Pair of Flight Championships Anchor Norway's 1st Finals Team Title Triumph
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
October 2, 2026
ISHPEMING — Norway keeps adding new types of hardware to its trophy case.
Two years ago, the baseball team went to its first MHSAA Finals championship game and took home the runner-up award. On Thursday, the Knights’ girls tennis team won the first U.P. championship in school history, claiming the Division 2 title.
“It’s the first one our school’s ever won, so it’s really special and I’m proud of all the work our team put in this year,” said Norway senior Jessa Rossler, who won a third-straight individual U.P. Finals title for herself as well. “I think we all did a good job and I’m really happy. I think we deserved it.”
Norway had someone playing in all eight finals matches to beat the likes of West Iron County, last year’s champion, and Ishpeming, which had won it the two years prior.
“It’s really exciting for this senior class,” Norway coach Taylor Huotari said. “We had seven seniors this year, and they had been in the program for a couple years. It’s just really exciting for them to go out on such a high note.”
This was Huotari’s first year coaching. He knew the Knights were coming off their first runner-up finish at U.P. Finals, and he asked where the team could improve.
“They were very transparent and open with me,” he said. “I just tried to build on their strengths and develop their weaknesses. They answered every single call. I am very proud of them, and they should be very proud of themselves.”
Rossler was the only singles winner for Norway. She took first at No. 2 after winning No. 4 singles the last two years.
“It feels really good, especially because I’m a senior,” she said. “I really wanted to go out on a win, and I’m really happy the way it turned out.”
Rossler won a marathon finals match over Iron Mountain and was the last off the court. She definitely had to earn her three-peat.
“The second set (which she lost), it felt like my nerves were getting to me a little bit,” Rossler said. “And I felt like I was starting to overthink my shots, trying to place them too much. But the third set, I just tried to reset everything and just play loose, and it worked really well.”
She handled the move up to the second singles spot well and Huotari said it reflected well on her work ethic. It’s also like her to be able to handle a tough match like she faced in the finals Thursday.
“She is a warrior,” he said. “She’s very mentally tough. And if she loses a set, I never doubt her because she never gets down on herself – she’s very confident in her belief that she’s going to do well. It’s just a testament to her character. She’s a fighter.”
Norway’s No. 2 doubles team, Lilly and Lyla Tomlanovich, also won a U.P. title with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in the final match.
“They’re sisters, a junior and then a sophomore,” Huotari said. “We made a little bit of a switch halfway through the year and fortunately it worked out for the best for them. They just complemented each other really well.”
West Iron County junior Grace Smith defended her title in No. 1 singles with a two-set win in the final match over Norway.
“I am proud of myself, for all the hard work I put in,” she said. “This was my main goal. … I feel like my ground strokes were pretty good. My serve wasn’t the best, but I still won.”
Wykons coach Jen Schive was confident she’d win.
“Phenomenal season, phenomenal all-around athlete, academically, on and off the court, the whole shooting match,” Schive said. “She’s a strong player. She is a focused, determined player. She’s a great leader on the team.”
Ishpeming won two U.P. flight titles, at No. 1 doubles and No. 3 singles.
Juniors Stella Nerlfi and Charlee Fredy won the doubles crown. They were 6-4, 6-0 winners in the final.
“We worked really hard for this all season,” Nerlfi said. “I think we were doing really good in hitting the alley shots, and our net was really good. We just stayed confident through the entire thing.”
“They came in as the 1 seed, so I thought they did pretty well,” Ishpeming coach Libbie Doney said. “They deserved to be the 1 seed from the start, and they played through and they did great.”
Sophomore Camryn Miller won the No. 3 singles title, also as the 1 seed, with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win in the final match.
“She deserved that as well. She played great all year,” Doney said. “She went into three sets – she bounced back, won the first set, lost the second and then came back and won the third. She played really well.”
The finals were supposed to be at Ishpeming’s courts, but their new ones won’t be done until next week.
“I’m pretty proud of my girls,” Doney said. “We haven’t had tennis courts all year, so we’ve been bouncing around with practicing at different locations. So for a few of us to come out as U.P. champs is pretty big and shows that the girls can come through adversity.”
Iron Mountain junior Rhiannon Johnson won the No. 4 singles title, claiming her final matchup 6-3, 6-2.
“I think it’s great. I feel amazing,” she said. “(The key was) staying mentally strong and never getting stressed out and staying calm and composed.”
Iron Mountain coach Keith Huotari said her championship win was a bit unexpected. He did think she had a chance when she got a second seed for the finals.
“But she’s a bulldog,” he said. “That kid, she just works hard. She wanted it, and she got it.”
Johnson wanted to make the move from doubles to singles and proved she belonged. She also battled illness this year, as she was throwing up while playing in the heat. She played with a wet towel around her neck and was determined to stay on the court regardless.
“She said point blank, ‘I’m playing,’” Huotari said. “That’s what it takes to win a U.P. title – it takes a lot of intestinal fortitude. You have to just gut it out sometimes, and she did.
“Just seeing her happy after all she’s gone through, good for her.”
West Iron County’s Reese Ahola and Vivian Holm took the No. 3 championship. They were 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 winners in the final.
“I tell them, you’re a bunch of maniacs, you get out there and make things work for yourself and that’s the fun of it,” Schive said.
The Wykons’ Tessa Stapleton and Zoe Donati took the No. 4 doubles win. They won 6-2, 6-4 in the final.
“I have to say I was a little bit shocked, but I could not be any prouder of them for coming together like they did,” Schive said. “At the beginning of the season, I wondered if we were going to be able to develop a swing, and in the end here, they proved that they did and a little more. So very, very proud of them, very proud of them.”
PHOTOS (Top) Norway’s Jessa Rossler returns a volley during a No. 2 singles match Thursday. (Middle) West Iron County’s Grace Smith reaches to get to a shot at No. 1 singles. (Below) Stella Nerlfi sends a shot back over the net for Ishpeming at No. 1 doubles. (Photos by Jason Juno.)
Sacred Heart Sends Coach Out as Champ
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2019
KALAMAZOO — By the end of play Friday, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart had already repeated as the Lower Peninsula Division 4 team champion, but don't ask any of the girls how that felt.
The coaches did not mention it until Saturday at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.
“We didn’t find out until just now,” No. 1 doubles champ Annie Keating said after her Saturday final. “We assumed, but no one really knew. We just went out and played our best.”
Sacred Heart, with the top seeds in every doubles flight, swept those four. But the match of the tournament was the No. 1 singles final.
Freshman Moorea McNalley, the second seed from Clarkston Everest Collegiate, rallied to defeat top-seeded Melanie Zampardo, a Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett junior, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
The barnburner was the last match on the court, with the crowd inside the Markin Racquet Center sending deafening cheers after each point, especially during the third set.
“We played during the regular season, and she beat me both times,” McNalley said. “Today, I just tried to get everything back and not get mad.
“Last time, I was getting upset at myself, so I was trying not to do that this time and just keep playing.”
Playing in her first MHSAA tournament, “I had no clue if it was going to be good or bad,” she said. “It was good, definitely.
“Since it’s my last match of the season, I was giving it my all.”
With the doubles semifinals played on Friday because of the projected rain the next day, Sacred Heart’s four semis points clinched the title. They ended with 31 points, eight more than runner-up Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
“We knew (Friday) we couldn’t catch Sacred Heart but the kids have been motivated all year, so there was no problem getting them motivated to play,” St. Mary coach Wayne Asher said.
“Grosse Ile was right there with us, and there were a couple other schools not too far away also.”
Grosse Ile, which moved from Division 3 this year, finished third with 21 points, North Muskegon (17) was fourth and Everest (16) fifth.
Sacred Heart’s sixth title in eight seasons is bittersweet for coach Judy Hehs, who is leaving the school at the end of the year.
Hehs has coached the girls since the 1996-97 season.
“In their hearts they decided in March they were going to win a state championship,” Hehs said. “We had several kids make sacrifices about where they played, with whom they played, in order to get here.
“They, as a team, made that decision to work to that goal.”
Each doubles team had at least one past Finals champ in the pairing to mentor the younger players, Hehs said.
Keating, a junior, said losing their coach gave she and her teammates motivation.
“She’s the best coach we’ve ever had,” she said. “We really wanted to win this one for her. That was our motivation.”
Keating and sophomore Reagan Beatty defeated North Muskegon seniors Belles Hardman and Lily Montgomery, the second seeds, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.
Beatty won the title at No. 3 singles last year but wanted to play doubles with Keating, her cousin.
“The biggest adjustment was mostly working with a partner and it was nice having my cousin, which was amazing,” Beatty said.
“But I also think it was difficult because you have a little bit of pressure, saying I don’t want to let my partner down. But it also has its upsides because you have a partner if you’re not doing well.”
Playing with her cousin has advantages.
“We can communicate with each other without having to talk,” Beatty said. “We just look at each other, and we know.”
At. No. 2 doubles, senior Nolwenn Crosnier and freshman Marisa Nafso defeated second seeds, senior Katy Zink and freshman Katherine Kemp of Royal Oak Shrine Catholic, 6-2, 6-1.
It was the second No. 2 doubles title for Crosnier.
“It feels good, but it’s also nerve-wracking because there are high expectations,” she said. “We really wanted the title.”
Nafso was happy for the mentoring.
“I have a lot of nerves so she calms me down a lot,” Nafso said of her partner. “When we’re on the court, we really like to laugh and smile and be friends with our opponents.
“We’ve been spending every single day together trying to prepare for states.”
The friendliness extended to the final.
“I was surprised at No. 2 doubles,” Hehs said. “They spent more time at the net at the end of the match, where we wanted to congratulate them.
“They were enjoying the company of their opponents, discovering where they were going to college and stuff like that.”
Junior Kate Myers and senior Serena Seneker won the title at No. 3 doubles, and senior Catherine Blumberg and junior Hannah Kakos won at No. 4.
At No. 2 singles, Grosse Ile junior Jessica Schutt, the top seed, defeated Shrine’s unseeded senior, Ann Gladstone, 6-1, 6-1.
Gladstone stunned No. 2 seed, Sarah Schmidt of Clarkston Everest Collegiate, 6-4, 6-3, then dispatched No. 6-seeded Claire McCall of North Muskegon, 6-3, 7-6(6)
“I played (Gladstone) at Regional, and then hearing about her big upset I was like she must have improved a lot in the last couple weeks,” Schutt said. “I was really nervous.
“I was just hitting it deep, keeping at it, not letting her in.”
Gladstone said she ended her senior season “just playing my heart out.
“It’s my last year, and I just wanted to give it my all and just battle. My coach said, ‘Imagine, believe, achieve’ and I just used that.”
The senior said she had a mental adjustment after Regionals.
“I was a very timid player and I would just try to get the ball back, and now I was more on the offensive and just hit my shots,” she said.
At No. 3 singles, St. Mary senior Taylor Kennedy, the top seed, defeated second seed Madelyn Vitu, a junior from Everest Collegiate, 6-1, 6-3.
After losing in the final at No. 3 last year, “I learned to stay steady and always be consistent and don’t try to hit a hard shot and always just stay steady because that’s how you win points,” Kennedy said.
“I learned not to get in my own head. Last year, I would always get mad at myself and get down, but this year I learned just to get the ball in and do my thing and play my game.”
At No. 4 singles, second seed Jenna Sheets, a Grosse Ile senior, defeated St. Mary junior Hannah Hodgson, the top seed, 7-5, 6-1.
Despite being tucked back on Court 4 at the Markin Center, the farthest from the bleachers, Sheets said she had no problem hearing the crowd.
“I think I have a pretty good mental game, but (the crowd) just helps you think about what the reward is if you get through it,” she said.
It was especially rewarding for the senior Saturday.
“In past years, I never made it past the quarterfinals,” she said.
“My mental game has improved. I’m a very relaxed player and never get mad at myself, so I think that’s definitely my strongest thing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart’s Isabelle Burg lines up to return a volley during a Friday match at No. 2 singles. (Middle) Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Moorea McNalley prepares to serve on the way to winning the No. 1 singles title this weekend. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)