Powers Continue Run with Shared D2 Title
May 31, 2014
By Mark DeHaan
Special to Second Half
HOLLAND – Been there, done that.
For the past 11 years, one of three teams has won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 girls tennis championship: Birmingham Seaholm, Bloomfield Hills Marian, or Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern. And, on Saturday, those teams again finished 1-2-3.
Actually, it was 1-1-3.
For the second time in those 11 seasons, team co-champions were crowned as Forest Hills Northern and Seaholm tied with 31 points. Marian finished third with 24 points while East Grand Rapids was fourth with 22.
Early in the day, Seaholm led as junior Claire Markley earned the first individual title of the day at No. 3 singles, defeating Catherine Wingrove of Okemos 6-2, 6-2.
It was Markley's third appearance in a Finals title match, and her first win.
“This year I was really excited to make it to the finals and win,” Markley said. “I just played my hardest, and I am really excited to play so well.”
Seaholm won its second flight title at No.4 doubles. Freshmen Sophie Dixon and Lisa Johnson beat Katie Champion and Marta Colisimo from Marian 7-5, 6-0. It was the third time this season that the two teams had met.
“We've played them two other times this season, so playing them again we were familiar with their style of play,” Johnston said. “We just stayed focused to win it.”
In a two-point hole, the Huskies began to rally and get back into the thick of the championship race.
A win at No. 2 doubles for Forest Hills Northern seniors Hailey Jones and Stephanie Nguyen by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 gave the Huskies their first flight title of the day.
Forest Hills Northern then secured another win at No.2 singles from junior Madeline Bisset, who won an important matchup against Seaholm’s Lauren Frazier 7-5, 6-1.
“I just knew that our team really needed that point, especially again Seaholm,” said Bisset. “I went for every single ball, and just fought through the heat.”
Marian took its lone flight title of the day at No.4 singles as Sophia Belardo won 6-3, 6-1 over Sydney Whitfield of Forest Hills Northern.
Sophomores Emily Mcdermott and Meagen Flynn then won at No.3 doubles for Seaholm. The Maples defeated their opponents from East Grand Rapids 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
“All season long the assistant coaches and I have really been trying to emphasize that there's a pedigree that goes with playing at Seaholm, and we see results in a match-by-match basis that the girls buy into, and do so legitimately,” Seaholm coach Scott Ransome said. “We place plenty of emphasis on playing up to our seeds, but certainly playing up to the expectations that we have; this is Seaholm tennis that we play, and it's quality tennis.”
The Huskies continued to rally late. With only two matches left on the court, Forest Hills Northern remained down a point.
At No. 1 doubles, the third-seeded Pioneers of East Grand Rapids took the first set 6-4. Down 5-2 in set two, the Huskies mounted a comeback. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Victoria Minzlaff and junior Jessie Stevens responded by winning five straight games to take the second set 7-5, then won the third 6-4 to take the match.
“I remember looking at my partner and saying, 'Vic, will you fight with me?', and after that, we just worked so hard to make it to three sets,” Stevens said.
Every year, the Huskies write the word 'FIGHT' on their forearms for the MHSAA tournament as a reminder. Forest Hills Northern did exactly that, and it nearly led them to a sole claim of the championship.
At No. 1 singles, Forest Hills Northern junior Claire Aleck earned a three-set 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 semifinal win to earn a berth in the final against back-to-back No. 2 singles champion Emily Struble of Okemos, who moved up to No.1 singles for her junior season.
In the No. 1 singles final, the last match left on court, Aleck won the second set 6-2 after losing the first 6-1. But the Forest Hills Northern junior ran out of gas, and Struble, who came in seeded fifth in the No. 1 singles flight, completed her third individual title run with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory.
“Coming in as the five seed, I knew that I would have to upset higher seeds in order to win. But I knew that the people that were ahead of me, I could at least compete with,” Struble said. “My last match, I knew she would be a little bit worn out from her last match, so I wanted to keep her on the run as much as possible.”
Said Aleck: “Emily's a great opponent and she deserves it. I'm not disappointed with the way I played, I went out there, gave it my all and fought hard.”
“Claire Aleck is probably one of the hardest workers I've ever had,” said Forest Hills Northern coach David Sukup. “She just works hard every day, every minute, all the time. She had a hard three-set match in the semis, and we didn't think she'd have as much energy back. But she fought all the way into the third set.”
Likewise, Okemos coach Lisa Semerly praised her junior for her toughness.
“(Emily) did fantastic. She remained composed throughout her matches, and we knew that the five seed was a little understated,” Semerly said. “She's just a strong competitor.”
The team co-championship marked the ninth MHSAA title for Forest Hills Northern in the last 12 years, while Seaholm has won three championships during that span.
PHOTOS: The Forest Hills Northern No. 1 doubles pair of senior Victoria Minzlaff (left) and junior Jessie Stevens battled back to win their flight championship Saturday. (Middle) Birmingham Seaholm's Caity Buechner sends back a shot during a No. 2 doubles semifinal. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)
LPD3 Champions Continue Dominance
May 30, 2015
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
GRAND BLANC – The unthinkable almost happened in one regard, then it did happen in another at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Girls Tennis Final on Saturday.
The unthinkable almost happened in that Williamston junior Sara Daavettila nearly lost a game.
The No. 1 singles standout for the Hornets, who also happens to be one of the top junior players in the country, Daavettila entered Saturday’s championship match against Sasha Hartje of Birmingham Detroit Country Day having not dropped a game in any of her matches this season.
But that streak was in jeopardy during the fourth game of the second set, when Daavettila struggled with her serve and fell behind 30-40 to Hartje.
Following a second serve, Daavettila then hit a forehand that hit the top of the net solidly and went straight up into the air.
The ball stayed in the air and then … dropped softly on Hartje’s side.
Point Daavettila.
Game back to deuce.
“I was really lucky,” Daavettila said. “I’m sorry to Sasha, but I was happy.”
Daavettila ended up staving off another game point, won that game to go up 4-0 and then wasn’t challenged the last two to beat Hartje, 6-0, 6-0, and win her second straight No. 1 singles title and extend her streak of games won to 245.
Given her dominance and national acclaim on the junior circuit, Daavettila sometimes gets asked why she bothers at all to play in high school.
But seeing teammates wearing shirts with her name on it cheering her every move, and the fact she gets well-wishes from classmates while walking the halls at school, make it an easy answer for her.
“The girls, I love them and I do it for the school,” said Daavettila, who also announced that she recently committed to play in college at University of North Carolina. “It’s great and supporting. Getting ready, that is how it is going to be in college. The USTA, it’s single so it’s a lot of individual. It’s nice to be on a team.”
Next up for Daavettila is a busy summer, which includes competing at tournaments each weekend, most notably a U.S. Open qualifier and a tournament in California.
As for the unthinkable that did happen, it was that Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood won its fifth straight team title despite not having a top seed at any of the eight flights.
But Cranbrook was No. 1 where it mattered most, the final team standings, using its superior depth to win it all again with a tournament-best 32 points.
“This was a team effort,” Cranbrook head coach Jeff Etterbeek said. “Everybody peaked at the right time. All our girls played their best tennis of the year. I was very pleased with our whole team.”
Grand Rapids Christian was second with 28 points, and Detroit Country Day was third with 27.
Holland Christian (17 points) and Grosse Ile (16 points) rounded out the top five.
Cranbrook Kingswood entered Saturday’s final day having advanced to the semifinals in all eight flights on Friday to take a one-point lead over Grand Rapids Christian, and the Cranes ended up making the finals at No. 2 singles, No. 3 singles, No. 4 singles, No. 2 doubles, No. 3 doubles and No. 4 doubles.
The team of Amanda Simmons and Amanda Twu won No. 2 doubles despite being seeded fifth, and the team of Amelia Smith and Alex Bowers triumphed at No. 4 doubles after being seeded second.
Emily Harvey advanced to the finals at No. 2 singles, Jazz Teste went to the finals at No. 3 singles as the third seed, Kate Cao made it to the finals at No. 4 singles, and the team of Sauma Du and Mackenzie Beckett advanced to the finals at No. 3 doubles.
“We felt that coming into this (Country Day) had the strongest singles lineup, Grand Rapids Christian probably had the strongest doubles lineup and we were somewhere in between both,” Etterbeek said. “Fortunately for us it worked out that way.”
Country Day did dominate the singles flights, as Haley Mullins at No. 2 singles, Sadina Fadel at No. 3 singles and Sarah Carroll at No. 4 singles all ended up winning championships to go along with Hartje’s runner-up finish at No. 1 singles.
Grand Rapids Christian was victorious in two doubles flights, with the team of Hannah Slenk and McKenzie Moorhead at No. 1 doubles and the team of Natalie DeBoer and Kate Zwiers at No. 3 doubles winning titles.
Because of stormy weather in the area, all of the tournament’s action on Saturday was moved indoors to Genesys Athletic Club in Grand Blanc.
PHOTO: (Top) Williamston junior Sara Daavettila returns a shot during her No. 1 singles championship match win. (Middle) Cranbrook Kingswood earned its fifth straight Finals championship. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).