Preview: Serving Up Intriguing Scenarios
June 1, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan’s powerhouse girls tennis programs tend to annually contend for MHSAA championships, and this weekend’s four Lower Peninsula Finals should stay true to that pattern.
But a couple of possibilities could bring added intrigue to the mix of often-predictable winners.
One of those powers, Detroit Country Day, has the top seeds at every flight in Division 3 and could make a run at a perfect score. In Division 4, Ann Arbor Greenhills will shoot for its first team title since 2009 to join a recent string won by its boys program, and Jackson Lumen Christi is expected to contend for its first MHSAA Finals team title ever.
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. 6/2, 9 a.m. 6/3)
- Division 2 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (8:45 a.m., all finals at Hope)
- Division 3 – Kalamazoo College (8 a.m. 6/2, 9 a.m. 6/3)
- Division 4 – Holly/Fenton High Schools (8 a.m. 6/2, 9 a.m. 6/3, all finals at Holly)
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: No. 1 Northville, No. 2 Midland Dow, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills.
Northville and Dow have swapped spots the last two seasons, Northville winning and Dow coming in second in 2015 and the reverse last spring. Northville edged Dow by two points to win the Ann Arbor Invitational at the end of April. If Bloomfield Hills can rise after finishing eighth last season, it would be the program’s first title – including for the two former schools, Lahser and Andover, that combined to form the current one.
Northville: The Mustangs finished only three points back of Dow a year ago and will look to make them up with seven flights seeded either first or second. Neha Chava and Sophie Zhuang won No. 3 doubles last season; Zhuang is playing this season with Serena Wang as the top-seeded pair at No. 1, while Chava and Maya Mulchandani make up the top-seeded pair at No. 2 – Wang and Mulchandani were the runners-up at No. 1 doubles in 2016. Shanoli Kumar is unseeded at No. 1 singles but finished runner-up at No. 2 last spring, and Joanne Gao is second-seeded at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at No. 3 a year ago – both were champions at their former flights in 2015. Also holding down top seeds are Renee Torres at No. 3 singles and Tori Mady at No. 4. Alexandria Petix was part of the No. 4 doubles champion last season and is seeded second at that flight with Madison DeYoung, while Connie Gao and Andrea Nam are second-seeded at No. 3 doubles.
Midland Dow: The reigning champion is seeded at seven flights as well and third or higher at six flights. Sarah Ismail, the No. 3 singles champion last season, is seeded third at No. 2; reigning No. 2 singles champion Caroline Szabo is paired with Christina Vanerkelen as the top seed at No. 3 doubles, while Meghan Killmaster and Kelly Livingston were champions at No. 2 doubles last season and are second-seeded this time at No. 1. Similarly, Tatum Matthews and Mina Fabiano moved up to the second seed at No. 2 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 3 in 2016, and Maggie Schaller is back at No. 4 doubles this time with Reema Patel and seeded third after Schaller was part of the runner-up last spring. Jessica Brown is unseeded at No. 1 singles but was No. 2 runner-up in 2015 (and seeded sixth at No. 1 last spring), and Hadley Camp is third-seeded at No. 3 and was runner-up at No. 4 in 2015. Freshman Victoria Leiti is seeded fifth at No. 4 singles.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks are seeded at six flights as they pursue their first title, with four top-four seeds. Lauren Ruby and Kaela Bernard are the top-seeded pair at No. 4 doubles, and Tia Mukherjee is the second seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals at that flight last season as a freshman.
Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kari Miller: A freshman is the favorite to win No. 1 singles for the second straight season; this time it’s Miller entering the weekend as the top seed at the top flight.
Utica Eisenhower’s Ava Thielman: The No. 1 singles runner-up as a sophomore in 2015, Thielman also made the semifinals last season.
LP Division 2 at Hope College
Top-ranked: 1. East Grand Rapids, 2. Birmingham Seaholm, 3. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
The Pioneers were a distant second last season as Bloomfield Hills Marian dominated with 32 points, but are favorites to win their first MHSAA title since 2009 and first ever in Division 2 after more than a decade as a Division 3 power. Seaholm was fourth and Forest Hills Northern third in 2016, but they are used to being in contention as well; they shared the 2014 title and Seaholm won its third straight in 2015, when Forest Hills Northern was runner-up.
East Grand Rapids: No. 1 singles Sloane Teske, No. 2 Hannah Stuursma and No. 4 Halley Elliott are all top seeds, and No. 3 Audrey Olson is a second seed as that group leads the charge. All four doubles are seeded as well, two pairs as third seeds. The No. 4 pair of Audrey Devries and Kate Mackeigan is seeded third after finishing runner-up at that flight last season. Teske and Stuursma made the semifinals at Nos. 1 and 3 singles, respectively, in 2016.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples’ power is at doubles, with all four flights seeded fifth or higher. Caity Buechner is seeded second at No. 2 with Emma Latessa, and Lilly Trinch and Brooke Forte also earned a second seed, at No. 3 doubles. Three singles players are seeded fifth at their flights.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: Six flights are seeded, including three first or second. Felicia Zhang is the second seed at No. 4 singles after winning No. 3 a year ago, and FHN’s other flight champion from last season also is back but split over two flights. Claire Tatman and Salonee Marwaha are the reigning winners at No. 3 doubles, and this time Marwaha is part of the third seed at No. 2 with Abby Zhang, while Tatman is seeded second at No. 1 with Maansi Dalmia.
Mason’s Olivia Hanover: Last season’s runner-up at No. 1 singles beat Teske in the semifinals but is seeded just below Teske this time as the second in their flight.
Okemos’ Monika Francsics: She’s unseeded at No. 1 singles, but gets a mention for a few reasons; she won No. 2 last season and was No. 3 runner-up in 2015, and the Chiefs have had the No. 1 singles champion three seasons in a row.
Traverse City Central’s Yana Beeker and Kristin McLintock: The Trojans’ No. 1 doubles pair is seeded first after Beeker made the semifinals at that flight in Division 1 last season and McLintock made the second round as part of a No. 2 pair.
LP Division 3 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Grand Rapids Christian, 3. Holland Christian.
Country Day broke Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s hold on Division 3 last season after the Cranes had won five straight titles. But just barely. Country Day scored 32 points, with Grand Rapids Christian at 31 and Cranbrook at 30. The Yellowjackets are favorites again after winning all eight flights at their Regional.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets are loaded with championship experience. All four singles players are top seeds – Monique Karoub at No. 1, Sadina Fadel at No. 2, Nina Khaghany at No. 3 and Alexis Nardicchio at No. 4 – after Karoub was the No. 2 champion and Fadel won No. 3 last season. The 2016 winner at No. 1 singles, Sasha Hartje, is playing No. 1 doubles with sister Elle Hartje, part of last season’s champion at that flight. Of course they are seeded first, as are Heather Zimmerman and Tara Rahmani at No. 2, Chloe Ward and Ruhi Nayak at No. 3 and Jenna Lee and Maya Nassif at No. 4. Nassif was runner-up at No. 4 with a different partner last spring.
Grand Rapids Christian: The Eagles are seeded at six flights with an impressive singles lineup leading the way. All four singles players are top-three seeds: Leah Newhof is a third seed at No. 1, while No. 2 McKenzie Moorhead, No. 3 Maria Poortenga and No. 4 Emily Schellenboom are all second seeds. Poortenga was the champion last season at No. 4 singles and Moorhead was part of the runner-up at No. 1 doubles.
Holland Christian: The Maroons came in fourth last season and enter with four seeded flights, three of them in doubles. Allyson Zwiep is unseeded at No. 1 singles, but was the runner-up last season at No. 4 as the team finished only five points behind the mix at the top.
Imlay City’s Grace Whitney: Imlay City has never had a flight champion at an MHSAA Girls Tennis Finals, but Whitney made the semifinals last season and enters this weekend the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s Amelia Smith and Kate Cao: Last season’s No. 2 doubles champion enters this weekend seeded second at No. 1.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s Frances Dube and Ava Harb: This pair also won last season and moved up, claiming the title at No. 4 and coming in now the second seed at No. 3.
Division 4 at Holly
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Jackson Lumen Christi, 3. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart has won the last two Division 4 Finals and three of the last four. But the teams to beat at least going in are Greenhills – seeking its first title since 2009 – and Lumen Christi, playing for its first team championship. Lumen Christi was fourth and Greenhills fifth last season.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: All eight flights are third seeds or higher, with four flights earning top seeds. Vidhya Rajaprabhakaran is the top seed at No. 3 singles, and Phoebe Sotiroff is the top seed at No. 4 after making the semifinals at that flight last season. In doubles, Baani Jain and Giselle Farjo are top-seeded at No. 2, and Jamie Todd and Ryan Perry are top-seeded at No. 3. Kate Shaffer also was a semifinalist last season in singles, at No. 1, and returns at that flight two seeds higher as a three this weekend.
Jackson Lumen Christi: All eight flights are seeded and six are seeded either first or second, giving the Titans plenty of opportunity to pursue that first title. Taylor Smith (No. 1), Nina Dunigan (No. 3) and Shae Wright (No. 4) are all second-seeded in singles, and third-seeded Sela Clifford at No. 2 was part of the No. 1 doubles champion last season. Geraldine Berkemeier and Jocee McEldowney are the top seed this time at No. 1 doubles, while Macie Richmond and Cat Carroll earned the top seed at No. 4.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: Six flights are seeded, and the power is at doubles with all four seeded second or third at their respective flights. Sara Gerard and Annie Keating are the second seed at No. 1; Gerard with another partner made the quarterfinals at that flight last season. Margaret Mayer and Kathryn Monahan make up the third seed at No. 2 doubles after Monahan was part of last season’s champion at No. 3.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer: Last season’s champion at No. 2 singles is the top seed at No. 1 as she attempts to follow a graduated teammate by winning that flight.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Maggie Ketels: She slides into the top seed at No. 2 right behind Moyer after making the No. 3 semifinals last season.
PHOTO: Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer returns a volley last season during her run to the No. 2 singles title at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Sacred Heart, Moyer Cap Familiar Climb
June 2, 2018
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
NOVI – This might have been the third time in her four-year high school career that Kalamazoo Hackett senior Natalie Moyer was in this spot.
But that doesn’t mean nerves still weren’t a factor when she advanced to the No. 1 singles championship match at the MHSAA Division 4 Finals on Saturday.
“At first I was a little nervous and was playing like I was nervous,” Moyer said. “I just kind of calmed down and played with confidence. Just played my game.”
Moyer definitely did that against Taylor Smith of Jackson Lumen Christi, surviving the first set with a 6-4 win before rolling to a 6-0 win in the second to claim her second Finals championship.
As a sophomore, Moyer won the title at No. 2 singles, but it was another match that was most on her mind Saturday.
Last season, Moyer lost in the championship match at No. 1 singles to Smith by scores of 6-2, 6-2, something that fueled Moyer all offseason and throughout an unbeaten regular season that saw her enter this weekend as the No. 1 seed at the flight (Smith was No. 2).
“I was really motivated to get the state title this year,” said Moyer, who will play in college at Xavier University. “That’s what I wanted all season.”
While Moyer ruled the day individually, the team portion of the tournament belonged to a traditional power.
It felt weird for Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart to not win the crown last season after winning it all four of the previous five years. But Sacred Heart easily returned to the top perch in the state.
The Gazelles scored 32 points, seven ahead of Traverse City St. Francis and 12 ahead of Jackson Lumen Christi, the top-ranked team heading into the tournament.
Sacred Heart entered the postseason ranked No. 2, but coach Judy Hehs said that didn’t provide her team any extra motivation.
“We don’t talk about the rankings,” Hehs said. “We play a really tough schedule, and we don’t understand what it means to play Division 4 schools. They know the Catholic League and they know the independent schools. When we get here, 50 percent of the teams, they don’t know. We don’t talk about rankings.”
Sacred Heart saw Reagan Beatty win the flight title at No. 3 singles with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over Taylor Kennedy of Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, and the Gazelles dominated the doubles portion of the competition winning all four flights.
Sara Gerard and Annie Keating at No. 1 doubles, Nolwenn Crosnier and Kelleigh Keating at No. 2, Kathryn Monahan and Serena Seneker at No. 3 and the team of Hannah Kakos and Kate Myers and No. 4 doubles all brought home flight championships.
“Every flight on this team this year did what they had to do,” Hehs said. “Everyone contributed.”
Maggie Ketels of Hackett won the title at No. 2 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Oriana Gulvesan of Ann Arbor Greenhills, and Paige Davies of St. Francis won the No. 4 singles title with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Hannah Hodgson of Monroe St. Mary.
In search of its first MHSAA Finals team title in this sport, St. Francis finished as the runner-up for the third time in four years – but this year had a more uplifting feel to it than the others.
“We feel really good about it,” Gladiators coach Paul Bandrowski said. “We were 16th last year, and we lost a lot of seniors. We came back and jumped from 16th all the way back to second. We have a lot of young players.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett's Natalie Moyer fires a shot during her No. 1 singles Quarterfinal. (Middle) Academy of the Sacred Heart's Reagan Beatty volleys during a No. 3 singles match for the eventual team champion. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)