Top-Ranked Titans Build Special Season
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
May 12, 2017
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – Jackson Lumen Christi junior Taylor Smith is a team player who is in an individual situation.
Just two years ago, Smith, who plays No. 1 singles for the Titans girls tennis team, prioritized basketball over tennis because she enjoyed the team aspect so much.
The passion has changed. Tennis is her game, and her team recently moved up to No. 1 in the Lower Peninsula Division 4 rankings. It is a great situation for someone whose favorite part about her sport is the team aspect.
“I liked tennis, but I didn’t love it until last season,” said Smith, who advanced to the MHSAA Division 4 quarterfinals at No. 1 singles as a freshman and sophomore before losing. “Being out there alone, that is why it took me so long to like tennis. I wanted to play college basketball until last summer.
“When I do USTA tournaments, I’m by myself, and it isn’t any fun. I’m winning only for myself. I like to work toward a team to get farther along. It’s not about me getting there; it is about us getting there.
Reaching No. 1
No tennis team can make it to No. 1 in a state poll with just one star player, and Lumen Christi is no different. While Smith – already a two-time Jackson Citizen Patriot Player of the Year in girls tennis – is the Titans’ feature player, she is surrounded by talent.
“We have six juniors and two seniors this year,” Lumen Christi coach Terri McEldowney said. “When these girls were in sixth or seventh grade, (assistant coach) Marcy Smith and I took over the middle-school program, so they’ve all played together through the years.
“When they came on as freshmen, they were good but not maybe match tough. Now we have them as juniors and seniors, they are match tough. Now it’s all coming together.”
Lumen Christi (13-0) finished fourth last year in Division 4 and began the season ranked No. 4. But all that changed after a competitive quad meet hosted April 28 by the Titans, who defeated current No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett 5-3, current No. 8 Traverse City St. Francis 7-1 and current No. 10 Kalamazoo Christian 7-1.
“Beating Hackett was huge for us,” junior Sela Clifford said. “That was one of the teams we were worried about. We just went out there and did our thing. It helped us to know that we can beat Hackett as a team.”
That major showing in the stacked quad came a week after Lumen Christi won the Ann Arbor Greenhills Gryphon Tournament. Greenhills currently is ranked No. 2. After that impressive showing, the Titans vaulted to No. 1.
For a program that has never finished higher than third at an MHSAA Finals, the Titans were thrilled.
“We were all screaming. We were so excited,” Smith said. “The past few years we were like top five, but this year we want to win. We’ve been waiting, and this is our chance.”
McEldowney also knows what comes with the No. 1 ranking.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “The girls hear it a lot, and they are excited about it and everything, but what comes with it is added pressure to always do so well. When you don’t, it’s hard; it’s hard on teen-age girls, but it’s an exciting time, too.”
Clifford, who plays No. 2 singles, welcomes the pressure.
“Pressure helps me to perform better, so I think pressure will help us perform better as a team,” Clifford said. “I feel like we’ll always have a target on our back. I think the target will help us to work harder as a team.”
Family tradition
Smith comes from a family with strong tennis ties. Her mother, Marcy, the assistant coach, played at Lumen Christi and went on to play at Marquette University.
Smith’s aunt, Keri Thompson, was a two-time Division 4 Finals champion at No. 1 singles in 1999 and 2000 while playing for Lumen Christi. She went on to play at Michigan State University and currently is the girls tennis coach at Royal Oak Shrine.
“Tennis has always been in my life, and I grew up with it,” Smith said. “I was constantly playing tennis and working on it.”
There was no shortage of people wanting to help.
“She started playing when she was 4,” Smith’s mother said. “We had a court in the backyard, so we’ve been drop-feeding balls to her since that age. She plays USTA tournaments, and she wants to play in college.”
It wasn’t until last summer, when Smith was introduced to Junior Wightman Cup action, that her focus changed from basketball to tennis nets.
“I went to the Wightman Cup, and its exactly how college tennis is played, and once I did that, it was like, ‘This is what I want to do and what I love.’ Then I focused on tennis and not basketball,” Smith said.
Smith has a strong game, but both her mother and McEldowney point to her composure on the court as maybe her greatest asset.
“What is great about Taylor is she is such a mature, even-keel player,” McEldowney said. “She doesn’t seem to get rattled. Maybe the only thing we wish she had a little more of is a little more fight in her, but I think that’s going to come. It is partly her personality.
“She is a mature, quiet young lady. We see the fight in her, but it is quiet. That is not necessarily a bad thing.”
It is the thing that makes her mother the proudest when she is on the court.
“When she fights and works as hard as she can, it makes me the proudest,” she said. “There is nothing better than watching her give 100 percent and still stay composed and be a leader.
“She has very good court composure.”
Taylor has very good technique as well.
“She’s like the whole package: strong serves, depth, cross-court,” McEldowney said. “She has a wonderful cross-court forehand that she can get with that topspin.”
But what she isn’t is a finished product. And everyone agrees on a part of her game that might need the most work.
“When she plays a player who is giving her a run for her money, she needs to get a little quicker,” McEldowney said. “Some of the better tennis players that she comes against – I don’t think they’re better skill-wise or better strategy-wise – but they might be a little better at the feet. And it’s not like she doesn’t have it, but she doesn’t have it all the time.
“There is tennis feet. It’s not that she is slow to get to the ball, but she doesn’t get there in a tennis form, like her hips are in the way or she isn’t set up properly for the ball.”
Smith is on the same page as her coach.
“My footwork is definitely my weak spot for sure,” Smith said. “I have not focused on tennis until last summer, so the footwork thing is a big part of my game that I need to improve.”
Smith is 18-1 this season, and her lone loss was a compelling 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 loss to Natalie Moyer of Kalamazoo Hackett during the quad.
Deep pool of talent
Lumen Christi’s top four singles players have a combined record of 66-10. The four doubles teams are a combined 64-8. That’s depth.
“We knew we had a good crop, definitely, but did we think that we would be in the running to bring a banner to Lumen Christi? It wasn’t even on my radar. I just didn’t think that way,” McEldowney said. “We don’t even have a club in town, so it’s hard to get these girls playing all year round.
“Really, out of our 13 varsity players, I’d say five at the most play year-round, meaning that they play at Craig Calderone’s court or maybe up to Lansing for lessons. The rest are athletes. They play all the sports all year long and they come out and pick up a racket and they’re a little rusty and then they pick it right up.”
Cilfford is in a unique situation. Last year, she was moved from singles to No. 1 doubles and teamed with Lauren Reynolds. They went on to win the Division 4 championship at their flight.
“Sela could have been our 2 or 3 singles player easily, as with her doubles partner, but we knew putting them at 1 doubles would make our doubles better,” McEldowney said. “Sela really wanted to play singles, but she sacrificed that, as did her partner, so that we’d be stronger team-wise.
“We told her that if you do this, you will win states, and they did.”
Looking back, Clifford sees a lot of positive things that came out of that “sacrifice.”
“I learned a lot about teamwork and not breaking under pressure,” she said. “I learned a lot more mental toughness from that. It definitely made me a better singles player.”
This year, Clifford is 17-1 at No. 2 singles.
“I’m very excited; it’s like a new step for me and a bigger step,” she said. “I miss playing doubles with my partner, though.”
Sophomore Nina Dunigan is 14-5 at No. 3 singles, and freshman Shae Wright is 17-3 at No. 4 singles.
The No. 1 doubles team of senior Jocee McEldowney and junior Geraldine Berkemeier is 17-0 after moving up from No. 2 doubles a year ago. They survived a heart-breaking and stressful match in the MHSAA semifinals last season.
“We had a little bit of a conflict in the last match,” Jocee McEldowney said. “We were both very different last year, and this year we have meshed together and bonded and found out how to use our strengths with each other’s strengths. Last year it was our first year playing together.
“When there is a missed shot in doubles, you have to forgive your partner and move on. A ball, whether it was in or out, was questioned, and we disagreed. It helped us and showed us that the other person really wants to win.”
To their credit, they learned from their disagreement instead of allowing it to fester.
“At the beginning of our season, our coaches sat us down, and Marcy said, ‘When I was playing in college, I got really frustrated, and my partner looked at me and said, ‘Do you think I’m trying to hit it out?’” McEldowney recalled. “I felt like Geraldine and I sometimes got upset with each other, and obviously she is not trying to hit it out, so we’re bonding a lot better because of how we left it last year and the confidence we have. We definitely have unfinished business.”
It doesn’t hurt that Lumen Christi had a Finals championship at No. 1 doubles a year ago.
“Geraldine could certainly be in the singles lineup, but we knew pairing her with Jocee would just strengthen the team, and they will do well,” Terri McEldowney said. “They haven’t lost, and they’ve beaten some of the teams that finished in the top four in the state last year. They have the potential to be a state champion this year.”
Juniors Josie Gibson and Madison King are 17-2 at No. 2 doubles, and the Titans are 13-6 at No. 3 singles while battling an injury. Junior Mackenna Crowley is 4-2 with senior Meghan Fors, her regular partner who is injured, and 9-4 with sophomore Macaulie Simpson.
At No. 4 doubles, sophomore Macie Richmond and freshman Cat Carroll are 17-0.
“We are deep,” McEldowney said.
Aiming for history
As the top-ranked team, the Titans feel they can realistically think about winning the first MHSAA Finals championship in girls tennis in school history. They also realize nothing is guaranteed and nothing will be handed to them.
“I never realized how good of a team we had,” Berkemeier said. “I’ve always felt like where is that one team that is going to beat us at states and take it from us? We haven’t played (Bloomfield Hills Academy of the) Sacred Heart yet, but we’ve played some of the top teams and won.”
While Lumen Christi has had a lot of success in several sports (44 MHSAA titles across nine sports), it is known as a football school, and last fall the Titans won their ninth championship in that sport.
“The football players talk about being state champs and try to brag about it all the time,” Berkemeier said. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s awesome, but I want to have it, too.
“Last year, everyone thought we had a lot of potential, and we did, and we wanted to win state so badly, and we went in there and got our hearts broken. I remember leaving the court after semifinals and bawling my eyes out. We wanted it so much, and now it makes me want to choke up thinking about it.”
That memory certainly is fuel to make another run.
“I think the chemistry on the team is meshing,” Coach McEldowney said. “They get along, and they are just a fun bunch of girls. They cheer each other on from all parts of the court, so I think it’s just kind of a year of coming together tennis-wise, mental-wise, and smart, match-play wise.
“But I know Hackett is going to be coming for us, and so will Greenhills. And you can’t count out Sacred Heart, and Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian is having a fine year.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lumen Christi's Sela Clifford readies to return a volley during last season's Division 4 championship match at No. 1 doubles. (Middle) Clifford, now a junior, and 2016 doubles partner Lauren Reynolds receive some coaching during the Finals. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: Lineup Packed with Powers
May 30, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A number of familiar faces will return to the Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals this weekend – and the frequent contenders are expected to battle again in three of four divisions.
But a pair of hopefuls are looking to join the powers with their first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi and Traverse City St. Francis are among the top-three ranked teams in Division 4, and both are seeking a first Finals championship – although annual power Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart remains in the mix as well.
In Division 1, meanwhile, 2017 co-champs Midland Dow and Northville are expected to decide the title, while a traditional crew of powers holds many of the top seeds in Division 2. Detroit Country Day is the likely team to beat again in Division 3.
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. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 2 – Kalamazoo College (8 a.m. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 3 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (Singles at Hope 8 a.m./Doubles at Holland Christian 8:30 a.m. 6/1, all finals at Hope 8 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 4 – Novi (8 a.m. both days)
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: 1. Midland Dow, 2. Northville, 3. Bloomfield Hills.
These three made up the contenders in a little different order a year ago as well, and Dow and Northville shared the championship in 2017 after taking turns finishing first and second the previous two seasons. Both have nearly their entire lineups back, and Dow edged Northville by two points to win the Holly Invitational at the beginning of this month.
Midland Dow: The Chargers have top-three seeds at seven of eight flights, with Sarah Ismail on the top line at No. 3 singles and Amelie Kraef and Reema Patel the favorite at No. 4 doubles. Ismail won No. 2 singles in 2017 and No. 3 in 2016, and Patel was part of the championship-winning pair at No. 4 doubles last season. Hadley Camp and Tatum Matthews were runners-up in 2017; Camp was second at No. 3 singles and this weekend is the second seed at No. 4, while Matthews was runner-up at No. 2 doubles and is now part of the top seed at No. 1 with Kelly Livingston, part of the 2016 champ at No. 2. Unseeded No. 1 singles player Jessica Brown was runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman in 2015 and has made the No. 1 quarterfinals the last two seasons.
Northville: The Mustangs are seeded at every flight, with three top seeds and two flights in the second spot. Shanoli Kumar is top-seeded at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals in 2017 and winning and finishing second at No. 2 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Serena Wang and Sophie Zhuang are seeded first at No. 1 doubles for the second straight year after making the semifinals last season, and Neha Chava and Andrea Nam are top-seeded at No. 2 doubles after Chava won that flight last spring and Nam was part of the runner-up at No. 3. Renee Torres and Tori Mady are the reigning champions at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively; Mady is seeded second at No. 2 singles and Torres is the fourth seed at No. 3 this weekend.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks finished third last season, only three points back of the co-champs and 10 ahead of the rest of the field. Junior Tia Mukherjee is second-seeded at No. 1 singles and hoping to play for the title again after finishing runner-up at that flight a year ago. Jenna Silverman at No. 4 singles and Ellen Burke and Lauren Walkon at No. 3 doubles also earned top seeds, and Kaela Bernard at No. 2 doubles was part of the runner-up at No. 4 last year.
Ann Arbor Huron’s Angie Zhou: The freshman No. 1 singles player has enjoyed a big high school debut and is seeded third at the top flight.
Plymouth’s Jessica Braun: She’s seeded fourth at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals as the fifth seed the last two seasons.
Grosse Pointe South’s Laurel Sullivan: She’s seeded fifth at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up to Ismail at No. 2 in 2017.
LP Division 2 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. East Grand Rapids, 3. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Similar to Division 1, these were the top three ranked teams at this point in 2017 as well but in a different order. East Grand Rapids won last year’s championship, three points ahead of Forest Hills Northern, but Seaholm is the favorite to take back the title for what would be the first time since 2015 but fourth time this decade. Forest Hills Northern shared the championship with the Maples in 2014 and also finished runner-up in 2012 and 2015.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples have four top seeds and three second seeds after winning seven flights to claim the Regional title two weeks ago ahead of No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Marian, which beat Seaholm by a point at the Regional last year and then finished a point ahead of Seaholm at the Final. The Maples are expected to dominate doubles – Brooke Forte and Lilly Trinch at No. 2, Jessica Buechner and Lea Cazaudumec at No. 3 and Charlie Kutchman and Sofia Manzo at No. 4 are all top-seeded, while Layla Bellissimo and Emily Hirsch are the second seed at No. 1. Forte and Trinch were the No. 3 runners-up in 2017. Mollie Judge at No. 3 singles carries a top seed as well and made the quarterfinals at No. 2 a year ago.
East Grand Rapids: All eight flights are seeded, led by reigning No. 1 singles champion Sloane Teske holding down the top line in that flight. Hannah Stuursma is the reigning champion at No. 2 singles and seeded third in her return, while Halley Elliott is seeded second at No. 3 after making the semifinals at No. 4 last spring. Audrey Devries and Kate Mackeigan are the reigning champions at No. 4 doubles and seeded this time fifth at No. 2, and Alivia Vincelj is part of the third seed at No. 1 after finishing as part of last season’s runner-up at No. 2.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies are seeded in seven flights coming off last season’s runner-up run. Claire Tatman and Sydney McLean both were flight champions last season – Tatman at No. 1 doubles and McLean at No. 3 – and they’re teaming up for the fourth-seeded pairing at No. 1. Abby Zhang was part of last season’s No. 2 doubles champion and is partnering with Lilla Henkel for the third-seeded pair at that flight.
Royal Oak’s Olivia Weiss: Another standout freshman, she’s holding down the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Holly’s Taylor Barrett: The third seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last season as the fourth seed.
St. Joseph’s Ashley Ke: The fourth-seeded player at No. 1 came back after dropping the first set to win her Regional against Mattawan’s Kate Novak.
Mattawan’s Kate Novak: Last year’s sixth seed at No. 1 is up to the fifth seed at this Final; a year ago she upset Ke on the way to making the flight semifinals.
Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Madison Dering and Gigi Kalabat: Dering made the quarterfinals at No. 1 doubles last year with Kate Currier; Dering this time is part of the top-seeded pair with reigning No. 4 singles runner-up Kalabat, while Currier is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 2.
LP Division 3 at Hope College
The ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 3. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Detroit Country Day repeated last season as champion with a near-perfect 39 points, as Grand Rapids Christian finished second for the third straight season. Forest Hills Eastern finished ahead of Christian two weeks ago at their Regional to enter this weekend as the top contender from the west side of the state, and Cranbrook Kingswood always is in the mix with its five straight titles to start this decade hardly a distant memory.
Detroit Country Day: Freshman Julie Fliegner is the top seed at No. 1 singles, an even more substantial accomplishment as teammate Monique Karoub is the top seed at No. 2 – after winning the championship at No. 1 a year ago. Elle Hartje is the top seed at No. 3 after winning No. 1 doubles championships the last two seasons, and Alexis Nardicchio is the top seed at No. 4 after winning that flight in 2017. All four doubles pairs are seeded as well, with Maya Nassif and Ruhi Nayak a top seed at No. 3 after Nassif won the title at No. 4 and Nayak was part of the runner-up at 3 last spring. Heather Zimmerman and Tara Rahmani won the No. 2 doubles title last year, and this weekend Zimmerman enters as part of the second seed at No. 1 and Rahmani as part of the fourth seed at No. 2.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern: The Hawks are shooting for their first top-two Finals finish and came in fourth last season. All eight flights this weekend have seeds of fifth or higher, with Avneet Deol the team’s highest as a second seed at No. 4 singles after she made the semifinals at No. 3 a year ago.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes came in third a year ago and may make their run this time on the strength of powerful doubles. Kate Cao and Amelia Smith are the top seed at No. 1 after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Sophia Moustakas and Abby Foltyn are the top seed at No. 2 and Simrin Nagaraju and Mia Inakage have the top line of the bracket at No. 4.
Paw Paw’s Lorena Castellanos: Coming off a Regional title, she’s earned the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Danko: Enters this weekend as the third seed at No. 1 singles after beating fifth-seeded Leah Palladino of Forest Hills Eastern in the Regional title match.
Flint Powers Catholic’s Alise Haddad: The fourth seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last year as the sixth seed in the top flight.
LP Division 4 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Jackson Lumen Christi, 2. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
After finishing runner-up and five points behind champion Ann Arbor Greenhills in 2017, Lumen Christi is favored to win its first MHSAA Finals championship in this spring. But Academy of the Sacred Heart of course can’t be counted out; the Gazelles were third last season and won four titles in five years from 2012-16. St. Francis was the runner-up for the last of those two Sacred Heart titles, in 2015 and 2016, and also is pursuing its first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi: Seven flights are seeded, six as fourth seeds are higher. Singles are loaded. Taylor Smith at No. 1 singles and Sela Clifford at No. 2 are second seeds at their respective flights, and Smith is the reigning No. 1 singles champion after entering as a second seed last year as well and beating Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer, who is the top seed this weekend. Clifford, who made the No. 2 semifinals last spring, also brings championship experience after winning a No. 1 doubles title in 2016. Nina Dunigan made the semifinals at No. 3 last year and is seeded third at that flight, and Shae Wright is the reigning No. 4 runner-up and is seeded fifth in her return to that bracket. Geraldine Berkemeier and Madison King are unseeded at No. 1 doubles, but Berkemeier was half of the championship pair at that flight last season when King was part of a semifinalist at No. 2.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: Six flights are seeded, and the Gazelles again are expected to surge with powerful doubles. Following in that Sacred Heart tradition are top seeds Sara Gerard and Annie Keating at No. 1, Kathryn Monahan and Serena Seneker and No. 3, and Hannah Kakos and Kate Myers at No. 4, with Nolwenn Crosnier and Kelleigh Keating second seeded at No. 2. Gerard and Keating were the runners-up last season at No. 1 and Monahan was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 as well as a two-time champion at No. 3 doubles as a freshman and sophomore.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators are back in the hunt after a 16th-place finish in 2017. Every flight is seeded, with Paige Davies on the top line at No. 4 singles and Maddie Muzljakovich and Mary Mawby the second seed at No. 3 doubles. Anne Bandrowski, the runner-up at No. 4 singles in 2015 and No. 3 in 2016, will play her final high school event as the sixth seed at No. 1.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Maggie Ketels: The top seed at No. 2 singles is seeking her second straight championship at that flight.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer: The top seed at No. 1 singles was the runner-up last year and won No. 2 in 2016.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Vidhya Rajaprabhakaran: Last season’s champion at No. 3 singles will play in the top flight this weekend.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Giselle Farjo and Jamie Todd: The second seed at No. 1 doubles includes Farjo from last year’s No. 2 champion and Todd from the No. 3 title winner.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Genna Goist and Ryan Perry: The top seeded-pair at No. 2 doubles includes Perry, who won No. 3 with Todd in 2017.
PHOTO: Midland Dow's Sarah Ismail returns a volley during last season's LP Division 1 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)