Country Day Ends Cranes' Title Streak
June 4, 2016
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – Detroit County Day freshman Elle Hartje could’ve avoided the question; instead, she wanted to know what the situation was when she took the court with her teammate, senior Haley Mullins, in the championship match at No. 1 doubles at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Girls Tennis Finals in Holland.
Detroit Country Day, five-time defending champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood and last year’s Division 3 runner-up Grand Rapids Christian were locked in a battle royal for this year’s title. In the second-to-the-last flight title match of the day, Hartje and Mullins took the court to play the Grand Rapids Christian team of Hannah Slenk and McKenzie Moorhead.
“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Hartje said. “I asked Coach if we had a chance to win the title, and she said if we win our match we would win it. It didn’t make me nervous at all.”
Hartje and Mullins may have felt the nerves early when Christian jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Instead, the pair stayed strong and controlled the match the rest of the way. Hartje and Mullins went on to defeat the Eagles’ team 7-5, 6-2 to give the Yellowjackets the final point it needed to secure the championship.
Detroit Country Day finished with 32 points to edge second-place Grand Rapids Christian by one and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood by two points.
“We just slowed it down and became more consistent,” Mullins said. “Our team has never won state while I’ve been at Country Day, and we really wanted it. It’s super special because it’s my final match for Country Day, and we definitely wanted to win it.”
Country Day’s title snapped the five-year winning streak of rival Cranbrook-Kingswood, a team the Yellowjackets defeated the week before at the Regional tournament.
“I can’t remember the last time we won state,” said Country Day coach Jessica Young. “It’s been too long. Cranbrook has won five in a row, and it’s awesome to beat them.”
Country Day is actually the last team to have won the Division 3 title other than Cranbrook-Kingswood, as the Yellowjackets claimed it in 2010.
“We couldn’t have done this without a total team effort,” Young said. “We were upset at a couple of spots, so we needed some big efforts at some of our other flights. Our number two doubles team (Tara Rahmani and Chloe Ward) came up big and reached the quarterfinals. We also got a big lift from Sasha (Hartje) at one singles. It was like a 50/50 match between her and Allison Motea, and Sasha really came up big.”
After dropping the first set 5-7, Hartje, the second seed, came back to win the next two sets (6-1, 6-1) to earn her second win of the season against Cranbrook Kingswood’s top player.
“This just feels unbelievable,” Hartje said. “I’ve been trying my whole high school career to win this title. I was runner-up last year and the year before that I made it to the semifinals. To help my team win the state title is the best part.”
Hartje and Motea are no strangers as they have played each other numerous times over the years.
“We both play competitive tennis outside of high school and have played each other several times a year,” Hartje said. “We also play each other three times a year during the high school season.”
Saturday’s was the deciding match this season as Motea won the first of the year before Hartje won at the Regional meet and then Saturday.
Country Day also claimed individual titles at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
At No. 2 singles, freshman Monique Karoub defeated Cranbrook-Kingswood’s Emily Harvey 6-2, 6-2.
“It feels really great,” said Karoub, who came in as the number one seed. “I was really nervous, but my teammates really helped me. I have some really great teammates, and they came together for me and helped me out.”
At No. 3 singles, Country Day junior Sadina Fadel captured her second consecutive title. Fadel defeated Grand Rapids Christian’s Emma Greydanus 6-0, 6-0 to claim the crown.
“It was a lot easier this year,” Fadel said. “Last year I would get nervous, but this year I learned how to control my nerves. I just wanted to win this year as a team. It is a lot better when we can win as a team.”
At No. 4 singles, Grand Rapids Christian sophomore Maria Poortenga claimed the MHSAA title. Poortenga, who reached the semifinals last year as a freshman, faced a number of hurdles on her way to winning this season. Earlier, Poortenga broke a finger that resulted in her missing a few weeks, and just before the MHSAA tournament she was battling a foot injury. Poortenga actually wore a boot on her foot the week before the tournament and was unable to practice, although her doctor gave her the green light to compete in the tournament.
Poortenga made the most of her opportunity as she defeated Allyson Zwiep of Holland Christian 6-0, 6-2.
“This was real, real nice,” Poortenga said. “I was not expected to do this well. My foot was in a boot all week and I was not able to practice. I’ve had a rough season, but we have seven seniors on the team and it’s been real fun.”
Poortenga was seeded third at No. 4 singles but defeated second-seed Jenna Lee of Country Day 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals before defeating Zwiep, the fourth seed, in the final.
“I just became a lot better player since last year,” Poortenga said. “I had a lot of matches that gave me some good experience, and that really helped.”
A pair of Poortenga’s teammates also claimed a title. At No. 3 doubles, Grand Rapids Christian’s Kate Zwiers and Natalie DeBoer needed three sets to hold off Sauma Du and Alexandra Bowers of Cranbrook-Kingswood, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Cranbrook-Kingswood claimed a pair of doubles titles. In the longest match of the finals, the Cranes’ No. 4 doubles team of Ava Harb and Frances Dube outlasted Detroit Country Day’s Maya Nassif and Sharmila Prabhu 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
At No. 2 doubles, Amelia Smith and Kate Cao of Cranbrook-Kingswood defeated Caroline Heule and Olivia DeVos of Grand Rapids Christian 6-2, 6-4.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day hoists its championship trophy Saturday at Holland. (Middle) Detroit Country Day’s Elle Hartje returns a shot at No. 1 doubles with teammate Haley Mullins backing her up. (Below) Grand Rapids Christian’s Maria Poortenga won the No. 4 singles title after coming back from a recent foot injury. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: Powers Set to Shine Again
May 30, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Saturday’s girls tennis forecast calls for traditional powers to dominate another Lower Peninsula Finals.
But keep an eye out for at least a pair of hopefuls aiming for their first championships in this sport.
Bloomfield Hills in Division 1 and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central in Division 4 are among contenders with the best chances of joining the list of teams that have earned titles over nearly a half century.
Following are all four sites and start times for both Friday and Saturday’s rounds:
- Division 1 – Greater Midland Tennis Center (8:30 a.m. 5/31, 9 a.m. 6/1)
- Division 2 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (5/31 Singles at Hope at 8 a.m., doubles at Holland Christian at 8:30; 6/1 all finals at Hope at 8 a.m.)
- Division 3 – Novi High School (5/31 Novi HS 8 a.m., Novi MS 8:30 a.m.; 6/1 Novi HS 8 a.m.)
- Division 4 – Kalamazoo College (8 a.m. both days)
Below is a brief look at top contenders at each tournament; click for more including brackets and seeds for all 32 flights across the four divisions.
LP Division 1 at Greater Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Grosse Pointe South, 2. Bloomfield Hills, 3. Northville.
After sharing with Midland Dow in 2017, Northville won the title alone last spring to make it three championships over four seasons. This week, the Mustangs jumped up two spots in the final rankings to join the two contenders who have been at the top since the last week in April. Grosse Pointe South is seeking its first title since 2014 and third this decade, while Bloomfield Hills is seeking its first ever. They finished fourth and third, respectively, in 2018.
Grosse Pointe South: All eight Blue Devils flights are seeded at least fourth, with No. 4 singles Moira Hix and No. 1 doubles Kate Beardslee and Maddie Hurley top-seeded. Laurel Sullivan, second-seeded at No. 2, was the No. 2 runner-up in 2017 and made the quarterfinals at No. 1 a year ago. Beardslee advanced to the No. 4 singles semifinals last season. Grosse Pointe South won all eight flights at its Regional, which also included No. 6 Troy.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks fell just four points shy of that first championship last season and return two individual champions, No. 1 singles Tia Mukherjee and No. 4 Jenna Silverman, who has moved up to No. 3. Seven of eight flights are seeded, with Emily Ross and Carly Bernard at No. 3 doubles and Susan Baenen and Emma Gray at No. 4 owning top seeds. The one unseeded flight, No. 2 doubles, includes Kaela Bernard, who was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 last season. Mukherjee is seeded only fourth, but also finished No. 1 singles runner-up in 2017.
Northville: The Mustangs’ win last year came with two flight champions and four runners-up, and a number of those players return. After finishing second at No. 2 singles, Tori Mady has moved up to No. 1, and last year’s No. 3 runner-up Renee Torres also jumped up a flight. Both also won singles flights in 2017. Connie Gao and Sneha Ganan won No. 4 doubles last season, but Ganan is now a seeded player at No. 4 singles and Gao and Michelle Tong are seeded at No. 3 doubles – where Tong and Madison DeYoung were runners-up last season. Sophie Zhuang was part of last season’s No. 1 doubles champion and is part of the fourth-seeded pair this weekend with Maya Mulchandani. The team’s lone top seed is at No. 2 doubles, where DeYoung and Andrea Nam hold down the top spot, Nam coming off a run to the semifinals at that flight a year ago.
Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kari Miller: The standout junior defeated Mukherjee two seasons ago to win No. 1 singles as a freshman, and after a year away from high school tennis is back as the top seed at the top flight.
Plymouth’s Jessica Braun: The second seed at No. 1 singles has made the quarterfinals twice and semifinals last season at this flight, and gave Miller a run in the first set of their Regional championship match.
Midland Dow’s Meghan Killmaster and Victoria Leiti: Last season’s champion at No. 2 doubles is teaming up as the fifth seed at No. 1.
LP Division 2 at Hope College/Holland Christian
Top-ranked: 1. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 2 Birmingham Seaholm, 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian.
Aside from East Grand Rapids jumping to the top in 2017, either Forest Hills Northern, Seaholm or Marian has won the LPD2 title 15 of the last 16 seasons – with two of them even sharing the title twice. Reigning champ Seaholm won basically a dual with last year’s runner-up Marian at this year’s Regional, while Forest Hills Northern is hoping to make the move from fourth in 2018.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: All eight flights are seeded fourth or higher, with Isabella Paul at No. 3 singles and Alexis Pena at No. 4 topping their flights. Abigail Zhang and Lilia Henkel were No. 2 doubles runners-up a year ago and are seeded third at that flight; Zhang was half of the No. 2 doubles champion in 2017 as well. The Huskies won seven of eight flights and placed second in the eighth at a Regional that included No. 4 East Grand Rapids and No. 7 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples cleared the field by seven points last season with five flight championships including a sweep of doubles, and they’re in position to repeat at least the latter. Three pairs are top seeds: Madison Daminato and Emily Hirsch at No. 1, Brooke Forte and Lilly Trinch at No. 2 and Ashley Buechner and Remi Maynard at No. 4, with Hirsch a reigning champion at No. 1, Forte and Trinch the reigning champions at No. 2, Buechner a champ last year at No. 3 and Charlie Kuchman and Sofia Manzo the 2018 champions at No. 4 moving up to earn the second seed at No. 3 this time. Reigning No. 4 singles champ Greta Albertie is the second seed at that flight, and last year’s No. 2 runner-up Sofia Gryzenia has moved to No. 1.
Bloomfield Hills Marian: Last season’s runner-up made a run despite no flight winners but four runners-up including three in doubles, and they also are loaded again with a top seed and three second seeds filling that half of the lineup. Ragad Almsaddi and Gigi Kalabat are the top seed at No. 3 – Kalabat was part of last year’s No. 1 runner-up. This year’s second-seeded No. 1 includes Marlo Hudson – last year’s No. 3 singles runner-up – and 2018 No. 2 singles semifinalist Mia Schwartz. Ariana Kotsakis and Claire Stechow are both back after finishing second at No. 3 doubles last season, Kotsakis again at that flight and Stechow at No. 1 singles. Reigning No. 4 doubles runner-up Emma Albertie and Kathryn Torok both are helping fill out the singles lineup, Albertie a fifth seed at No. 3 and Torok the fourth at No. 4.
East Grand Rapids’ Sloane Teske: To no surprise, the reigning two-time champion at No. 1 singles is the top seed again at the top flight in her final high school tournament.
Holly’s Taylor Barrett: Now a senior and the second seed at No. 1, she made the semifinals as the third seed a year ago and took that match to three sets.
East Grand Rapids’ Halley Elliott: Last season’s champion at No. 3 singles as a second seed is moving up to No. 2 as a junior.
LP Division 3 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Allegan.
Country Day is looking to run its championship streak to four after Cranbrook Kingswood won the five previous titles before that. They finished first and second, respectively, a year ago, Country Day just short of a perfect score with 38 points. Allegan was fifth last season and is seeking to add its first Finals title to four runner-up finishes, the most recent coming in 2013.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets won all but Nos. 1 and 2 doubles at last season’s Finals, and they’re seeded first in four flights this time. Monique Karoub – a two-time champion at No. 2 singles and the No. 1 champion in 2017 – is seeded first at No. 1. Elle Hartje is the top seed at No. 2 singles with championships at No. 3 singles last year and No. 1 doubles her first two. No. 3 singles top seed Alexis Nardicchio won No. 4 singles the last two years. The top seed at No. 1 doubles is made up of Tara Rahmani and Nina Khaghany; Rahmani was a No. 2 doubles champ in 2017 and Khaghany won No. 3 singles that season and was part of the No. 1 doubles runner-up in 2018. Anushri Radhakrishnan and Maria Sicilia won No. 4 doubles last season, and Radhakrishnan returns to No. 4 as part of the third seed while Sicilia is part of the third seed at No. 3.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes are expected to match up with Country Day quite a bit Saturday with five second seeds and Charlotte Brown the top seed at No. 4 singles. Abby Foltyn is part of the second-seeded No. 1 doubles pair after winning No. 2 last season, and Simrin Nagaraju is part of the second seed at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at No. 4 doubles with Mia Inakage, part of the second seed at No. 3 doubles this time. Freshman Nina Govila is the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Allegan: The Tigers are seeded at every flight, with Delaney Heckman and Maddy Layton at No. 3 doubles and Krista Kocur and Maddie Wagner at No. 4 holding down top seeds. Heckman and Layton were the runners-up at No. 3 last season. Emma Philippus and Nicole Galloway were the runners-up at No. 2 and have moved up to the fourth seed at No. 1.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Danko: The fifth seed at No. 1 singles finished runner-up a year ago as a sophomore after entering as the third seed.
LP Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 2. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, 3. Grosse Ile.
Academy of the Sacred Heart has won five of the last seven Division 4 championships and finished seven points ahead of runner-up Traverse City St. Francis a year ago. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central came in fifth, just two points out of third, and is seeking its first title after coming closest as runner-up in 2012. Grosse Ile won in 2014 and was second in 2013, and tied for 10th in Division 3 last season.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: The Gazelles swept doubles last season and are seeded first at all four of those flights to go with four third seeds in singles. The No. 1 pair is made up of returning Annie Keating and Reagan Beatty, last season’s champion at No. 3 singles. Nolwenn Crosnier was part of the winner last season at No. 2 and is joined this time by Marisa Nafso, while No. 3 top seeds Kate Myers and Serena Seneker won titles with different partners at Nos. 4 and 3 last season, respectively. Hannah Kakos was Myers’ partner last season and is teaming up with Catherine Blumberg for the No. 4 favorite pair.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central: The Kestrels are seeded at seven flights, with the lone unseeded player Willow Biggs returning to No. 1 singles. Taylor Kennedy is the top seed at No. 3 and Hannah Hodgson is the top seed at No. 4 after both finished runners-up at the same flights last year.
Grosse Ile: The Red Devils have posted four straight top-10 finishes in Division 3 since that Division 4 title. They are seeded at six flights with a pair of top-two seeds in singles – top-seeded Jessica Schutt at No. 2 and second-seeded Jenna Sheets at No. 4. Schutt made the quarterfinals at No. 2 last season in Division 3.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s Melanie Zampardo: The top seed at No. 1 singles was the fourth seed and made the semifinals as a sophomore last season and entered as the sixth seed as a freshman.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Moorea McNalley: One of the state’s freshman standouts this spring, she enters her first Finals as the second seed at No. 1 singles.
PHOTO: Bloomfield Hills' Tia Mukherjee returns a volley during last season's run to the LP Division 1 title at No. 1 singles. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)