LP Finals Preview: Champions Reign
May 30, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Fans attending any of this weekend's four MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals will notice plenty of familiar names on the bracket sheets.
Two of four reigning team champions are ranked No. 1 in their respective divisions, and three of four No. 1 singles champions from last season will play for repeats as well.
Below is a brief look at top contenders at all four tournaments. Play begins Friday morning and finishes Saturday. Click for more including brackets and seeds for all 32 flights.
DIVISION 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top ranked: No. 1 Port Huron Northern, No. 2 Clarkston, No. 3 Grosse Pointe South.
Reigning No. 1 individual champion: Davina Nguyen, Utica.
The top three finishers from 2012 are the top three ranked teams again this weekend. Grosse Pointe South will look to defend its championship win, earned by a point over co-runners-up Clarkston and Port Huron Northern.
Port Huron Northern: The favorite is seeded at six flights and loaded with experience after last season’s near-miss. Allie Sweeney is the sixth seed at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 2 last season, and Lizzie Brozovich is the third seed at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at No. 3; Rae Brozovich is the second seed at No. 3 singles after making the semifinals at No. 4. Three doubles pairs made at least the semifinals last season and two finished flight runners-up – Fran Basha and Alexis Wirtz are the second seed at No. 1 doubles after making their run as a fifth seed last season, and Jenna Brettschneider and Maddie Neaton are the second seed at No. 2 after finishing second a year ago. Amy Tseng and Maggie Bacheller are the top seed at No. 3 doubles after making last year’s semifinals.
Clarkston: All four singles players and the No. 1 doubles pair is seeded, led by two-time reigning No. 2 singles champion Lexi Baylis coming in as the second seed this time at No. 1. Teammate Isabella Spindler is the top seed at No. 2 singles and Dana Olsen is the top seed at No. 3 after teaming up for the No. 1 doubles championship last season. Paige Olsen, the reigning No. 3 singles champ, teams with Alex Whall as the top seed at No. 1 doubles this weekend.
Grosse Pointe South: Three of the team’s top four singles players are back from last year’s run; Carmella Goree is unseeded again at No. 1 but made the quarterfinals last season, while Brooke Willard is the fifth seed at No. 2 after also making the quarters. Maggie Sweeney is the third seed at No. 3 after winning No. 4 last season. Madie Flournoy is the top seed at No. 4.
Saline’s Mary Hanna: She is the top seed at No. 1 singles again after coming in the same in 2012, when she made the semifinals before losing to Nguyen. Hanna owns a win over Baylis this season.
Utica’s Davina Nguyen: After winning all four of her matches in two sets during last season’s No. 1 championship run despite entering as a fifth seed, Nguyen won’t surprise anyone this time – even as the third seed.
Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Anna Borowicz and Sarah Court: After winning No. 3 doubles last season, the Pioneers’ pair is the fourth seed at No. 1.
Other returning flight champions: Ann Arbor Pioneer's Evie VanDewege and Alyssa Roopas (No. 4 doubles, seeded second at No. 3 this season).
DIVISION 2 at Holly and Fenton
Top ranked: No. 1 Birmingham Marian, No. 2 Birmingham Seaholm, No. 3 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Reigning No. 1 singles champion: Abby Perkins, Mason.
As in Division 1, the top three ranked teams also were the top three finishers a year ago. Seaholm edged Forest Hills Northern by two points and Marian by six, with Bloomfield Hills Andover – No. 4 this season – tied for fourth in 2012.
Birmingham Marian: Seven flights are seeded among the top three at their respective positions, and the only unseeded player – No. 1 singles Elaine Apaza – was a semifinalist at No. 2 last season. Lauren Dietz is the second seed at No. 2, Breann Lunghamer is the top seed at No. 3, and Catherine Yaldoo is the top seed at No. 4. Bianca Emde and Tatum Schwartz played at the Finals with different doubles partners last season, but are the top seed this weekend at No. 3.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples are seeded at seven flights as well, with six seeds among the top three and three top-seeded doubles teams. And the only unseeded player – Lauren Frazier at No. 2 singles – won No. 4 in 2011. Jackie Meier and Rachel Wilson won No. 3 doubles last season and are partners on two top-seeded pairs – Wilson with Laine Boitos at No. 2 and Meier with Nancy Benda at No. 1. Lauren Benderoff and Sam Lareau are the top seed at No. 4 doubles, and Labina Petrovska should contend as the third seed at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 2 last season.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: Four seeded doubles pairs and six seeds overall should have Forest Hills Northern in contention again. No. 1 doubles champion Victoria Minzlaff and No. 2 champs Shelby Moored and Lauren Gager – three of four champions at the top two doubles flights last season – are back with new partners. Minzlaff and Moored are the second seed at No. 1. Gager and Edie Jiang are the third seed at No. 2.
Mason’s Abby Perkins: She won the No. 1 singles championship last season as a fifth seed, so entering as a sixth seed might not mean much – but would make a great story if she repeats.
Bloomfield Hills Lahser’s Mollie Fox: She’s the top seed again at No. 1 after falling to Perkins in the semifinals last season.
Richland Gull Lake’s Sara Remynse: The senior is the second seed at No. 1 after not playing high school tennis the last two seasons. She was the No. 1 singles runner-up in Division 3 as a freshman in 2010.
Other returning flight champions: Okemos' Emily Struble (No. 2 singles, seeded first at No. 2 this season).
DIVISION 3 at Holland
Top ranked: No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, No. 2 Detroit Country Day, No. 3 Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Reigning No. 1 singles champion: Alexandria Najarian, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood.
Cranbrook-Kingswood is playing for its fifth-straight top-two finish and third straight MHSAA championship. Country Day won the title in 2010 and finished third last season, and Forest Hills Eastern is expected to make a bigger jump after tying for sixth last spring. Five of last season’s six seeded players at No. 1 singles are seeded at that flight again, and the sixth this time was the No. 3 singles runner-up last spring.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood: All four doubles pairs won flight championships last season, and five of those eight players are back in the doubles lineup, including reigning No. 3 pair Briana Latica and Holly Meers and Meg Phyle, half of last season’s No. 1 winner. The team owns the top seeds at all four singles flights: Joining Najarian are Anna Short at No. 2, Allison Motea at No. 3 and Sarah Lipworth at No. 4. Last season's No. 4 doubles champion is split among two new pairs; Lauren Lanzon remains part of the top seed at No. 4, and Christina Roualet is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 2.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets are seeded at six flights, with two players back after winning championships in 2012. Madelyn Karoub is seeded second at No. 2 singles after winning the flight, and Jane Ziecik is teamed with Ellie Miller as the second seed at No. 1 doubles after winning No. 4 singles. All four Country Day singles flights are seeded among the top four.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern: Three singles and three doubles flights are seeded, with reigning No. 3 singles champion Madeline Bissett the third seed this weekend at No. 2. Remington Gerst, while unseeded, is back at No. 1 singles, and Jada Bissett is the third seed at No. 3 after entering the fifth seed at No. 2 in 2012.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Sydney Liggins: She’s the second seed at No. 1 singles after falling to Najarian in last season’s championship match, also as the second seed.
Allegan’s Livia Christman: She made the No. 1 semifinals as the sixth seed last season, and is the third seed in that flight this weekend.
DIVISION 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top ranked: No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, No. 2 Grosse Ile, No. 3 Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.
Reigning No. 1 singles runner-up: Meika Ashby, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central.
Sacred Heart is the reigning champion and finished runner-up in 2011, but Grosse Ile should make a strong push after finishing 14th in Division 3 last season. Gabriel Richard tied for eighth in Division 4 last season, and watch also for No. 4 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central – the reigning runner-up.
Academy of the Sacred Heart: Outstanding doubles are the strength of a team powerful throughout. Three doubles pairs are top seeded and the fourth – reigning No. 1 championship pair Kelsey Nagle and Emily Nash – is seeded second. No. 2 top seeds Heidi Lemon and Sarah Spangler won at No. 3 last season, and Kendall Lehmann – paired with Hannah Gerard as the top seed at No. 3 – was part of the No. 4 champion a year ago with current No. 3 singles player Teresa Walewander. Tate Lehmann at No. 4 singles also is top-seeded.
Grosse Ile: The Red Devils are seeded at seven flights, and six are seeded either second or third. The team’s top performers at last season’s Division 3 Final – No. 1 doubles pair Brianna Riley and Julia Formentin, who made the quarterfinals – are seeded second at No. 2 singles and third at No. 3, respectively.
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard: The Irish are seeded at all four singles flights and unseeded in doubles. But those singles players are capable of pulling Gabriel Richard into contention. Colleen O’Brien is the second seed at No. 1 after winning No. 2 last season, and Anjali Sood is the top seed at No. 2 after making the quarterfinals at No. 1. Maddy Szuba is the second seed at No. 3 after making the No. 2 quarterfinals in 2012.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Meika Ashby: She’s looking to finish her high school career with a fourth championship match appearance and third championship – she won No. 2 as a freshman, No. 1 as a sophomore and finished runner-up at No. 1 last spring. She'll play No. 1 again this weekend.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s Kelsi Black: The fourth seed at No. 1 singles last season, she made the semifinals. This spring she’s seeded third at No. 1.
Other returning flight champions: Grandville Calvin Christian's Taylor Applehof (No. 3 singles, unseeded at No. 1 this season), Chrissy Flynn (No. 2 doubles, part of fifth-seeded No. 1 doubles this season).
PHOTO: Utica's Davina Nguyen, here playing for the 2012 Lower Peninsula Division 1 title at No. 1 singles, is one of three reigning MHSAA No. 1 singles champions set to play again this weekend. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)
Negaunee Sends All 8 Flights to Championship Matches in Team Title Repeat
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
October 2, 2025
Negaunee was focused on getting to the championship matches in all eight flights at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals. They won the team title because of their success doing so.
The Miners finished as U.P. Finals winners for the fourth straight year, edging Westwood by one point in Wednesday’s tournament at Westwood.
Negaunee picked up wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 and 2 doubles. They made the finals in all four singles and all four doubles flights.
“Every girl knew their job was to make it to finals and then play their best tennis and leave it all out there. I am so proud of every flight for going out and doing just that,” Negaunee coach Megan Kerkela said. “We had three flights end in a win, but it was a team effort. Without every girl making the final, we would not have been able to pull out a win.”
Negaunee’s Rheana Nelson overcame a first-set loss to defeat Westwood’s Morgan Schneider 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
“Rheana Nelson had the longest final of the day,” Kerkela said. “She was the first to start and the last to finish. Rheana hasn’t been in a third-set situation yet this year, but anything can happen at U.P.s. Today she was able to play one ball better and show how consistent she can be.”
Clare O’Donnell and Nicole Kerkela took the No.1 doubles title in a three-set final win over Escanaba’s Aubrey Elliot and Brooklyn Hackleman, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
“One doubles might have had the best comeback of the day,” Coach Kerkela said. “They were down 1-4 in the third set, but they did not quit. Nicole had some great shots at the net, which were really a turning point in the match. Clare did a great job of staying consistent at the baseline and played smart tennis.”
And Sadie Rogers and Olivia Richards took down Westwood’s Makenna Olson and Ella Stacy 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 doubles championship match.
“(They) were unstoppable all year and they continued that through today,” Kerkela said. “They are a fierce combo, both strong athletes who aren’t afraid to be aggressive.”
Westwood took home victories at No. 3 and 4 singles and No. 3 and 4 doubles.
“I thought our team played great today,” Westwood coach Sarah Zindler said. “I know we lost by one point, but we actually won four finals.”
None of the Westwood winners had played on the Patriots’ senior-heavy varsity roster last year.
“I think just all season they developed so much because everything was new to them,” Zindler said. “And so their growth was a lot higher than someone that’s been there forever.”
Westwood’s Lyn Magnuson won the No. 3 singles final 6-2, 6-0 over Negaunee’s Stella Lenten. Magnuson finished the season undefeated at 3 singles with the win.
Magnuson, a sophomore, was never satisfied — if she won 6-3, 6-2, she wanted to win 6-1, 6-1 next time.
“I think that helped her focus — when you get up in a match, instead of giving up a few games because it’s no big deal, she had these goals for herself within the match, of no, I don’t want to drop more than a game in this set,” Zindler said. “And all season long, she was just impossible to beat.”
Patriots junior Emmi Hamel took the No. 4 singles final 6-3, 6-4 over the Miners’ Adelyn Chapman.
“Emmi, at 4 singles, is one of the most competitive girls on the team,” Zindler said. “And she just has some fire and spunk in her that you know that when she goes out there she’s going to compete for every single point whether she’s winning or losing.”
Hamel defeated Negaunee twice during the year but lost to Chapman in Mid-Peninsula Conference action last week.
“From that, she just mentally had to get herself in the right headspace, to be confident enough to go out there and just say, ‘I’m not losing today,’” Zindler said.
Westwood’s Tessa Burke and Emmi Carlson won 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the No. 3 doubles final over Negaunee’s Victoria Poutanen and Rebecca Lammi. They lost their first set in the semifinal to Marquette’s Charlyee Swajanen and Eva Dewitt, and they were down three games in the second set before coming back to win 6-4, 7-5.
Both Burke and Carlson are freshmen who picked up a racket this summer for the first time. They went to summer camp and open hits.
“I could just tell by how they developed and mentally, they’re both athletes playing other sports, that they just had the mental capabilities to jump into a varsity lineup, which is not an easy thing as a freshman, especially when you’re the only freshmen on the team,” Zindler said. “I just said from the start, you two are going to play together and you’re going to figure it out.”
Westwood sophomore Emerson Williams and junior Lauren Michaud-Richards won the No. 4 doubles final over Negaunee’s Paige O’Donnell and Maia Brunette. Williams and Michaud-Roberts had not beaten Negaunee before, but they did at the most important time.
Williams was new to the tennis team this year.
“She hadn’t played before, so when she first started the season, she wasn’t necessarily the best player, but she just developed so much quicker than people that had played before,” Zindler said. “And I noticed right away that she had an athleticism, especially at the net that you can’t really teach people. Just her ability to read the ball, paired with Lauren’s great ground strokes from the back.”
They were up and down all season, but Zindler said the coaches knew their potential was great.
“To see them finally put matches together today, I’ve never seen them play as well as they played today,” Zindler said. “There’s no better time to play your best than at U.P.s.”
Zindler was also impressed with Schneider at No. 2 singles. Nelson hasn’t lost in years, Zindler said.
“Morgan has had to play her a bunch of times, and today she pushed her to three sets,” Zindler said.
Kingsford’s Aubrie Moore defeated Negaunee’s Liliana Saunders 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles for the Flivvers’ only flight win of the day.
(Photo courtesy of Negaunee High School.)