6 Flight Champs Key Westwood 4-Peat
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 2, 2019
KINGSFORD — Ishpeming Westwood continued its stranglehold on the Upper Peninsula Division 2 girls tennis championship Wednesday, winning for the fourth straight season.
Westwood, which gained at least a share of title for also the 10th time in 11 years, posted 22 points and was followed by West Iron County with 15 and Iron Mountain with 11.
“This is an exciting day for the girls,” said Westwood coach Sarah Massie. “One of our goals was definitely to win the M-PCs (Mid-Peninsula Conference). After a big win over Negaunee, we were ready to go. We didn’t have a dual meet with West Iron because it got rained out. We didn’t play them until today. The girls just had to play their game, and it worked out for them.”
The Patriots won 6-of-8 flights, including all four singles on this cloudy, chilly and windy day.
Senior Madelyn Koski became a two-time Finals champion by taking a 6-1, 6-0 decision from Iron Mountain’s Macy McCormick at No. 1 singles. She previously was part of a No. 3 doubles winner in 2016 and was runner-up at No. 1 singles in 2018.
“I’m pretty happy,” said Koski. “Every team I’ve been on worked pretty hard. It has really been fun to be on these teams. I’m pretty sad to see it end.
“This is probably the best I played in the U.P. Finals. I just learned as I went on. It was definitely a little windy, and I had to adjust my game – although, I’m used to the wind.”
Classmate Tessa Leece won for the fourth consecutive Finals, topping Iron Mountain’s Claire Mongrain 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Leece teamed with Koski in 2016, won No. 4 singles as a sophomore and No. 2 also as a junior.
“I just focused on hitting good shots and tried to be patient,” said Leece, who also runs on the school’s cross country team. “I knew what to expect, which comes with experience.
“This feels so good. We worked so hard for it. We wanted to end on a good note.”
Jillian Koski added a 6-0, 6-4 triumph over Iron Mountain junior Arianna Morel in No. 3 singles, and Jenna Wealton defeated West Iron’s Olivia Mazurek 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4. Koski had won No. 4 singles last season.
“I was excited to get to the finals,” said Morel. “She was very consistent, and her groundstrokes were working pretty well. She hit the ball right to me, and I had to play it on the run.”
Westwood juniors Avery Mariuzzo and Emily Nelson outlasted West Iron sophomores Madison Berutti and Aurora Dahl 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 for their first No. 3 doubles championship.
“It feels like it was a reset,” said Mariuzzo, who helped the Patriots’ duo regain control with three quick overhand taps in the third set. “I think those shots set the tone. Those definitely gave us a lot of momentum. We just had to refocus.”
Nelson also had some success with overhand taps.
“Once we hit the reset button, we didn’t want to lose again,” she said. “We work real well together. We had been competing with Negaunee and Marquette all year, which prepared us well.”
Westwood junior Claire Gilles and sophomore Natalie Prophet won No. 4 doubles in a 6-0, 6-2 finales over West Iron’s Alyssa Dominicci and Katarina Hemeleski.
“Natalie finishes every play at the net,” said Gilles, who became a two-time champion. “Communication is key. We made sure we switched when the ball went to the other side of the court. We felt we had everything pretty much under control. I definitely wanted to win again. There was a lot of pressure coming in.”
West Iron took the remaining flights, with junior Tori Bociek and senior Eden Golliher defeating Westwood’s Katelyn Antilla and Karlie Patron 6-4, 6-3 to repeat at No. 1 doubles. Emily Nelson and Anna Malmquist dispatched Ellie Miller and Meghan Johnson 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2.
“We hit the angles pretty good,” said Bociek. “Our overhand shots were working pretty good. This is the third U.P. title for both of us. We just tried to play this like any other match. I think this will be a pretty big motivator for next year.”
Iron Mountain matched expectations, according to coach Sharon Ducat.
“We took third place today, and that’s about where I expected we would be,” she said. “Macy, Claire and Arianna made to the finals in singles and played well. Our doubles teams improved upon their results from earlier in the year, and I was happy with their performance. It was a fun and enjoyable season, one which the girls should be proud of.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Westwood's Madelyn Koski returns a volley during her championship match at No. 1 singles Wednesday. (Middle) West Iron's Livea Mazurek returns a shot during a match also at No. 1 singles. (Photos by Matt McCarthy.)
Preview: Reigning Champions Seeking Repeat Performances at Midland Tennis Center
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 26, 2026
As with the MHSAA boys championship tournaments this past fall, the Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals over the next two weeks will have a new look – although familiarity reigns as last year’s four team champions are the favorites again in their respective divisions.
Northville, Birmingham Seaholm, Detroit Country Day and Ann Arbor Greenhills will look to maintain their supremacy all at Midland Tennis Center, beginning with Division 4 today and Thursday, followed by Division 1 this Friday and Saturday, and then Division 2 on June 3 and 4 and Division 3 over June 5 and 6.
Below are details on those top-ranked teams and more contenders to watch during all four Finals:
Division 1
Top-ranked: 1. Northville, 2. Utica Eisenhower, 3. Novi.
Northville is the reigning champion, and Utica Eisenhower has finished second the last two seasons and is seeking its first title. Northville claimed last year’s team trophy by just a point, and third-place Novi was only four back of the lead and also enters this weekend seeking a first Finals championship.
Northville: The Mustangs will pursue a repeat with six seeded flights and potentially powered by doubles with juniors Sravya Doppalapudi and Francine Ong seeded first at No. 2 and senior Michelle Lee and junior Emma Murphy seeded first at No. 4. All four doubles pairs are seeded third or higher, as is sophomore Grace Xu at No. 3 singles. Doppalapudi and Ong were champions at No. 3 doubles last season, Murphy was part of the No. 4 champion, juniors Lucia Lachapelle and Aadya Pullalarevu were runners-up at No. 2 and are second-seeded at No. 3 this time, and junior Emmi Dober is part of the third-seeded No. 1 pair after finishing second at No. 3 singles in 2025.
Utica Eisenhower: The Eagles just missed a first title last year, and they are loaded especially at singles with six flights total seeded for the weekend. Senior Gabriella Sadowski is seeded second at No. 1 singles after winning the flight as a sophomore and finishing runner-up a year ago. Sophomore Morgan Emerick is seeded first at No. 2 and the reigning champion in that bracket, and senior Sofia Gardner is seeded second at No. 4. Sadowski and Emerick are undefeated this spring. Senior Alexis Gabriel has been part of No. 1 and No. 2 doubles champions over the last two seasons and is seeded fourth at No. 1 this time with junior Kara Lu.
Ann Arbor Pioneer: The Pioneers were ranked No. 4 in the most recent poll and seeded to make a move after finishing seventh a year ago. They are seeded at all four singles flights and two doubles flights, with sophomores Maryn Etheridge and Ayla Altinsel the top seed at No. 3 doubles.
Saline senior Emerson Jones: She’s the top seed at No. 1 singles and 18-0 in her only season playing high school tennis, with 11 wins (including her last four) by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Clarkston junior Kayla Lemke: The third seed at No. 1 singles is 20-2 with her only losses to Saline’s Jones and Eisenhower’s Sadowski.
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek junior Larissa Yoshino/sophomore Yousong Choi: The top-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles is 19-1 with its only loss in three sets to Eisenhower’s Gabriel and Lu.
Division 2
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 3. Farmington Hills Mercy.
Reigning champion Seaholm has won two of the last three titles and finished first or second the last four seasons. Forest Hills Northern most recently won this tournament in 2024 and owns three of the five championships in Division 2 this decade. Mercy finished runner-up to Seaholm last year and is seeking its first team Finals title in this sport.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples will be tough to catch with seven top-seeded flights – sophomore Devon Rusk at No. 2 singles, junior Sabrina Dunn at No. 3, junior Izzy Bloom at No. 4, senior Lucy Jen and junior Sophia Arndt at No. 1 doubles, senior Anna Olekszyk and junior Katie Joyce at No. 2, junior Cate French and senior Kate Crowley at No. 3 and junior Alina Villaire and senior Jacqueline Supancich the top-seeded No. 4 pair. Senior Jada Josifovski is the sixth-seeded player at No. 1 singles and won No. 2 a year ago. Olekszyk and Arndt won No. 2 doubles last spring, Crowley and French won No. 3, Joyce and Villaire won No. 4 and Jen was part of the runner-up at No. 1. Bloom was the runner-up at No. 4 singles in 2025.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies finished third a year ago and will make a run at the top spots led by four second-seeded flights – senior Harriet Ogilvie at No. 1 singles, sophomore Audrey Kowatch at No. 4, sophomore Hayla Messelink and senior Hailey Pfeiffle at No. 3 doubles and senior Maddie Decker and freshman Mercedes Acevedo at No. 4. Senior Ava Targosz and sophomore Sadie Wolfe are seeded fifth at No. 2 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 last year.
Farmington Hills Mercy: The Marlins will look to make up seven points from last year’s runner-up finish with five flights seeded among the top three in their respective brackets. Seniors Alexa Dueweke and Scarlett Manchinger are second seeds at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, and sophomore Anna Naida and senior Gabby Owens are second-seeded at No. 2 doubles. Owens was the champion at No. 4 singles last season, and senior Keira Kirkland was the runner-up at No. 2 and is seeded third at No. 1 this weekend.
Ana Cheng, Mattawan senior: The top-seeded player at No. 1 singles is 24-2 with a win over Ogilvie just two weeks ago but a loss to Kirkland at the start of May. Cheng reached the quarterfinals at No. 1 last season as the seven seed.
Division 3
Top-ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. East Grand Rapids, 3. Bloomfield Hills Marian.
Country Day is seeking to run its latest championship streak to three, and East Grand Rapids in 2009 is the last team not Country Day or Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood to win the Division 3 title. The Pioneers are seeking to make a jump from sixth last season. Marian finished third a year ago and most recently won a championship in 2016 in Division 2.
Detroit Country Day: Five top seeds will lead the Yellowjackets’ pursuit. Sophomore Chloe Conniff is on the top line at No. 1 singles after finishing second at No. 2 last year, and sophomore Karishma Vakhariya is the top seed at No. 2 coming off the championship at No. 3. Junior Quinn Norlander and senior Helen Benjamin are top-seeded at No. 1 doubles and familiar with this stage as well; Benjamin has won two singles titles including at No. 4 last season, and Norlander was part of last spring’s No. 1 doubles runner-up. Sophomore Grace Kalkanis was part of the No. 4 champion last season and is seeded first at No. 2 with sophomore Zoe Bergg, and senior Jiya Gill and sophomore Zoe Grebinski are top-seeded at No. 4 this time. Sophomore Addie Grebinski is seeded third at No. 3 singles and senior Noor Mahmoud is part of the third-seeded pair at No. 3 doubles after they teamed up to finish runner-up at No. 2 doubles in 2025.
East Grand Rapids: Seven of eight EGR flights are seeded, and all seven are seeded fourth or higher with freshman Evelyn Gingras leading the way on the top line at No. 3 singles. Sophomore Mia Owings also is forecasted to play for a flight championship as the second seed at No. 4 singles.
Bloomfield Hills Marian: Seven flights are seeded and with several championship match expectations. Freshman Gwen Slapak is the top seed at No. 4 singles, with senior Emerson Turkot and junior Stella Glorio the second seed at No. 2 doubles, freshman Emerson Villalba and junior Lexa Hindo second-seeded at No. 3 and juniors Lizzie Plunkett and Clare Reaume the second seed at No. 4. Glorio and Hindo were the champions at No. 3 last season.
Henley Honholt, Grand Rapids Christian sophomore: The second seed at No. 1 singles is 16-1 with her only loss to Country Day’s Conniff. Honholt reached the semifinals as the third seed last season.
Lilah Zaskowski, Ada Forest Hills Eastern junior: After reaching the quarterfinals last season as the sixth seed, she’s back as the third in the No. 1 singles bracket with three of her four loses to Honholt or Conniff.
Division 4
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 3. Allegan.
Greenhills has won the last four Division 4 championships, and Notre Dame Prep has finished second the last two seasons – which have been the Fighting Irish’s highest Finals finishes as they continue to pursue a first title. Allegan is seeking its first as well and has four runner-up finishes, its most recent in 2013 in Division 3.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: Junior Nina Malani at No. 1 singles and freshman Jahan Soofi at No. 4 are on the top lines of their respective brackets, and similarly seniors Danica Rakic-Dennis and Lauren Ye are seeded first at No. 1 doubles and senior Aoife Tang and sophomore Linnea Bengtson are the top seed at No. 4. The other four flights are seeded second or third in their brackets. Malani won No. 4 singles last season and sophomore Hazel Morgan is seeded third at No. 2 this time after winning No. 3 in 2025. Rakic-Dennis was part of the champion at No. 1 doubles and Ye part of the winning pair at No. 3 last spring with junior Alyssa Hong, who is joined by junior Jessica Lou on the third-seeded No. 2 doubles pair.
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep: The Irish will attempt to cut into Greenhills’ advantage led by sophomores Vanessa Artinian and Regina Carpenese holding down the top seed at No. 2 doubles and senior Nina Shanidze seeded second at No. 3 singles. Artinian was part of the No. 4 doubles champion last year – with sophomore Elena Vandieren, who is playing No. 1 doubles with sophomore Adriana Dedukaj – and senior Adriana Johnson was part of the runner-up at No. 3 and with freshman Adrienne Hofley is seeded sixth at that flight this time. Junior Ana Jarvis is playing No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 3 a year ago.
Allegan: The Tigers are seeded at six flights and especially powerful in doubles. Seniors Sophia Augustine and Emma Scheffler are the top seed at No. 3, with junior Ireland Dewey and senior Madison Cook the second seed at No. 1 and seniors Taylor Fuller and Hanna Kievit second-seeded at No. 2.
Sonya Jayakar, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett sophomore: After opening this season with a pair of defeats – including the first to Malani – Jayakar has run off 12 straight wins. She reached the quarterfinals at No. 1 while unseeded as a freshman.
Eliana McClellan, Traverse City St. Francis junior: She finished runner-up at No. 2 singles last season, and her only losses this spring were during the first event – against Malani and Saline’s Jones.
PHOTO Detroit Country Day's Quinn Norlander gets to a ball near the net during the 2025 Division 3 Finals. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)