Negaunee, Gauthier Dominate D1 Finals
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
September 28, 2017
KINGSFORD — Sending six players into a championship round never hurts a tennis team.
Winning all six flights is even better.
The Negaunee girls made that happen Wednesday, earning their fourth straight Upper Peninsula Division 1 title with 18 points at Kingsford High School.
They were followed by Marquette with 13, Escanaba eight, Menominee six, Gladstone four and Kingsford with three.
“You always want to play your best in the U.P. Finals and putting six in the finals puts you into a pretty good position,” said Negaunee coach Kyle Saari. “Winning all six matches is a by-product of having some depth. We were pushed in some matches. It was good to see the girls respond under pressure.”
The Miners swept doubles, with two flights going to a third set. Skylar and Lexi Taavila turned back Marquette’s Rachel Ely and Carly Sandstrom 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles and Faith Toutant-Jillian Skewis outlasted Marquette’s Sydney Kivi-Campbell Kallio 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 4.
“Even though we lost the second set in each match, the girls showed some mental toughness by coming through,” said Saari. “They treated it like there was no pressure.”
Abby Nelson and Mykenna Kontio topped Marquette’s Ely Wellner-Kendell Klatt 6-4, 7-5 in No. 1 doubles and Alexis Hill-Kalli Mattson beat Kingsford juniors Sarah Premo-Grace Lorenzoni 6-0, 7-5 at No. 3.
Premo and Lorenzoni led 5-4 in the second set before Nelson and Kontio rallied for the win.
Negaunee’s Lexi Peterson won No. 3 singles 7-5, 6-1 over Menominee’s Jenna Nolde, and Maci Aho downed Marquette’s Molly Kilpela 6-2, 6-3 in No. 4.
“Megan Syrjala is in a unique situation in that she’s part of four U.P. championship teams,” said Saari. “Even though Megan didn’t get to the finals today, she’s a big part of our program. We have a group of seven close-knit seniors. This is a group that will be missed.”
Syrjala reached the semifinals where she dropped a 7-5, 6-2 decision to Escanaba senior Taylor Gauthier.
“Taylor played very good today,” said Syrjala, who will enroll at Northern Michigan University next fall. “She hit a lot of short shots and made me run to the ball. It’s mentally draining to play somebody who’s that consistent.”
Wednesday’s championship also enabled the Miners to complete their second straight perfect season.
“To go undefeated two years in a row shows the depth of our team,” said Syrjala. “It just means so much to be part of four U.P. championship teams. A lot of it is mental toughness. Coach Saari does such a good job teaching us about mental toughness and none of this would be possible without God. I often find myself turning to Him (for guidance).”
Gauthier went on to clinch her third U.P. title with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Marquette senior Hannah Swajanen in No. 1 singles.
“I thought I played pretty well today, and the semifinal match was the best I ever played,” said Gauthier. “I especially felt good about how I played in the second set against Megan and felt pretty confident going into the finals. I split with Hannah in the regular season and knew she had a real good shot. I was really surprised by the margin of victory because she beat me pretty good the last time. I was nervous coming in here. It feels great to be a U.P. champion three years in a row.”
In No. 2 singles, Marquette sophomore Elyse Olivier captured her first U.P. title in a 6-3, 6-0 win over Escanaba senior Megan Marenger.
Olivier cruised to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Marenger then made things interesting by taking the next three points.
“(Marenger) is a good player,” said Olivier, who went undefeated this year. “She doesn’t give up, and I think that helped her against Negaunee (in a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Jesse Sager). I kind of lost focus, then our coach (Derek Sandstrom) talked to me and helped settle me down.
"Our whole team is very supportive and my dad is my offseason coach. My older brother Alec (two-time U.P. champ) has also helped me out. I couldn’t have done this without them.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Negaunee No. 1 doubles player Mykenna Kontio returns a shot during Wednesday’s Division 1 Finals at Kingsford. (Middle) Escanaba senior Taylor Gauthier volleys on her way to a No. 1 singles championship. (Photos by Adam Niemi.)
As Adams' Fu Closes Career On Top, Northville May Be Starting Championship Era
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2025
BYRON CENTER – The fourth time turned out to be the charm for Rochester Adams senior Nicole Fu at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Tennis Finals.
She entered this weekend’s tournament having finished No. 1 singles runner-up all of her first three seasons of high school, including a year ago with a loss to Utica Eisenhower’s Gabby Sadowski in the deciding match.
But given another chance and a rematch with Sadowski, Fu wasn’t going to be denied.
Fu, who will play collegiately for the U.S. Naval Academy, ended her high school career on top with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Sadowski.
“I think over the last three years, I’ve matured a lot as a player,” Fu said. “Freshman year, I was more of an underdog. The last two years, I was a favorite. I’ve learned how to manage the pressure this season, and it was really helpful coming into states to just trust my shots, trust my game and stick to my gameplan.”
Fu obviously had familiarity with Sadowski having played her before, including three weeks ago when Fu won in two sets. She said the biggest keys this time were staying on the baseline, not letting Sadowski dictate play and simply going for it on each shot.
“I didn’t want to finish the match, then look back, see I was nervous and then have any regrets,” Fu said. “I just wanted to come in, play as freely as possible and go for my shots. Being aggressive for sure was the game plan.”
Fu advanced to the final via a 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Aarna Betala of Portage Central and a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 semifinal victory over Isabella Barretto of Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, who handed Fu her only defeat this season April 22.
Saturday’s team championship came down to the very last points, and a young Northville lineup including five sophomores capitalized.
The Mustangs captured their first Finals team title since 2018 with 23 points, just one more than Eisenhower – which was runner-up last year too and aiming for its first title in school history as well.
“We thought all along at the beginning the season that we were special,” Northville head coach Brenda Lionas said. “We started believing it and coming together as a young team. We called it a reload. We just started working together and getting them to believe how special they were.”
Northville won on the strength of its doubles, which produced two champions and a runner-up. Sravya Doppalapudi and Francine Ong won at No. 3 doubles despite entering seeded fifth, while Emma Murphy and Sophie Ong won at No. 4 while seeded fourth. Murphy and Ong defeated the top-seeded Adams pair of Joanna Ouyang and Monika Camaj in their semifinal.
Northville’s Lucia Lachapelle and Aadya Pullalarevu advanced to the championship match at No. 2 doubles but lost to Eisenhower’s Alexis Gabriel and Alayna Aamodt. Northville also saw Emmi Dober earn points by advancing to the final at No. 3 singles before losing to Arella He of Ann Arbor Pioneer.
“We talked about staying in every point,” Lionas said. “Staying in, staying in, and staying in, being patient and working the points as long as we could in both singles and doubles.”
Eisenhower freshman Morgan Emerick won the title at No. 2 singles, while Novi junior Rebecca Liu won at No. 4 singles. Rockford’s Alayna Gee and Avery Marchlewski won the championship at No. 1 doubles.
PHOTOS (Top) Rochester Adams' Nicole Fu returns a volley during her No. 1 singles championship match Saturday at Byron Center West Sports Complex. (Middle) Northville celebrates during its march to the team championship. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)