Westwood Streak Grows with 1-Point Win
October 4, 2018
By Ryan Stieg
Special for Second Half
ISHPEMING – The last two seasons, Ishpeming Westwood and Iron River West Iron County have emerged as the top Division 2 girls tennis programs in the Upper Peninsula – and whenever they battle, it’s always a close finish.
It couldn't get much closer Thursday, as the Patriots edged the Wykons 20-19 to win their third straight U.P. Division 2 title and their ninth in the last 10 years. This also was the second year in a row Westwood beat West Iron by one point.
Not only did the two squads have to battle each other in competition, they also had to fight the elements as a cold wind blew across the court for most of the day. Westwood coach Chris Jackson said he wasn’t sure how the day would play out, especially with the weather, but that it ended up going as expected.
“Everything from the weather to the competition with West Iron, we knew that was going to be difficult,” he said. “We weren’t sure how the weather conditions were going to affect things, but everything kind of played out the way that the seeds went. It was almost like the tournament went as scheduled with the exception of maybe one flight.
“Our girls responded and they were just amazing today. We had our ups and downs, and we were down in a couple of matches and in the first sets of some finals. But a couple of the kids responded well and that was the difference today.”
While the Patriots celebrated, it was another excruciating way to end the year for the Wykons. However, West Iron coach Joe Serbentas viewed the result from a positive standpoint and said he was proud of how his team performed.
“It’s always a close one with Westwood,” he said. “They’re a good program, they’re solid, and we knew coming in that it was going to come down to a few flights here and there at the end like it did last year. … They got five championships and we got three, so that was the difference today. But I can’t take anything away from our girls. I thought we fought really hard, and the ones we lost (were) a couple of three-setters. It was a tough way to go out because it’s competitive and I’m sure the girls are disappointed, but it’ll make them hungry, the ones that are coming back next year.
“I thought Katarina (Serbentas) has done great all year, and she was excellent today (she defeated Westwood’s Madi Koski at No. 1 singles). That win puts her record at 20-2, which is a very good year. We did everything we could. Westwood was just a little better today.”
What helped put the Patriots over the top was their singles play, as they took three of the four flight championships. Westwood’s Jillian Koski took the No. 4 match in two sets, while Kaylee Larmour (No. 3) outlasted West Iron’s Livea Mazurek in three frames. The most competitive singles match was at the No. 2 spot, where the Patriots’ Tessa Leece defeated the Wykons’ Izzy Hoogenboom in three sets. After losing the first set, Leece said she was a little concerned, but a chat with Jackson helped calm her nerves.
“I was pretty confident, but after the first set, I was really, really nervous that it was not going to happen,” she said. “But then my coach gave me a really nice pep talk that was very motivational, and it boosted me up. Then I decided that I wanted to win this, so then I was just determined to do it.”
When asked about what he said to Leece, Jackson replied that he told her to focus on what she could control and not on what she couldn’t.
“It’s the same as in any other sport,” he said. “Tessa has come a long way in her game, and the difficult thing for her is in the past she’s relied on her ability to just get a lot of balls back. I think sometimes she fights between ‘do I hit harder?’ or ‘do I try to get balls back?’ I think she was fighting herself a little bit there in the first set and the beginning of the second, but I think she settled on the style she wanted to play and she committed to it and got a good result.”
Over on the doubles side, Iron Mountain, which finished third overall, had its only championship match appearance at the No. 1 spot. However, Saylor Swartout and Claire Montgrain couldn’t top West Iron’s Eden Golliher and Tori Bociek. The other three matches were between the Wykons and the Patriots with West Iron’s Emily Nelson and Anna Malmquist taking the No. 2 match in a three-set thriller. However, Westwood’s Ellie Miller and Meghan Johnson took the No. 3 title and teammates Jenna Wealton and Claire Giles defeated the Wykons’ Aurora Dahl and Madison Berutti at No. 4 to add to the title drive.
Ishpeming took fourth with six points and reached the semifinals in four flights. Munising finished fifth with three points, with Chantelle Harger (No. 3 singles) having the Mustangs’ best individual performance as she made the semifinals. Ironwood followed in sixth place and Gwinn in seventh. The Red Devils had one semifinals appearance with McKensi Koval and Leilah Anderson making it at No. 4 doubles.
PHOTOS: (Top) Westwood’s Ellie Miller serves during a semifinals doubles match against Munising’s Skyler Campbell and Lori Mattson at the Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Middle) The Patriots' Meghan Johnson also serves against Campbell and Mattson. (Photos by Corey Kelly.)
Rising St Francis Eyes 1st MHSAA Title
May 25, 2016
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – Paul Bandrowski gave his players a choice.
“Girls,” the St. Francis tennis coach said at the start of spring practice, “do you want to work to win, or do you want to work to have a good time? We can do it either way. It’s up to you.”
The girls didn’t hesitate.
“They all said they wanted to work hard, put in the effort,” Bandrowski said.
The results have been impressive. The Gladiators swept all eight flights in the Lake Michigan Conference championships, the MHSAA Division 4 Regional and enter next weekend’s Lower Peninsula Finals ranked No. 1 in their division in the state coaches’ poll. St. Francis, which finished second in Division 4 last season, did not lose a set in Regional play.
“We’ve been pushing them, and they’ve responded,” Bandrowski said.
Bandrowski is in his first season as the head coach. He previously coached in the middle school program, and later as an assistant to varsity coach Jeff Hughes. Bandrowski is also the head coach of the boys program, which has finished third in Division 4 the last two falls.
“He really has the tennis programs rolling, and he’s doing it the right way – from the middle school on up,” said Tom Hardy, the school’s athletic director.
Statewide, Hardy said, the trend is just the opposite. He said the number of Division 4 schools dropping tennis because of low numbers is “amazing.”
“The ones that are succeeding are because of the coach,” he said.
Hardy said when he coached boys tennis nearly 10 years ago “we were trying to pull kids out of the hallways to have 12 to have a team.”
By comparison, the Gladiators had just under 40 boys participate last fall, “enough to have three full teams,” Hardy said. The girls field two complete teams.
But it runs deeper than the high school level.
“We have around 900 kids in our entire school system,” Bandrowski said, “and 240 are playing tennis at some level. That’s almost 25 percent. That’s pretty exciting. If you catch them early, develop that bug (for tennis), then you can build a long term program.”
St. Francis recently constructed five new courts at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Middle School, and resurfaced the existing four courts. The school hosted its first Regional last week. The event turned into a celebration.
“We had 300 kids from our school there during (parts of) the day watching and cheering,” Bandrowski said. “I’m a huge advocate for making it fun. We had free hot dogs, chips, water. It was like a carnival. Kids notice that kind of environment. They think, ‘Man, this is like football. This is a lot of fun.’ If you can make it interesting, exciting and fun, and let them cheer, all of a sudden it’s an in-thing to do.”
Of course, it helps to put a good team on the courts to keep spectators interested.
“A lot of people told my dad afterwards they were surprised tennis was so intense and fun to watch,” said Amanda Bandrowski, the Gladiators’ No. 1 singles player. “My dad was probably saying to himself, ‘Told you so.’”
Amanda Bandrowski is the reigning Division 4 champion at No. 1 singles. She’s 30-2 this spring.
“Amanda is a real dedicated tennis player,” Paul Bandrowski said. “She loves playing the game, teaching the game. Tennis is her life.”
“I don’t do too much else,” she said with a laugh.
Defending her title will not be easy as the No. 1 singles flight is loaded. The field includes Kalamazoo Hackett’s Kate Ketels, who handed Bandrowski one of her two losses this spring, and last year’s runner-up Jeanne Nash of Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart.
“It’s going to be good, tough competition,” Amanda Bandrowski said.
Tournament-tested Bailey Chouinard (28-4), Anne Bandrowski (31-2) and Rosie Wilson (30-4) team with Amanda Bandrowski to give the Gladiators a potent singles lineup. Chouinard and Anne Bandrowski were Finals runner-ups last spring at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively. Wilson played No. 2 doubles a year ago and reached the semifinals with partner Nicole Ehardt. Anne Bandrowski, who has had 16 shutout matches this season, is the lone underclassmen among the four. Two singles players, Amanda Bandrowski and Chouinard, will play collegiately next season – Bandrowski at Hope College and Chouinard at Aquinas College.
The doubles lineup has provided a nice balance. Carlee McCardel, an all-state skier, and Jenna Tomczak are 31-3 at No. 1 doubles. McCardel reached the career 100-win mark in the Regional, joining teammates Amanda Bandrowski and Wilson in the century club. Bethany Richey-Margaret Sutherland (24-3), Nicole Ehardt-Camille Madion (29-4) and Dee Ehardt-Maddie Muzljakovich (16-9) add to the team’s strength. First-year players Dee Ehardt and Muzljakovich have come on strong, winning their last 11 matches, Paul Bandrowski said. Dee and Nicole Ehardt were on the school’s Class C Semifinal volleyball squad in the fall. Bandrowski has nine volleyball players competing in tennis.
“You take a girl that’s a great volleyball player and they learn overheads quickly, they learn how to serve quickly,” Bandrowski said. “They have that hand-eye coordination. They know how to bounce, how to move. I’m always looking for that next athlete.”
As a team, St. Francis is 11-0-1 against some of the top Division 4 squads in the state. The Gladiators tied Hackett 4-4 and edged last year’s champion, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 5-3. Those three teams will likely battle it out for the crown.
“It will be tough, but we definitely have shot at winning the state championship,” Amanda Bandrowski said.
Paul Bandrowski agreed.
“Hackett has a great team, so does Sacred Heart,” he said. “It’s going to be a battle.
“Our attitude right now is this: We can win if we play our best tennis and put all of our energy into it (leading up to the finals). We’re going there (Kalamazoo College) to try and win. If we don’t, at least we’ll know we left it all on the court.”
It’s been quite a first season for Bandrowski, but he’s quick to praise Hughes, whose last three teams had consecutive top-three finishes at the MHSAA Finals.
“Jeff built a great program,” Bandrowski said. “He’s a great guy with a great personality. He helped these girls enjoy tennis. I definitely go on the back of the people who have come before me – Annie Murphy (previous boys coach) and Jeff. Building a successful program doesn’t happen overnight.”
Hardy said Bandrowski has been the perfect successor to Hughes. And with the feeder programs flourishing, Hardy expects the success to continue. More importantly, though, he appreciates the way it is being achieved.
“We get more compliments (about the tennis program),” he said. “People (that are involved) are enthusiastic about it. It’s a fun, safe environment for kids so they (parents and kids) are going to be drawn to it.”
The tennis team is looking to put an exclamation point on what’s been an incredible sports year at St. Francis, especially for the girls. The cross country and co-op downhill ski teams won MHSAA titles. The basketball team reached the Class C Final, the volleyball team the Semifinals. The track & field team just won its fifth consecutive Regional while softball is 23-9 and co-op soccer 7-6-2.
The boys are doing well, too. The football team went 12-1 and reached the Division 6 Semifinals, the co-op ski team placed second in Division 2, the tennis team took third in Division 4, the basketball team won a District, the track & field team just captured a Regional, and the golf and baseball teams won conference crowns Monday.
The success has been so prevalent that this year’s yearbook theme is “The Year of SF.”
“All of our sports teams have done incredibly well, so much better than anybody would have expected,” Amanda Bandrowski said. “It’s really exciting to be part of it.”
What excites Hardy is that it’s been shared by so many.
“We had a school assembly at the beginning of the year,” he said. “I asked all the fall sports athletes to stand, then I asked the winter sport athletes to join them, and then the spring sport athletes to join as well. I think we had maybe 15 or 20 kids not standing.
“So out of the 340 kids at the high school we have nearly 320 participating in at least one sport. That’s unreal.”
So is the success.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Traverse City St. Francis girls tennis team huddles before a match. (Middle) Amanda Bandrowski, the reigning No. 1 singles champion in Lower Peninsula Division 4, begins a serve. (Photos courtesy of the St. Francis girls tennis program.)