ellis’ girls program from 1988-91 before going on to play at Western Michigan University, and since coming home has led the girls tennis program for 16 years – her brother Tony Fales actually was Ellis’ assistant for the latter’s final 15 years. Arthur played for Ellis before graduating in 2010 and went on to play at St. Joseph’s College in Indiana.
Arthur kept players loose, especially during big events, providing a boost of fun when the team needed to keep things light. Aldrich was more the disciplinarian, stepping in to crack down when required. They were assisted by Jesse DeBoer, another former Allegan standout who graduated in 2012 and played at Spring Arbor.
“It’s awesome that we took over this year, but deep down we know this is because of Gary Ellis,” Aldrich said. “He built the program. He’s worked with these kids. He got them to this point. So we’ve been celebrating Gary this whole time, because we know it’s because of him and my brother … we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. This really truly was a championship because of Gary Ellis. … This is truly his program.”
And it’s a championship that brought pride to many who have played for Allegan over the years. Ellis’ teams had reached third place at the Finals multiple times, including in 2018.
If this year’s athletes didn’t understand what they accomplished in the moment, they have come to understand over the last month.
“I think probably their families as a whole (know) too,” Aldrich said. “Some of the parents of the players were in the program for Gary – they were players here once – and a lot of alumni (showed support) on our Facebook page and that sort of thing.
“If (our team) didn’t know, they know now.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2019-20
September: Ishpeming Westwood girls tennis - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Tyler Aldrich returns a volley during a No. 1 singles match at the LP Division 4 Finals. (Middle) Allegan's championship-winning team. (Top photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com; middle photo courtesy of the Allegan boys tennis program.)