Negaunee, Gauthier Dominate D1 Finals
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
September 28, 2017
KINGSFORD — Sending six players into a championship round never hurts a tennis team.
Winning all six flights is even better.
The Negaunee girls made that happen Wednesday, earning their fourth straight Upper Peninsula Division 1 title with 18 points at Kingsford High School.
They were followed by Marquette with 13, Escanaba eight, Menominee six, Gladstone four and Kingsford with three.
“You always want to play your best in the U.P. Finals and putting six in the finals puts you into a pretty good position,” said Negaunee coach Kyle Saari. “Winning all six matches is a by-product of having some depth. We were pushed in some matches. It was good to see the girls respond under pressure.”
The Miners swept doubles, with two flights going to a third set. Skylar and Lexi Taavila turned back Marquette’s Rachel Ely and Carly Sandstrom 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles and Faith Toutant-Jillian Skewis outlasted Marquette’s Sydney Kivi-Campbell Kallio 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 4.
“Even though we lost the second set in each match, the girls showed some mental toughness by coming through,” said Saari. “They treated it like there was no pressure.”
Abby Nelson and Mykenna Kontio topped Marquette’s Ely Wellner-Kendell Klatt 6-4, 7-5 in No. 1 doubles and Alexis Hill-Kalli Mattson beat Kingsford juniors Sarah Premo-Grace Lorenzoni 6-0, 7-5 at No. 3.
Premo and Lorenzoni led 5-4 in the second set before Nelson and Kontio rallied for the win.
Negaunee’s Lexi Peterson won No. 3 singles 7-5, 6-1 over Menominee’s Jenna Nolde, and Maci Aho downed Marquette’s Molly Kilpela 6-2, 6-3 in No. 4.
“Megan Syrjala is in a unique situation in that she’s part of four U.P. championship teams,” said Saari. “Even though Megan didn’t get to the finals today, she’s a big part of our program. We have a group of seven close-knit seniors. This is a group that will be missed.”
Syrjala reached the semifinals where she dropped a 7-5, 6-2 decision to Escanaba senior Taylor Gauthier.
“Taylor played very good today,” said Syrjala, who will enroll at Northern Michigan University next fall. “She hit a lot of short shots and made me run to the ball. It’s mentally draining to play somebody who’s that consistent.”
Wednesday’s championship also enabled the Miners to complete their second straight perfect season.
“To go undefeated two years in a row shows the depth of our team,” said Syrjala. “It just means so much to be part of four U.P. championship teams. A lot of it is mental toughness. Coach Saari does such a good job teaching us about mental toughness and none of this would be possible without God. I often find myself turning to Him (for guidance).”
Gauthier went on to clinch her third U.P. title with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Marquette senior Hannah Swajanen in No. 1 singles.
“I thought I played pretty well today, and the semifinal match was the best I ever played,” said Gauthier. “I especially felt good about how I played in the second set against Megan and felt pretty confident going into the finals. I split with Hannah in the regular season and knew she had a real good shot. I was really surprised by the margin of victory because she beat me pretty good the last time. I was nervous coming in here. It feels great to be a U.P. champion three years in a row.”
In No. 2 singles, Marquette sophomore Elyse Olivier captured her first U.P. title in a 6-3, 6-0 win over Escanaba senior Megan Marenger.
Olivier cruised to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Marenger then made things interesting by taking the next three points.
“(Marenger) is a good player,” said Olivier, who went undefeated this year. “She doesn’t give up, and I think that helped her against Negaunee (in a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Jesse Sager). I kind of lost focus, then our coach (Derek Sandstrom) talked to me and helped settle me down.
"Our whole team is very supportive and my dad is my offseason coach. My older brother Alec (two-time U.P. champ) has also helped me out. I couldn’t have done this without them.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Negaunee No. 1 doubles player Mykenna Kontio returns a shot during Wednesday’s Division 1 Finals at Kingsford. (Middle) Escanaba senior Taylor Gauthier volleys on her way to a No. 1 singles championship. (Photos by Adam Niemi.)
D1 Powers Share Title, Frosh Phenom Rises
June 3, 2017
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
MIDLAND – Ann Arbor Pioneer coach Tom Pullen has watched his participation numbers decline for girls tennis, but he knew he had a great player coming this year in freshman Kari Miller.
The 15-year-old comes from great bloodlines, and as the top seed proved she was up to the challenge by capturing the Lower Peninsula Division 1 No. 1 singles title at the Midland Tennis Center with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over sophomore Tia Mukherjee of Bloomfield Hills on Saturday.
Her aunt, Annie Miller, played on the pro circuit and at one point reached the top 40. She gave 14-year-old Serena Williams one of her first losses as a professional. Annie Miller’s picture is displayed at the Midland Tennis Center, where she spent years honing her game.
Father David Miller starred at Midland Dow, and they still talk about his loss to a Pioneer player back in 1991 tournament.
“He said that was a crazy match,’’ said Kari.
Now his daughter is the star at Pioneer.
“The expectation was to win, and I thought I could win,’’ said Miller. “I played Tia before in USTA, and that helped. I felt good for the most part. There were a few games where my backhand wasn’t its best, but I was able to fix it. I felt good the whole match.’’
Miller broke Mukherjee in the fourth game to go up 3-1 and cruised to the victory.
“She has it all,’’ said Pullen of Miller. “She has the heart and the brains. She has all four things you need; she has the length, the strokes, the brains and the heart. I just put her out there and say go get ‘em.’’
Miller breezed through the season and with reigning No. 1 singles champion Anika Yarlagadda of West Bloomfield deciding not to play high school tennis, the battle for the top spot came down to Miller, Maja Pietrowicz of Sterling Heights Stevenson, Mukherjee and Ava Thielman of Utica Eisenhower. Thielman lost to Mukherjee in the semifinal.
“I really like my team; it’s really fun,’’ said Miller. “It’s a team, and I like it because kids from my school start to know that I’m good at it and I like that.’’
Her teammates started laughing behind her.
“Playing (USTA) tournaments is not like being in school, so only my closet friends know about what I do.’’
Miller rose as high as sixth in the nation at 14-and-under on the United States Tennis Association tour and now plays 16- and 18-under.
She wasn’t the only freshman to win a singles title. Northville freshman Tori Mady beat Alayna Bowman of Rockford, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 4.
And that ended up a significant win for an additional reason. The battle for the team title came down to 2016 runner-up Northville and reigning champion Midland Dow. Both finished with 30 points to share the championship.
“The key is no cell phones at practice and no sweets during the season,’’ said Northville Coach Linda Jones. “We were playing in a quad and a mother brought chocolate chip cookies. I said, ‘Are those sugar free?’ And she said no and walked away.’’
Renee Torres clinched the tie with Northville, rebounding from a 1-6 loss in the first set to win the last two 6-1, 6-3 over Dow’s Hadley Camp at No. 3 singles.
“I knew she had played three sets in the semifinal, and I could sense she was getting tired,’’ said Torres. “I felt the match changed in the second set.
“Getting a tie for the team title is great. We’ll take it.’’
Dow’s Sarah Ismail, the reigning No. 3 singles champ, won the title at No. 2 singles over top-seed Laurel Sullivan of Grosse Pointe South, 6-2, 6-4.
“I played her earlier this season, and I actually lost,’’ said Ismail. “It’s good to come back. I was just more confident. I was making more shots and following through more. This year I had a lot more competition at states. Last year I only had the final, really. I lost to Northville twice this year, so it was really good to come back and beat them when it mattered.’’
Trying to repeat, Ismail said they felt the heat.
“It’s a lot of pressure when you’ve already won,’’ she said. “People are gunning for you the whole season. We just have a really big rivalry with Northville. We’re head-to-head all the time. I think the momentum from Friday carried over. Everyone was just confident in themselves. We all have nerves, but we all came in and we were playing really well.”
Part of Dow’s incredible story was senior Caroline Szabo.
She won No. 2 singles a year ago, but suffered a right shoulder injury and had to have surgery, which threatened to end her season before she started.
“I started practicing here (left-handed) with the little kids,’’ said Szabo. “The joint was too loose and they had to surgically tighten it. As the season went on I could hit it pretty well, but I wasn’t in the lineup. When I was cleared by my doctor I asked Mr. (Garrett) Turner, ‘Do you think this is an option?’’’
The coach said OK, and she played her first match in March, left-handed, against rival Midland at No. 3 doubles with partner Christina Vanerkelen.
“I was terrified,’’ Szabo said. “I went to serve and said this is really happening. Christina played great all year, and she really carried me.’’
Szabo will go back to playing right-handed at Michigan State.
The duo beat Connie Gao and Andrea Nam of Northville 6-3, 3-3 when Northville had to retire, ironically, because of a shoulder injury.
Although they didn’t play together much of the year, Dow’s No. 4 doubles team of Maggie Schaller and Reema Patel defeated top-seed Lauren Ruby and Kaela Bernard of Bloomfield Hills, 6-4, 7-6.
“We interchange the lineup to see who plays the best together,’’ said Patel. “We played Bloomfield Hills before and lost to them in a tie-break. We knew how to prepare for the match. We know every point is important if we want to win the state championship.’’
PHOTOS: (Top) A doubles pair celebrates during the LP Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Ann Arbor Pioneer freshman Kari Miller returns a shot on the way to winning No. 1 singles. (Below) Midland Dow, top, and Northville shared the team title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)