Seaholm tennis title a true team effort
June 8, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Birmingham Seaholm’s MHSAA Division 2 championship Saturday was the “terminus in the odyssey of our souls,” as coach Scott Ransome described it at the team’s banquet earlier this week.
In other words, it was quite a trip – punctuated by the team’s first title since 2004. And put in those words, it was a classic.
Seaholm placed seven flights into semifinals, and despite only one individual champion scored 27 points – two more than runner-up Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, which had won or shared the last six Division 2 titles. Seaholm finished second to FHN in 2011.
“I don't think, player for player, we were as strong as we were three years ago (when the Maples finished fourth). I thought three years ago we had the make-up, the players with the skill set (to win)," Ransome said. "But these players, whatever they lacked in skill set, they certainly made up for in desire. They were hungry.”
The Maples receive this week’s Second Half team High 5 for how they won almost as much as winning itself. Sophomore Jackie Meier and freshman Rachel Wilson teamed to win the No. 3 doubles championship – playing to their top seed in that flight. But six other flights also played at or above their seeds.
It was a gratifying end to a two-month stretch that saw the Maples start with high expectations after finishing seven points behind FHN at the 2011 Final. They dominated in early competition, but then were dealt a sad blow when junior Nancy Benda – a second seed at No. 1 singles last season – was lost for seven weeks with a stress fracture.
Ransome and assistant coach Paul Young took an approach of emphasizing interchangeable parts – “We said, ‘Let's not fixate on Nancy. She’s an integral part of the program, but she in herself is not the entire program,’” Ransome told his team – and after playing a few matches defaulting at No. 1 singles, moved everyone up a flight and finished 13-1 without her in the lineup.
Meanwhile, Ransome and Young prepared their healthy players to be strong at the end. The Maples regularly do ladder drills and other agility work for 45 minutes at the start of practice before taking their first hits of the day. And the team’s No. 5 and 6 doubles teams continued to push those ahead of them to help them get stronger.
“It was almost like when Nancy returned, those girls were able to catch a breathe,” Ransome said. “They were able to get some rejuvenation in going back to their rightful positions.”
Seaholm tied with eventual MHSAA Division 1 runner-up Clarkston for the Oakland Activities Association Red championship, then finished runner-up to Bloomfield Hills Marian at the Regional. But with the benefits of season-long preparation for a final run, plus improved skills Ransome and Young saw across the lineup, the Maples had one more effort left – a championship effort, it turned out.
Sophomore Labina Petrovska advanced to the final match at No. 2 singles, as did sophomore Lauren Frazier at No. 3 and freshman Claire Markley at No. 4. Petrovska and Markley were second seeds, and Frazier was a third.
Senior Katie Root and junior Lauren Benderoff made the semifinals at No. 4 doubles as a fifth seed. And Benda won a match at No. 1 singles despite coming in unseeded.
“It was gratifying more than anything else. That’s the only way I can describe it,” Ransome said. “For what we had, for us to have enough balance in the lineup. And it really did take some help (from opponents winning other matches). We played to our seeds, and that’s what this was really all about.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Jackie Meier (center) and Rachel Wilson (right) won Birmingham Seaholm's lone individual championship, at No. 3 doubles, at Saturday's Division 2 Final. (Middle) No. 1 singles player Nancy Benda hoists the Maples' team championship trophy. (Bottom) Sophomore Lauren Frazier was one of three Seaholm singles players to advance to the final of their flights, she at No. 3 singles. (Photos courtesy of Anne Benda.)
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.)