Doubles Dominate, Freshman Clinches for Sacred Heart
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2013
KALAMAZOO — They swept the doubles championships.
But it was freshman Tate Lehmann – the top seed at No. 4 singles – who clinched the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 team title for Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart on Saturday at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.
Lehmann defeated third-seeded Lauren Hansen, a senior from Traverse City St. Francis, 7-6 (2), 6-4, in the nail-biting final, giving Sacred Heart back-to-back titles.
Going neck-and-neck with Grosse Ile, and with their final two matches still on the court, Sacred Heart co-coach Jim Slaughter said he knew his team needed one more point to clinch the title.
”We were hoping of the two we had out there, one would pull out a win,” the ecstatic coach said. “It is a lot of pressure. When (Lehmann) walked off, I told her it was the clinching match, and she lit up; she was surprised.”
Slaughter said the top-seeded No. 4 doubles team of senior Elia Wilson and freshman Gretchen Lemon hoped they wouldn’t be the deciding match: “Too much pressure,” he said.
The coach said he figured it would come down to Sacred Heart and Grosse Ile.
“Grosse Ile was right on our tail,” Slaughter said. “They were tied going into the last two matches. They’re a solid team. I think we knew it would probably come down to the two of us, just the way the seeds had fallen and by the regular season.”
Lehmann was getting her first taste of an MHSAA Finals tournament.
“It was really exciting,” she said. “I’ve never been to a tournament like this, but it was really exciting and fun. I just stayed consistent, and that helped a lot. It was really a good feeling.”
Sacred Heart finished with 29 points and Grosse Ile with 26. St. Francis was third with 17 points.
Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central senior Meika Ashby, the top seed, defeated second-seeded Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard junior Colleen O’Brien, 6-2, 6-1, to win the No. 1 singles title.
Ashby, headed to Western Michigan University in the fall, won the No. 2 singles title as a freshman and No. 1 as a sophomore. Last year, she lost to Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Kasey Gardiner in the No. 1 final, one of just two matches she’s lost in her four-year career. The other was this year to University of Michigan-bound Sara Remynse, a Richland Gull Lake senior who lost in the Division 2 final Saturday.
“This was a tough match,” Ashby said of Saturday’s final. “Colleen is a great player. She’s a tough player. I went out there with the mindset that it was going to be a tough match, and it was.”
After dropping just one game in the tournament, Ashby lost on O’Brien’s first two services before finding her groove.
“I started out trying to play my normal game,” Ashby said. “I like to be an aggressive baseliner, but I had to take a lot of pace off the ball and change it up, trying to move her around the court.”
O’Brien, who won the No. 2 singles title last year, said it’s a big jump to No. 1.
“”The girls definitely hit harder,” she said. “They want it more and they know how to compete, for sure. It’s definitely tougher.
“I learned I’ve just gotta keep on fighting and never give up. It’s a battle out there, and you’ve just gotta keep believing you can win.”
Said Gabriel Richard coach Jim Sayed: “Colleen ran up against a better player today. It was a nice match all around. (Ashby) has incredible ground strokes, and there’s not many people who hit the ball like she does. It’s really tough to keep up with the pace of her ground strokes.”
Ashby’s game isn’t the only thing that caught the attention of WMU women’s coach Betsy Kuhle, who was in the stands watching her recruit on Saturday.
“Mostly it’s Meika’s attitude and work ethic that make her what she is,” Kuhle said. “She plays every point very bright. She has a game plan and she knows how to execute it.”
Hackett coach Aaron Conroy said the key is Ashby’s diverse game.
“She has a well-rounded game, big ground strokes,” he said. “Even more so, I’m really proud of Meika for the sportsmanship that she shows on the court.”
After a grueling, three-hour, three-set semifinal win, Grosse Ile sophomore Brianna Riley, the second seed, defeated Gabriel Richard senior Anjali Sood, the top seed, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Theirs was the final match on the courts.
“They gave me a break (after the semis),” Riley said. “I was so thankful for it. I never expected this was gonna happen. I rested, I ate a little bit, I drank a lot of water and sought some shade.”
She said playing a senior in the final was a bit intimidating.
“They have all the experience, all the years, all the matches, all the sets,” Riley said. “I didn’t have that. It was a pleasant surprise. I was just mentally trying to stay focused, making each shot. Staying consistent was the most important thing for me today.”
In spite of the loss, Sood said, “It’s been an amazing senior year. I’m glad how far I made it.
“(Riley) is a very consistent player. I tried, but she was very good. (Between the semi and final), you try to mentally prepare for the match, get up and get your feet moving and stay calm and focused.”
For the first time, Grosse Ile was playing in Division 4.
“I think we were the smallest Division 3 school, and now we’re the largest Division 4,” coach John Shade said. “It’s new competition.
“We heard that (Sacred Heart’s) doubles were good, and they certainly were. We didn’t get a chance to play during the season. There were some good matches. We were just a little bit behind.”
Gabriel Richard tied for fourth with Kalamazoo Christian, each with 16 points.
“This was an outstanding effort from everybody on the team,” Gabriel Richard’s Sayed said. “We’re really happy with the results we’ve had. It was a fantastic effort all around.”
Kalamazoo Christian’s top seed, freshman Audrey Bouma at No. 3 singles, matched her sister, Jessica Bouma, who also won the No. 3 singles title two years ago as a freshman.
“(Jessica) just told me to stay confident and play as hard as I can; go out there and do my best,” said Bouma, who rolled to a 4-1 first-set lead, then pulled out a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 three-setter against third seed Julia Formentin, a sophomore from Grosse Ile.
“In the third set, I just had to get my focus back in, especially from the second set,” Bouma said. “I just worked for every point and played as hard as I could.”
Kalamazoo Christian coach Allison VanderMeer said she was proud of the way the freshman bounced back.
“She could have very well folded in that third set and been done with it, but she’s a fierce competitor, and Audrey just stepped up her game like she did in the first set and followed through,” said VanderMeer, who gave the freshman a pep talk after the second set. “She needed to fire up. She just kinda lost steam. She took her foot off the gas pedal in the second set, and (Formentin) definitely took off from there.
“Audrey let off a little and she stepped up and the second set went by way too fast. The third set, I said step up your game a little bit, hit the ball like you know you can, don’t think too much about those shots. She definitely had the ability.”
Formentin said nerves kicked in during the final set.
“I was really nervous and going for too much,” she said. “I should have pulled through, but second place is good. She’s a very good player. It’s a big accomplishment, and I’m glad to be here.”
PHOTOS: (Top) The Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart girls tennis team poses with its championship trophy. (Middle) Kalamazoo Hackett's Meika Ashby finishes a serve during a match at No. 1 singles. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)
Sacred Heart Sends Coach Out as Champ
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2019
KALAMAZOO — By the end of play Friday, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart had already repeated as the Lower Peninsula Division 4 team champion, but don't ask any of the girls how that felt.
The coaches did not mention it until Saturday at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.
“We didn’t find out until just now,” No. 1 doubles champ Annie Keating said after her Saturday final. “We assumed, but no one really knew. We just went out and played our best.”
Sacred Heart, with the top seeds in every doubles flight, swept those four. But the match of the tournament was the No. 1 singles final.
Freshman Moorea McNalley, the second seed from Clarkston Everest Collegiate, rallied to defeat top-seeded Melanie Zampardo, a Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett junior, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
The barnburner was the last match on the court, with the crowd inside the Markin Racquet Center sending deafening cheers after each point, especially during the third set.
“We played during the regular season, and she beat me both times,” McNalley said. “Today, I just tried to get everything back and not get mad.
“Last time, I was getting upset at myself, so I was trying not to do that this time and just keep playing.”
Playing in her first MHSAA tournament, “I had no clue if it was going to be good or bad,” she said. “It was good, definitely.
“Since it’s my last match of the season, I was giving it my all.”
With the doubles semifinals played on Friday because of the projected rain the next day, Sacred Heart’s four semis points clinched the title. They ended with 31 points, eight more than runner-up Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
“We knew (Friday) we couldn’t catch Sacred Heart but the kids have been motivated all year, so there was no problem getting them motivated to play,” St. Mary coach Wayne Asher said.
“Grosse Ile was right there with us, and there were a couple other schools not too far away also.”
Grosse Ile, which moved from Division 3 this year, finished third with 21 points, North Muskegon (17) was fourth and Everest (16) fifth.
Sacred Heart’s sixth title in eight seasons is bittersweet for coach Judy Hehs, who is leaving the school at the end of the year.
Hehs has coached the girls since the 1996-97 season.
“In their hearts they decided in March they were going to win a state championship,” Hehs said. “We had several kids make sacrifices about where they played, with whom they played, in order to get here.
“They, as a team, made that decision to work to that goal.”
Each doubles team had at least one past Finals champ in the pairing to mentor the younger players, Hehs said.
Keating, a junior, said losing their coach gave she and her teammates motivation.
“She’s the best coach we’ve ever had,” she said. “We really wanted to win this one for her. That was our motivation.”
Keating and sophomore Reagan Beatty defeated North Muskegon seniors Belles Hardman and Lily Montgomery, the second seeds, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.
Beatty won the title at No. 3 singles last year but wanted to play doubles with Keating, her cousin.
“The biggest adjustment was mostly working with a partner and it was nice having my cousin, which was amazing,” Beatty said.
“But I also think it was difficult because you have a little bit of pressure, saying I don’t want to let my partner down. But it also has its upsides because you have a partner if you’re not doing well.”
Playing with her cousin has advantages.
“We can communicate with each other without having to talk,” Beatty said. “We just look at each other, and we know.”
At. No. 2 doubles, senior Nolwenn Crosnier and freshman Marisa Nafso defeated second seeds, senior Katy Zink and freshman Katherine Kemp of Royal Oak Shrine Catholic, 6-2, 6-1.
It was the second No. 2 doubles title for Crosnier.
“It feels good, but it’s also nerve-wracking because there are high expectations,” she said. “We really wanted the title.”
Nafso was happy for the mentoring.
“I have a lot of nerves so she calms me down a lot,” Nafso said of her partner. “When we’re on the court, we really like to laugh and smile and be friends with our opponents.
“We’ve been spending every single day together trying to prepare for states.”
The friendliness extended to the final.
“I was surprised at No. 2 doubles,” Hehs said. “They spent more time at the net at the end of the match, where we wanted to congratulate them.
“They were enjoying the company of their opponents, discovering where they were going to college and stuff like that.”
Junior Kate Myers and senior Serena Seneker won the title at No. 3 doubles, and senior Catherine Blumberg and junior Hannah Kakos won at No. 4.
At No. 2 singles, Grosse Ile junior Jessica Schutt, the top seed, defeated Shrine’s unseeded senior, Ann Gladstone, 6-1, 6-1.
Gladstone stunned No. 2 seed, Sarah Schmidt of Clarkston Everest Collegiate, 6-4, 6-3, then dispatched No. 6-seeded Claire McCall of North Muskegon, 6-3, 7-6(6)
“I played (Gladstone) at Regional, and then hearing about her big upset I was like she must have improved a lot in the last couple weeks,” Schutt said. “I was really nervous.
“I was just hitting it deep, keeping at it, not letting her in.”
Gladstone said she ended her senior season “just playing my heart out.
“It’s my last year, and I just wanted to give it my all and just battle. My coach said, ‘Imagine, believe, achieve’ and I just used that.”
The senior said she had a mental adjustment after Regionals.
“I was a very timid player and I would just try to get the ball back, and now I was more on the offensive and just hit my shots,” she said.
At No. 3 singles, St. Mary senior Taylor Kennedy, the top seed, defeated second seed Madelyn Vitu, a junior from Everest Collegiate, 6-1, 6-3.
After losing in the final at No. 3 last year, “I learned to stay steady and always be consistent and don’t try to hit a hard shot and always just stay steady because that’s how you win points,” Kennedy said.
“I learned not to get in my own head. Last year, I would always get mad at myself and get down, but this year I learned just to get the ball in and do my thing and play my game.”
At No. 4 singles, second seed Jenna Sheets, a Grosse Ile senior, defeated St. Mary junior Hannah Hodgson, the top seed, 7-5, 6-1.
Despite being tucked back on Court 4 at the Markin Center, the farthest from the bleachers, Sheets said she had no problem hearing the crowd.
“I think I have a pretty good mental game, but (the crowd) just helps you think about what the reward is if you get through it,” she said.
It was especially rewarding for the senior Saturday.
“In past years, I never made it past the quarterfinals,” she said.
“My mental game has improved. I’m a very relaxed player and never get mad at myself, so I think that’s definitely my strongest thing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart’s Isabelle Burg lines up to return a volley during a Friday match at No. 2 singles. (Middle) Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Moorea McNalley prepares to serve on the way to winning the No. 1 singles title this weekend. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)