Westwood Back on Top of UP D2 Tennis
May 28, 2014
By Craig Remsburg
Special to Second Half
ISHPEMING — They’re b-a-a-a-a-c-k.
After a year’s absence, the Ishpeming Westwood boys tennis Patriots can again call themselves MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 champions.
Winning all three flights they placed in championship matches, the Patriots came away with 13 points to beat runner-up and defending champion Iron River West Iron County by two on Wednesday.
Gwinn and Munising tied for third with 10 points, followed by Iron Mountain (8), Ishpeming (2) and Norway (0) in action held at Westwood High School.
“We definitely thought it was possible for us to win,” Patriots coach Chris Jackson said, “but it didn’t play out as we thought. We thought we’d need more points to win.
“We had some help. It was more than a two-horse race, and there were four teams with at least 10 points each.”
Jackson said consistency and a non-champion, Westwood No. 1 singles player Quinn LeRoy, were keys to Wednesday’s title win — the Patriots’ second in three years.
“Everyone held their serve — their flight,” he said. “All three of our No. 1 seeds won. The fact we could hold our flights was big.
“LeRoy was a No. 2 seed and faced a good player in West Iron County’s Ryan Rogers. Quinn was able to go out there and get that point.”
Westwood got wins from Brett Fredrickson at No. 4 singles, Mitch Messing and Tristan Vitale at No. 3 doubles and Brandon Benda and Hunter Roose at No. 4 doubles.
Fredrickson said he was shaky in his first set of a 6-3, 6-0 win over West Iron’s Erick Upperstrom.
“But Coach (Jackson) told me there were some things I needed to focus on, like hitting off my front foot and not my back, and not getting my hips into the shot,” Fredrickson said. “I also let the other guy make some mistakes.”
Benda and Roose knocked off West Iron’s Ryan Peterson and Tristan Nelson, 6-2, 6-0.
“We were nervous at the start, but as time went on, we got better,” Roose said. “Our ball placement was really good.”
Added Benda: “After the fourth game (of the first set), we played with more confidence. We also tried to keep the ball in play.”
Munising’s Noah Ackerman capped an undefeated season with a win at No. 1 singles over Gwinn’s Inigo Cepeda, 6-3, 6-0.
“I was shaky at the start and started slow,” Ackerman said. “(Cepeda) started approaching the net, and I knew I couldn’t outhit him because he’s a great player and hits good strokes.
“So I tipped (the ball) up and when he approached the net, I started to pass him down the line.”
It worked as Ackerman overcame a 2-2 start to win going away for his second straight Upper Peninsula Division 2 individual title.
A senior, Ackerman said Cepeda — an exchange student from Madrid, Spain — started losing confidence midway through the first set, enabling the Mustangs netter to “focus on what I was doing.”
Cepeda might have been unsettled on the court. He broke the strings on his racket in the first set and had to use that of No. 2 singles teammate Micah Heat the rest of the match.
“Inigo is more of a clay player, too,” Gwinn coach Dan Turecky said. “He plays a European style with more power. But (Ackerman’s) control won today.”
West Iron got wins from Andrew Peterson at No. 2 singles and Adam Newby at No. 3.
“We both rallied well in the first set,” Peterson said of his 7-5, 6-3 win over Micah Heath of Gwinn. “We both had good ground strokes.
“In the second set, he was up 2-1. Then I just tried to hit the ball as hard as I could.”
West Iron coach Joe Serbentas, whose Wykons have won a U.P. title six times in the last 10 years, said he and his netters were “disappointed” in their runner-up finish.
“A couple of our flights in doubles didn’t perform as well as we wanted,” he said. “My No. 1 and No. 2 were top seeds, but didn’t get any points. We struggled there.”
Gwinn placed four flights in the finals, but managed to win just one — a 6-2, 6-4 triumph at No. 2 doubles by Mason Bruce and Erik Asplund over Munising’s Joel Werner and Nick Cerone.
“Our serving was good today. We had a lot of aces,” said Bruce, who left the courts immediately afterward to play baseball Wednesday evening for the Channing American Legion baseball team. “Our net play was good, too.”
Turecky said he was “very pleased” with having four Gwinn flights in the finals.
“But we only won one. We didn’t pull through those points, ” he lamented. “We went up against some good players. ”
Iron Mountain picked up a win at No. 1 doubles as Sawyer Kujala and Danny Willman outlasted Gwinn’s Jesse Mottes and Nick Bjork, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2.
Click for championship match results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Munising's Noah Ackerman returns the ball to his Gwinn No. 1 singles opponent during the Division 2 U.P. Finals on Wednesday at Westwood High School. (Middle) Iron Mountain's Sawyer Kujala hits the ball back to his Gwinn No. 1 doubles opponents on the way to winning the flight. (Photos by Adelle Whitefoot).
Negaunee, Olivier Cap 4-Year Title Runs
May 30, 2019
By Adam Niemi
Special for Second Half
KINGSFORD - Negaunee won its fourth straight MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals trophy Wednesday, but Marquette's Alec Olivier also left quite a legacy.
Olivier finished his high school tennis career with an unblemished 63-0 record and capped it with his fourth UP title at No. 1 singles.
While going undefeated through high school wasn't a goal when Olivier started out as a freshman, he said, the quest to maintain a perfect record brought more pressure as he played over the seasons.
"I'm happy it's over. Very stressful trying to go undefeated my whole career," Olivier said. "Really glad I was able to stay undefeated. I think my first year I was the only person to make it in the finals. Now we've got five people in the finals. Really looking forward to what comes of Marquette tennis."
Negaunee took the team win with 21 points. The Miners won all but two flights. Olivier and teammate Benjamin Sternschuss were the only ones to thwart the Miners in the finals.
Kingsford's Tyler Beauchamp and Reece Fortner nearly thwarted Negaunee at No. 1 doubles.
Down by two points in the second set, the Miners duo of Jakson Sager and Drew Lindberg rallied back to win 6-2, 7-5. The comeback underscored Negaunee's ability to overcome adversity to win its fourth consecutive UP title and eighth of the last 10.
"It's a belief. I think the biggest time that's evident is when you end up in a pressure situation," Negaunee head coach Kyle Saari said of the team's resilience. "If it's 5-4 or if you end up getting into a third set, you see people do it before or if you've done it before yourself, you don't feel the pressure – you can apply the pressure."
Saari said the team's winning culture has centered on a team-first approach – a win in any flight is embraced by each player in every flight.
"We understand that most seasons we come in there's a pretty sizable target on our back," Saari said. "These kids, they kind of embrace that challenge and understand the tradition they've built to pass the game on to the next group that comes in. Back from the first day of practice, this is always one of the goals that we set. They work hard day in and day out and support each other. They definitely do it as a team sport. That's always the unique side of it is they embrace each other’s success, and that's what's most neat to be a part of."
Kingsford head coach Sarah Massie said she anticipated a strong bout at No. 1 doubles.
"Coming in we were the underdog because we had lost to them two times earlier this season," she said. "Winning (the Great Northern Conference tournament) last week, I was hoping we could pull it off. Negaunee has such a solid one doubles team, I knew it was going to be tough no matter which way it went. Last time we played them it went to three sets. We were right there with them."
Asked what's different about his tennis game in his senior year compared to his freshman year, Olivier ran his fingers through his beard.
"I've got a lot longer beard," he said with a smile. "I'm definitely a lot more mature. I've got a much better understanding of tennis. Playing a lot of matches you get a good understanding of how the game works and how your points play."
Marquette head coach Charlie Drury said Olivier's performance Wednesday typified his career. He ended with a straight-set win over Negaunee’s No. 1.
"Playing at No. 1 you're always facing the best players," Drury said. "To be able to do it for four years is just a remarkable feat. I don't think anyone has done that, at least not in the last 50 years that I'm aware. Alec's been solid. He's had a lot of pressure to keep that record going. He's done just a tremendous job and (I) couldn't be more proud of him."
Drury said he also liked his team's heady performance against Negaunee's depth.
"Couldn't be more pleased with the guys," Drury said. "I felt as though we were gaining ground going into this tournament. I really think that our guys learned something today to compete with a good team like Negaunee. You've gotta work hard, and today they really did. Negaunee edged us out, but they deserve the win."
Click for full finals flight results.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Negaunee player returns a volley during Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Marquette’s Alec Olivier gets set to send back a shot during his run to the No. 1 singles championship. (Photos by Adam Niemi.)