UP Tennis Finals: Negaunee, Westwood Reign
May 31, 2012
Negaunee won its third straight MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 boys tennis championship Wednesday at Marquette High School, and Ishpeming Westwood won its first team title, ever, in Division 2 at Iron Mountain High School.
The Miners were heavy favorites in Division 1 after finishing ahead of Kingsford last season and tying with Kingsford for the 2010 title. Negaunee scored 20 points this time, eight more than runner-up Marquette.
Finalists from 2011 returned in all four singles flights in that division, with three earning individual championships this time. Negaunee’s Cody Tossava won his second-straight at No. 2, while teammate Kevin Price did the same at No. 3 and Rob Sertich won at No. 4 after finishing runner-up last season. The only singles flight the Miners didn’t win was No. 1, where Dave Terzaghi finished runner-up for the second straight season – this time falling 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 to Marquette’s Julien LeCosquer.
Another returning Miners flight won at No. 1 doubles – Lucas Christianson and Nick Kill, who were runners-up in 2011. Teammates Austin Rice and Ryan Syrjala and Tyler Beaumont and Eric Ludlum won at Nos. 2 and 4 doubles, respectively. Ted Pietila and Sean Ryan claimed the No. 3 doubles championship for Kingsford, which finished third as a team.
At Iron Mountain, Westwood improved from sixth place in 2011 to edge reigning champ Iron River West Iron County by a point 16-15, although the Wykons had finalists in all four singles and two doubles flights.
West Iron County’s Austin Waara won his third MHSAA Finals championship and second straight at No. 1 singles by again beating Westwood’s Andrew LeSage in the title match, 6-1, 7-5.
Gwinn’s Derek Reetz downed reigning No. 3 singles champ Caleb Pellizzer of West Iron Country in the No. 2 Final, and Westwood’s Tyler Quayle won a three-set match for the championship at No. 3. Alex Rolston added a second singles title for West Iron County with a three-set win in the No. 4 Final.
Iron Mountain’s Gerry Pirkola and Max Frorenza and Henry Hakamaki and Taylor Huotari claimed the flight championships at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles, respectively – Pirkola and Frorenza after winning No. 3 doubles in 2011. Westwood closed out the team championship by winning the final two doubles flights – Quinn Leroy and Michael Ostlund at No. 3 and Derek Wing and Josh Nicholas at No. 4.
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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.)