Sacred Heart Finds Title Formula Again
May 30, 2015
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – The Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart girls tennis team utilized a familiar formula as it turned in another title-winning effort at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final in Holland this weekend.
Following the same blueprint it used in winning the title in 2013, Sacred Heart won its third in the past four years. The Gazelles swept all four doubles flights and also won the title at No. 4 singles.
“We stress that every point matters,” Sacred Heart coach Judy Hehs said. “The points at first singles count just as much as the points at four doubles. Two years ago we won it the same way. We won all the doubles matches and also won at No. 4 singles. That has worked out well for us.”
The Gazelles finished with 34 points, followed by second-place Traverse City St. Francis with 27. Ludington took third place with 18 points.
Senior Teresa Walawender won the lone individual title for Sacred Heart. Seeded second at No. 4 singles, she defeated Anne Bandrowski of Traverse City St. Francis 6-4, 6-3, to win the title. It was her first individual title, while the team title was the third during her career.
Walawender also provided the Gazelles with leadership this year as one of the team’s captains.
“I’m a captain this year, and it’s even more special,” Walawender said. “This year I had to provide leadership for the team. We are a real close team, and we all support each other.”
While Academy of the Sacred Heart had won two of the previous three LP Division 4 titles, this year’s was no sure thing as the team suffered heavy graduation losses from a squad that placed sixth last season.
“We have six first-year players in the starting lineup,” Hehs said. “We have four freshmen and two transfer juniors. It took us a while to figure things out. It’s been a journey.”
The journey also had a number of obstacles. One hit the doubles lineup when Meghan Carroll suffered an injury at No. 4 at the end of the regular season. Sacred Heart responded by moving senior Sarah Panone into the lineup at No. 4 doubles with Stella Betrus. The combination clicked as Betrus and Panone won the Division 4 title at No. 4 doubles with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.
“We only started playing together at the end of the season,” Betrus said. “My partner (Carroll) hurt her foot and Sarah stepped in for her. It ended up working out great.”
Panone’s versatility helped the duo quickly jell.
“I think we meshed real well,” Panone said. “I’ve played one doubles and three singles. I play wherever I’m needed. This feels great.”
At No. 3 doubles, the Sacred Heart team of Tate Lehmann and Kathryn Monahan made their No. 1 seed hold up as they defeated Kalamazoo Christian 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
“I thought we played our best tennis at this tournament,” said Lehmann, a junior. “I think we meshed real well as a team. We have the same type of personality, and it worked out well.”
For Monahan, a freshman, it was her first MHSAA Finals experience.
“It was pretty cool,” Monahan said. “Hopefully we can do it again next year.”
Academy of the Sacred Heart made it a clean sweep as it won the title at both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Selina Fuchs and Abby Hildebrand defeated Ludington in two sets.
At No. 2, Sara Gerard and Kendall Gassman took the title with a three-set win against Ludington.
At No. 1 singles, Traverse City St. Francis junior Amanda Bandrowski broke through after a pair of final four appearances in her first two trips to the Finals. Bandrowski, who came in seeded third, defeated top-seeded Jeanne Nash of Sacred Heart 6-4, 6-4 in the title match at No. 1 singles.
“The past two years I lost in the semifinals,” Bandrowski said. “To win the title this time is great.”
Bandrowski had to be versatile to adapt to changing conditions as she twice had matches start outdoors but move indoors due to rain.
“I think I play better indoors anyway,” Bandrowski said. “I just had to be patient and wait for my opportunities. I stayed patient and made her miss. All of my matches were tough so I just had to stay focused and patient.”
Kalamazoo Christian junior Audrey Bouma was another player who had to stay patient and focused. Bouma needed three sets to hold off Bailey Chouinard of Traverse City St. Francis at No. 2 singles. Bouma was up 4-1 and 5-2 in the second set before Chouinard battled back to force a third.
“I think I started to let up at the end of the second set,” Bouma said. “In the third set I got my focus back. I started to focus on playing myself and hitting the ball and not focus on my opponent. My swing started to get faster and I didn’t let up.”
The title was the third straight singles title for Bouma, who won the No. 3 singles title as both a freshman and a sophomore.
“My freshman year I won the title in a match that was very similar,” Bouma said. “I won the first set but then lost the second one before coming back to win it in the third set.”
At No. 3 singles, Ann Arbor Greenhills junior Julia Friedman defeated Natalie Burke of Traverse City St Francis 6-0, 7-6 (4).
“It was a real close match and I thought it was going to go to a third set,” Friedman said.
For Friedman, who has been playing tennis for seven years, it was her first trip to the MHSAA Finals.
PHOTOS: (Top) Teresa Walawender of Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart returns a shot during Saturday's LP Division 4 Final at No. 4 singles. (Middle) Traverse City St. Francis' Amanda Bandrowski plays for the championship at No. 1 singles; she won in two sets. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
Westwood Adds 2 Titles to Successful Swing
October 16, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Dynasty and dominance too often are used to describe long-term success in sports. And assigning them to shorter-term accomplishments often takes away from teams that might be deserving of such high praise.
But when it comes to Ishpeming Westwood tennis, there aren’t a lot of words to better explain the Patriots’ hold on Upper Peninsula Division 2 over the last 11 years.
The Patriots have won 10 Finals championships during that time, all but one outright. At this season’s MHSAA tournament, Westwood claimed six flight titles and finished runner-up at the other two. And this run was kicked off by another memorable accomplishment a week earlier – the taking back of the Mid-Peninsula Conference title after three straight years finishing runner-up to UPD1 power Negaunee.
The MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for September accomplished all of this under a first-year coach, but hardly a first-year contributor to the program. Sarah Massie was part of four Division 2 titles as a player from 2009-12, then spent summers home from college giving clinics and private lessons to players who now fill her lineup. She watched the success from afar while getting her teaching and coaching start at Kingsford, then returned to her alma mater this fall to take over for mentor Chris Jackson, who remained her assistant and had coached the Patriots to nine of their 14 Finals titles.
“It’s pretty much a continuing of what I already knew and what I knew worked,” Massie said. “I will try different things. But as far as the program in general, I was there as Chris was building it. Whether I was playing in the program or helping out with the program, I was there for the whole process – and that definitely helped.”
A lot goes into Westwood’s annual success. But it’s fair to say it starts with attitude and perspective, which leads to incredible participation.
The program had 37 athletes this fall – which would be 20 percent of the girls in the high school if compared to its 2018-19 enrollment.
“We encourage the girls to come out, but we also have the attitude of tennis is fun,” Massie said. “It's a lifelong sport. It's great to learn it in high school so you can play it forever. The girls that want to get better and want to invest that time, that's what these coaches are here for and we encourage that and we help bring them to their next level.
“That attitude encourages a lot of girls to play. Keeping the numbers up is definitely what helps us be successful every year. We’re competitive with other teams because we’re competitive within our lineup.”
A league title generally ranks a bit lower than something won state or peninsula-wide. But in this case, claiming the MPC title had to come close in significance: Negaunee went on to finish runner-up in UP Division 1 this fall after winning that championship five straight seasons.
Westwood had split with the Miners in a pair of duals leading up to the league tournament Sept. 26.
“We played them our first meet of the year, and you could just tell that it wasn’t (that our team) had gotten beaten by Negaunee every year so they were scared to play them. It was, ‘I want to play them. I want to beat them. I want to play them again,’” Massie said.
“The best part of MPCs was when the day started, we knew we could win and we knew Negaunee could win. So there wasn’t the pressure of ‘we are supposed to win this,’ and also not the downfall of ‘Negaunee should win this.’ We came into the day (saying) we have no idea what’s going to happen, but we know we can win. So let’s just play our best, worry about the things we can control, and see what happens.”
After winning that first match against Negaunee this fall 5-3, the Patriots fell in the rematch by the same score. The two teams played in the championship match at every flight at the league tournament, with Westwood coming out on top 6-2.
That served as a preview of the UPD2 Final a week later, where the Patriots also won six flights and finished runner-up at the other two.
At both the league and Finals tournaments, Madi Koski (No. 1), Tessa Leece (2), Jillian Koski (3) and Jenna Wealton (4) swept singles championships. No. 3 doubles Avery Mariuzza and Emily Nelson also won at both the league and Finals events, while No. 4 Claire Gilles and Natalie Prophet was a Finals champ and No. 2 Elle Miller and Meghan Johnson won at the MPCs. Top doubles pair Katelyn Antilla and Karlie Patron finished runner-up at both tournaments.
No flight finished undefeated this fall, but none suffered more than four losses. Leece was 16-1 and Wealton 18-1 and avenged her only defeat, while Madi and Jillian Koski both finished 16-3. Miller and Johnson at No. 2 doubles finished 17-2, their only losses both to the pair from West Iron County. As a team, Westwood’s only other defeat came to Marquette, the eventual Division 1 champion.
This had been the dream for Massie, who once she decided to go into education knew that returning to Westwood would be her ultimate goal. As an athlete for the Patriots she won No. 2 and No. 4 singles titles and finished runner-up twice at No. 1. Now she’s 1-for-1 leading the program to the top team accomplishment – and with that league title an added bonus on which to build in the future.
“It seems every year we end up with a good group of girls who are fun to coach,” Massie said. “We had five seniors in the varsity lineup, and they were all great kids and fun to be around, and hard workers.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Westwood’s Tessa Leece returns a volley during a No. 2 singles match this season. (Middle) Katelyn Anttila and Karlie Patron serve during a No. 1 doubles match. (Below) The Patriots celebrate their latest Upper Peninsula Division 2 championship. (Photos courtesy of the Westwood girls tennis program.)