GP South, Pioneer's Miller Take Back Titles
June 1, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
MIDLAND – After disposing of reigning No. 1 singles champion Tia Mukherjee of Bloomfield Hills in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at the Greater Midland Tennis Center, 2017 champ Kari Miller of Ann Arbor Pioneer had to refocus her energy to take on Lily Jones of Grosse Pointe South.
Stunned in the first set 5-7, Miller regrouped and wore down Jones, winning the next sets 6-1 and 6-0, to claim her second Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals title at the top flight in three years.
“I knew she had gone through a tough three-set match in the semifinal,’’ said Miller. “In the first set she just ran everything down and hit some great shots. I tried to keep her running in the second set.
“This is just as special as my freshman year. I was glad my teammates stuck around, and some even came down to watch.’’
It’s rare that champions face off, but that was the case when Mukherjee faced Miller in the semifinals. Miller had defeated Mukherjee in the 2017 championship match, and in Saturday’s rematch prevailed again, 6-2, 6-4.
Miller didn’t play high school tennis last year, and Mukherjee assumed the role as the most dominant player in Division 1, winning 6-0, 6-0 in the 2018 final against Northville’s Shanoli Kumar. Miller spent her sophomore year playing in elite tournaments across the country, including in Palm Springs, Calif., Atlanta and Grand Rapids.
She fared well in those three events, finishing in the top five at all three venues.
"I've had some great ones,” said longtime Pioneer girls and boys head coach Tom Pullen. “It's special for her to come back and play high school tennis because she didn't have to do it. She's special.''
Since Miller had already determined that University of Michigan would be her college choice, coming back to play high school tennis at Pioneer became appealing.
“Since she has already committed to Michigan, I think it was a no-brainer that she came back to play for the team this year,’’ said Pioneer assistant coach Dan Goldberg. “This is a totally different dynamic from the national USTA scene. There were some nerves in her first match today. She wasn’t really used to this environment and everybody yelling and screaming. It affected her a little bit. She had to settle in and go about her business like this was any other tournament.’’
The third-seeded Jones may have fell just a set short of closing out the title at No. 1 singles, but her point from a three-set win over Plymouth’s second-seeded Jessica Braun in the semifinal played a significant role in deciding a tight team race.
Jones eventually won the match over Braun, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 to face Miller in the final. South, ranked No. 1 coming into the tournament, won the team title just ahead of Bloomfield Hills, 30-28.
“She’s getting tired now, but that was a big point for us,’’ said coach Mark Sobieralski during her match with Miller.
The championship was South’s first since 2014 and third this decade.
“It’s all about the mental,’’ he said. “We didn’t talk about where we were ranked. We try to keep things in small terms. (Friday) was phase 1. Today was phase 2. We had to take care of business today.’’
Top seed Miriam Gandham of Ann Arbor Huron dominated Savannah Matuszewski of Midland Dow, 6-0, 6-0 to clinch the No. 2 singles title.
Midland Dow’s Laura Leiti, the top seed at No. 3 singles, defeated Jenna Silverman of Bloomfield Hills, 6-2, 6-2 in that final.
“I had played her before so that helped, but states is so hectic,’’ said Leiti. “I just went out there and hit the best I could. I tried to adapt to her game, but it was a matter of me moving my feet and going for shots.’’
At No. 4 singles, top seed Moira Hix kept South in the running for the team title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over three-seed Claire Earley of Midland Dow.
The No. 1 doubles title went to the Bloomfield Hills duo of Madison Narens and Hannah Tomina with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Northville’s Maya Mulchandani and Sophie Zhuang.
South claimed the No. 2 doubles title as Anna Dietz and Claire Beardslee defeated Northville’s Madison DeYoung and Andrea Nam, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
Northville’s No. 3 doubles team of Connie Gao and Michelle Tong defeated South’s Kaitlin Ifkovits and Mairin Heimbuch, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to claim the crown.
At No. 4 doubles Bloomfield Hills’ top seeds Susan Baenen and Emma Gray knocked off Troy’s Lana Rihawi and Julia Macri, 6-0, 6-4.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kari Miller lines up to return a volley during Friday’s rounds at Greater Midland Tennis Center. (Middle) Grosse Pointe South’s No. 1 doubles pair of Kate Beardslee and Maddie Hurley earned their team key points by reaching the semifinals. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: Lineup Packed with Powers
May 30, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A number of familiar faces will return to the Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals this weekend – and the frequent contenders are expected to battle again in three of four divisions.
But a pair of hopefuls are looking to join the powers with their first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi and Traverse City St. Francis are among the top-three ranked teams in Division 4, and both are seeking a first Finals championship – although annual power Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart remains in the mix as well.
In Division 1, meanwhile, 2017 co-champs Midland Dow and Northville are expected to decide the title, while a traditional crew of powers holds many of the top seeds in Division 2. Detroit Country Day is the likely team to beat again in Division 3.
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. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 2 – Kalamazoo College (8 a.m. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 3 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (Singles at Hope 8 a.m./Doubles at Holland Christian 8:30 a.m. 6/1, all finals at Hope 8 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 4 – Novi (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 Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Midland Dow, 2. Northville, 3. Bloomfield Hills.
These three made up the contenders in a little different order a year ago as well, and Dow and Northville shared the championship in 2017 after taking turns finishing first and second the previous two seasons. Both have nearly their entire lineups back, and Dow edged Northville by two points to win the Holly Invitational at the beginning of this month.
Midland Dow: The Chargers have top-three seeds at seven of eight flights, with Sarah Ismail on the top line at No. 3 singles and Amelie Kraef and Reema Patel the favorite at No. 4 doubles. Ismail won No. 2 singles in 2017 and No. 3 in 2016, and Patel was part of the championship-winning pair at No. 4 doubles last season. Hadley Camp and Tatum Matthews were runners-up in 2017; Camp was second at No. 3 singles and this weekend is the second seed at No. 4, while Matthews was runner-up at No. 2 doubles and is now part of the top seed at No. 1 with Kelly Livingston, part of the 2016 champ at No. 2. Unseeded No. 1 singles player Jessica Brown was runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman in 2015 and has made the No. 1 quarterfinals the last two seasons.
Northville: The Mustangs are seeded at every flight, with three top seeds and two flights in the second spot. Shanoli Kumar is top-seeded at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals in 2017 and winning and finishing second at No. 2 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Serena Wang and Sophie Zhuang are seeded first at No. 1 doubles for the second straight year after making the semifinals last season, and Neha Chava and Andrea Nam are top-seeded at No. 2 doubles after Chava won that flight last spring and Nam was part of the runner-up at No. 3. Renee Torres and Tori Mady are the reigning champions at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively; Mady is seeded second at No. 2 singles and Torres is the fourth seed at No. 3 this weekend.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks finished third last season, only three points back of the co-champs and 10 ahead of the rest of the field. Junior Tia Mukherjee is second-seeded at No. 1 singles and hoping to play for the title again after finishing runner-up at that flight a year ago. Jenna Silverman at No. 4 singles and Ellen Burke and Lauren Walkon at No. 3 doubles also earned top seeds, and Kaela Bernard at No. 2 doubles was part of the runner-up at No. 4 last year.
Ann Arbor Huron’s Angie Zhou: The freshman No. 1 singles player has enjoyed a big high school debut and is seeded third at the top flight.
Plymouth’s Jessica Braun: She’s seeded fourth at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals as the fifth seed the last two seasons.
Grosse Pointe South’s Laurel Sullivan: She’s seeded fifth at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up to Ismail at No. 2 in 2017.
LP Division 2 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. East Grand Rapids, 3. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Similar to Division 1, these were the top three ranked teams at this point in 2017 as well but in a different order. East Grand Rapids won last year’s championship, three points ahead of Forest Hills Northern, but Seaholm is the favorite to take back the title for what would be the first time since 2015 but fourth time this decade. Forest Hills Northern shared the championship with the Maples in 2014 and also finished runner-up in 2012 and 2015.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples have four top seeds and three second seeds after winning seven flights to claim the Regional title two weeks ago ahead of No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Marian, which beat Seaholm by a point at the Regional last year and then finished a point ahead of Seaholm at the Final. The Maples are expected to dominate doubles – Brooke Forte and Lilly Trinch at No. 2, Jessica Buechner and Lea Cazaudumec at No. 3 and Charlie Kutchman and Sofia Manzo at No. 4 are all top-seeded, while Layla Bellissimo and Emily Hirsch are the second seed at No. 1. Forte and Trinch were the No. 3 runners-up in 2017. Mollie Judge at No. 3 singles carries a top seed as well and made the quarterfinals at No. 2 a year ago.
East Grand Rapids: All eight flights are seeded, led by reigning No. 1 singles champion Sloane Teske holding down the top line in that flight. Hannah Stuursma is the reigning champion at No. 2 singles and seeded third in her return, while Halley Elliott is seeded second at No. 3 after making the semifinals at No. 4 last spring. Audrey Devries and Kate Mackeigan are the reigning champions at No. 4 doubles and seeded this time fifth at No. 2, and Alivia Vincelj is part of the third seed at No. 1 after finishing as part of last season’s runner-up at No. 2.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies are seeded in seven flights coming off last season’s runner-up run. Claire Tatman and Sydney McLean both were flight champions last season – Tatman at No. 1 doubles and McLean at No. 3 – and they’re teaming up for the fourth-seeded pairing at No. 1. Abby Zhang was part of last season’s No. 2 doubles champion and is partnering with Lilla Henkel for the third-seeded pair at that flight.
Royal Oak’s Olivia Weiss: Another standout freshman, she’s holding down the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Holly’s Taylor Barrett: The third seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last season as the fourth seed.
St. Joseph’s Ashley Ke: The fourth-seeded player at No. 1 came back after dropping the first set to win her Regional against Mattawan’s Kate Novak.
Mattawan’s Kate Novak: Last year’s sixth seed at No. 1 is up to the fifth seed at this Final; a year ago she upset Ke on the way to making the flight semifinals.
Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Madison Dering and Gigi Kalabat: Dering made the quarterfinals at No. 1 doubles last year with Kate Currier; Dering this time is part of the top-seeded pair with reigning No. 4 singles runner-up Kalabat, while Currier is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 2.
LP Division 3 at Hope College
The ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 3. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Detroit Country Day repeated last season as champion with a near-perfect 39 points, as Grand Rapids Christian finished second for the third straight season. Forest Hills Eastern finished ahead of Christian two weeks ago at their Regional to enter this weekend as the top contender from the west side of the state, and Cranbrook Kingswood always is in the mix with its five straight titles to start this decade hardly a distant memory.
Detroit Country Day: Freshman Julie Fliegner is the top seed at No. 1 singles, an even more substantial accomplishment as teammate Monique Karoub is the top seed at No. 2 – after winning the championship at No. 1 a year ago. Elle Hartje is the top seed at No. 3 after winning No. 1 doubles championships the last two seasons, and Alexis Nardicchio is the top seed at No. 4 after winning that flight in 2017. All four doubles pairs are seeded as well, with Maya Nassif and Ruhi Nayak a top seed at No. 3 after Nassif won the title at No. 4 and Nayak was part of the runner-up at 3 last spring. Heather Zimmerman and Tara Rahmani won the No. 2 doubles title last year, and this weekend Zimmerman enters as part of the second seed at No. 1 and Rahmani as part of the fourth seed at No. 2.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern: The Hawks are shooting for their first top-two Finals finish and came in fourth last season. All eight flights this weekend have seeds of fifth or higher, with Avneet Deol the team’s highest as a second seed at No. 4 singles after she made the semifinals at No. 3 a year ago.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes came in third a year ago and may make their run this time on the strength of powerful doubles. Kate Cao and Amelia Smith are the top seed at No. 1 after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Sophia Moustakas and Abby Foltyn are the top seed at No. 2 and Simrin Nagaraju and Mia Inakage have the top line of the bracket at No. 4.
Paw Paw’s Lorena Castellanos: Coming off a Regional title, she’s earned the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Danko: Enters this weekend as the third seed at No. 1 singles after beating fifth-seeded Leah Palladino of Forest Hills Eastern in the Regional title match.
Flint Powers Catholic’s Alise Haddad: The fourth seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last year as the sixth seed in the top flight.
LP Division 4 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Jackson Lumen Christi, 2. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
After finishing runner-up and five points behind champion Ann Arbor Greenhills in 2017, Lumen Christi is favored to win its first MHSAA Finals championship in this spring. But Academy of the Sacred Heart of course can’t be counted out; the Gazelles were third last season and won four titles in five years from 2012-16. St. Francis was the runner-up for the last of those two Sacred Heart titles, in 2015 and 2016, and also is pursuing its first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi: Seven flights are seeded, six as fourth seeds are higher. Singles are loaded. Taylor Smith at No. 1 singles and Sela Clifford at No. 2 are second seeds at their respective flights, and Smith is the reigning No. 1 singles champion after entering as a second seed last year as well and beating Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer, who is the top seed this weekend. Clifford, who made the No. 2 semifinals last spring, also brings championship experience after winning a No. 1 doubles title in 2016. Nina Dunigan made the semifinals at No. 3 last year and is seeded third at that flight, and Shae Wright is the reigning No. 4 runner-up and is seeded fifth in her return to that bracket. Geraldine Berkemeier and Madison King are unseeded at No. 1 doubles, but Berkemeier was half of the championship pair at that flight last season when King was part of a semifinalist at No. 2.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: Six flights are seeded, and the Gazelles again are expected to surge with powerful doubles. Following in that Sacred Heart tradition are top seeds Sara Gerard and Annie Keating at No. 1, Kathryn Monahan and Serena Seneker and No. 3, and Hannah Kakos and Kate Myers at No. 4, with Nolwenn Crosnier and Kelleigh Keating second seeded at No. 2. Gerard and Keating were the runners-up last season at No. 1 and Monahan was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 as well as a two-time champion at No. 3 doubles as a freshman and sophomore.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators are back in the hunt after a 16th-place finish in 2017. Every flight is seeded, with Paige Davies on the top line at No. 4 singles and Maddie Muzljakovich and Mary Mawby the second seed at No. 3 doubles. Anne Bandrowski, the runner-up at No. 4 singles in 2015 and No. 3 in 2016, will play her final high school event as the sixth seed at No. 1.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Maggie Ketels: The top seed at No. 2 singles is seeking her second straight championship at that flight.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer: The top seed at No. 1 singles was the runner-up last year and won No. 2 in 2016.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Vidhya Rajaprabhakaran: Last season’s champion at No. 3 singles will play in the top flight this weekend.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Giselle Farjo and Jamie Todd: The second seed at No. 1 doubles includes Farjo from last year’s No. 2 champion and Todd from the No. 3 title winner.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Genna Goist and Ryan Perry: The top seeded-pair at No. 2 doubles includes Perry, who won No. 3 with Todd in 2017.
PHOTO: Midland Dow's Sarah Ismail returns a volley during last season's LP Division 1 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)