Preview: Familiar Favorites, New Leaders
June 1, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The favorites to win team championships at this weekend’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals aren’t too much of a surprise – six of eight teams ranked first or second by the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association at the end of this regular season finished either first or second at one of last year’s four championship tournaments.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for change.
Traverse City St. Francis in Division 4 is favored to win its first MHSAA title, while Grand Rapids Christian should be in the mix in Division 3 to win for the first time as well. And only one of four No. 1 singles champions from 2015 is back this weekend.
Matches begin Friday, with final rounds Saturday morning, and coverage of all four tournaments will be posted to Second Half by Saturday evening. Below is a brief look at top contenders at each tournament; click for more including brackets and seeds for all 32 flights plus specific sites where each flight will begin play.
LP Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top ranked: No. 1 Midland Dow, No. 2 Northville, No. 3 Grosse Pointe South.
Northville won its first MHSAA championship a year ago finishing five points ahead of Midland Dow, which is favored this time to win its first team title since 2009. Grosse Pointe South finished third last season and was champion in 2014 and 2012.
Midland Dow: The Chargers are seeded at all eight flights with top seeds at Nos. 2 and 3 singles (Caroline Szabo, Sarah Ismail) and No. 1 doubles (Afua Ofori-Darko and Kamryn Matthews). Ofori-Darko and Matthews won No. 1 doubles last season, while Jessica Brown (sixth-seeded at No. 1) and Hadley Camp (third-seeded at No. 4) were runners-up at Nos. 2 and 4 singles, respectively. Kelly Livingston also brings championship match experience – she’s seeded third at No. 2 doubles this weekend with Meghan Killmaster but was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 a year ago – and Szabo was the No. 2 singles runner-up as a freshman in 2014.
Northville: Three of Northville’s singles players from last season’s title run are back on that side of the line-up this weekend, as are a handful of experienced doubles standouts. Emma Worley returns at No. 1 singles, as does reigning champion Shanoli Kumar at No. 2 and reigning No. 3 champion Joanne Gao; both Kumar and Gao are seeded second in their flights this time. Serena Wang was part of the No. 4 doubles champion a year ago; she’s seeded second with Maya Mulchandani at No. 1. Reeshma Kumar and Molly Bis are the top seed at No. 2 doubles – Kumar was part of the No. 1 runner-up in 2015 and Bis partnered with Wang as the No. 4 winner. Neha Chava and Sophie Zhuang are seeded first at No. 3 doubles (Chava was seeded at No. 4 singles a year ago), and Brittany Macaddino and Alexandria Petix are seeded first at No. 4 doubles.
Grosse Pointe South: Four seeded doubles pairs will be key in South staying in contention; the No. 1 pair is seeded fourth with Hanna Wilhelm and Madie Flournoy, with Flournoy the No. 4 singles champion as a freshman in 2013. No. 1 singles player Raven Neely is seeded second after making the semifinals with that seed a year ago and also as the third seed in 2014.
Bloomfield Hills’ Tia Mukherjee – One of the standout freshmen regardless of division, Mukherjee is seeded third at No. 1 singles and split matches against South’s Neely this season.
Utica Eisenhower’s Ava Thielman – Last season’s runner-up at No. 1 singles, now a junior, enters as the fourth seed after playing as the top seed a season ago.
West Bloomfield’s Anika Tarlagadda – West Bloomfield’s top player is arguably the top freshman in the state and seeded first at No. 1 singles after defeating Mukherjee in their Regional’s championship match.
Another returning 2015 flight champion – Traverse City Central’s Autumn Roberts (No. 4 singles last season, No. 2 singles this season).
LP Division 2 at Holly
Top ranked: No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 2 Birmingham Seaholm, No. 3 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Two of the above three teams have won and finished second in every LP Division 2 Final since 2009, and at least one of the three has claimed the title every season since 2002. Finals 2015 saw Seaholm claim the championship by a point over Forest Hills Northern and six over Marian after sharing the title with Forest Hills Northern in 2014.
Bloomfield Hills Marian: All eight flights are seeded, with three top seeds including two at doubles. No. 1 doubles pair McKenna Landis and Regan Patterson have a top seed after Landis won the title last year with now-graduated partner Bianca Emde, and No. 2 doubles pair Melanie Roma and Shannon Flynn also earned the top seed in their flight with Flynn coming off a runner-up finish at No. 3 with graduated Marta Colosimo in 2015. Carolina Cibulas at No. 3 singles earned that other top seed, but a pair of past champions also return to the singles lineup; Breann Lunghamer, seeded second at No. 2, won No. 3 in 2013; and Sophie Balardo, fourth-seeded at No. 4, won that flight in 2014.
Birmingham Seaholm: Two top-seeded doubles pairs and two second-seeded doubles lead the way. Caity Buechner and Meaghan Flynn were the champions at No. 2 last season and are seeded second at No. 1, and Sam Lareau and Emily McDermott are seeded second at No. 2 after winning No. 3 doubles a year ago. Catherine Markley and Ellie Benson at No. 3 and Alex Wineman and Emma Latessa at No. 4 have top seeds, but there’s also a past champion in singles in Lisa Johnston, who’s seeded third at No. 2 after winning No. 3 singles last season.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies’ most successful returnees from last season – No. 2 doubles runners-up Felicia Zhang and Maansi Dalmia – are split up this time, with Zhang second-seeded at No. 3 singles and Dalmia teaming with Ellie Katz for the fourth-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles. Freshman Olivia Dicks at No. 1 singles has the team’s lone top seed, but total six flights are seeded to make semifinals.
Mason’s Olivia Hanover: The Bulldogs junior advanced to the semifinals at No. 1 singles last season as the second-seeded player and enters with the second seed again.
Okemos’ Alisa Sabatic: For the first time in three seasons, there will be a new No. 1 singles champion after two-time winner Emily Struble graduated. But holding the top seed this weekend is another Okemos player, sophomore Sabatic.
LP Division 3 at Holland
Top ranked: No. 1 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, No. 2 Detroit Country Day, No. 3 Grand Rapids Christian.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood is seeking a sixth straight Division 3 title, a streak that would tie for fifth longest among girls tennis teams in MHSAA history. And the Cranes will be plenty motivated after defeating Detroit Country Day in a dual but then finishing runner-up to the Yellowjackets at their Regional. Don’t forget Grand Rapids Christian, which finished runner-up a year ago and has the strongest doubles of this tournament.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: All four singles players plus a doubles team are seeded first or second. Senior Allison Motea is the top seed at No. 1 and won No. 3 singles as a freshman, while Emily Harvey is second-seeded at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at that flight a year ago. Madison Narens is seeded second at No. 3, Emma Sable is the top seed at No. 4, and Sauma Du and Alexandra Bowers are the top seed at No. 3 doubles; Bowers was part of the champion at No. 4 last season and Du was part of the runner-up at No. 3. The No. 2 doubles pair of Amelia Smith and Kate Cao is seeded third and also brings plenty of championship experience, with Smith serving as Bowers’ partner in 2015 and Cao coming off a runner-up finish at No. 4 singles.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets finished third last season, five points back, despite three singles championships and a runner-up finish at the top flight. That runner-up, Sasha Hartje, is back and seeded second at No. 1, with Monique Karoub the top seed at No. 2, reigning champion Sadina Fadel the top seed at No. 3 and Jenna Lee seeded second at No. 4. More help is expected from doubles with three top-two seeds, led by No. 1 top seed Elle Hartje and Haley Mullins. Mullins was the No. 2 singles runner-up in 2014 and No. 3 runner-up in 2013.
Grand Rapids Christian: The Eagles finished runner-up a year ago, four points back, with three doubles teams finishing first or second, and all eight flights are seeded third or higher this weekend. Doubles could lead again, with Caroline Heule and Olivia DeVos the top seed at No. 2 and Emily Schellenboom and Peyton Russell the top seed at No. 4 – and with Hannah Slenk and McKenzie Moorhead the second seed at No. 1 and Kate Zwiers and Natalie DeBoer the third seed at No. 3 after both pairs won those flights last year.
LP Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top ranked: No. 1 Traverse City St. Francis, No. 2 Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett.
Academy of the Sacred Heart has won three of the last four championships and finished a comfortable seven points ahead of St. Francis last season. But that was the Gladiators’ best finish ever, and they’re riding plenty of momentum after sweeping the flight championships at their Regional.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators bring in two top seeds and two second seeds plus a reigning champion at No. 1 singles. Amanda Bandrowski may be seeded only third at No. 1 this time but won the title in straight sets a year ago. Bailey Chouinard is the third seed at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at that flight in 2015, and Anne Bandrowski is the top seed at No. 3 after finishing runner-up at No. 4 a year ago. St. Francis didn’t get a doubles pair to the championship round last time, but enter with Bethany Richey and Mary Margaret Sutherland top-seeded at No. 2 and two other pairs carrying second seeds.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: The Gazelles swept doubles last season, and seven players from that group of eight are playing again this weekend in some combination. Kendall Gassman and Sara Gerard are fourth-seeded at No. 1 after winning No. 2 a year ago, while Abby Hildebrand (part of the No. 1 champion in 2015) teams with Gretchen Lemon for the second seed at No. 2. Reigning No. 3 champions Tate Lehman and Kathryn Monahan are back as the top seed at that flight, while Stella Betrus will play for a second straight title at No. 4, this time with Meghan Carroll. Selina Fuchs teamed with Hildebrand last season, but this weekend is the second seed at No. 3 singles, and fourth-seeded Jeannie Nash is the reigning runner-up at No. 1.
Kalamazoo Hackett: Three top-seeded singles players make Hackett dangerous after it scored just a point a year ago. Kate Ketels, who has signed with Gonzaga University, is the top seed at No. 1, while Natalie Moyer is the top seed at No. 2 and Lizzie Stull the top seed at No. 4. Three other flights also have top-four seeds.
Kalamazoo Christian’s Lizzie Bauss: She’s the second seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals and then losing to Nash last season as the fourth seed.
Other returning 2015 flight champions: Kalamazoo Christian’s Audrey Bouma (No. 2 singles), Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Julia Friedman (No. 3 singles).
PHOTO: Bloomfield Hills Marian’s McKenna Landis returns a shot during last season’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final on the way to her and partner Bianca Emde’s championship at No. 1 doubles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Russell Twins Set High Bar Standing Tall Together for Mona Shores Sports
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
April 16, 2026
Maddie and Laynie Russell have been such a big part (literally) of Muskegon Mona Shores girls sports over the past four years that it’s difficult to imagine the Sailors without them.
Opposing basketball and volleyball coaches certainly won’t miss them, as figuring out a way to handle the “twin towers” was Job 1 when playing Shores.
Laynie (6-foot-3) and Maddie (slightly shorter at 6-2½) are fraternal twins and four-year varsity players in both volleyball and basketball, having entered the starting lineup four years ago as 14-year-olds. Both made an immediate impact and progressed to become Muskegon All-Area “Dream Team” volleyball players the past two years.
“They looked like grown women, but they weren’t,” said Mona Shores girls basketball coach Mike Phillips, who met with the family to talk about moving both girls up to varsity when they were still just 13 years old.
“It would have been easy for them to crumble under that kind of pressure, but they handled themselves unbelievably well.”
And the twins, who are both near the top of their class academically with weighted GPAs greater than 4.0, are not quite done helping Shores sports.
Currently, Maddie is an attacker in lacrosse and Laynie is playing No. 1 doubles in tennis. Both will graduate in June with 11 varsity letters.
Then they will have a few months to enjoy their summer passions for jet skis and water skis, before heading in different directions.
Laynie has committed to play volleyball at Northern Michigan and is undecided about her field of study. Maddie will play volleyball at Indiana Tech, where she plans to major in pharmacy.
Intense Maddie
Maddie is more emotional and expressive and wears her heart on her sleeve.
She was “super tenacious” way back in youth soccer and in another one of her loves, swimming, where she was a state champion in the breaststroke at age 7.
Then it appeared for some time that softball would be “her thing,” excelling as a power hitter at the plate and with her long stretch playing first base.
“Sports has always been our life, and it’s just natural for us to go from one sport to another,” said Maddie, who didn’t start playing volleyball until middle school.
“I love being a part of different teams because you meet different friends in each one. Plus, I think it has helped me physically and to avoid injuries because I wasn’t just doing the same thing over and over.”
Maddie made her mark in basketball as a dominant inside force, particularly as a defender and rebounder. In volleyball, she was an outside hitter who could move around and was an excellent passer, finishing her career with 681 kills and 166 blocks.
Her favorite memory is winning four straight city volleyball titles and then helping her team break through and win a Division 1 District volleyball championship her junior year, as the team finished 32-10.
She believes her busy high school experience has prepared her for college. In addition to being a three-sport athlete at Shores, she also played travel in three sports (volleyball, basketball and softball), took AP classes, was a member of National Honor Society and worked as a lifeguard and babysitter.
“I don’t know how she did it some of those days,” said dad Mike Russell, shaking his head. “But we were lucky because both girls are very self-motivated. We didn’t have to get on them very much.”
Poker-faced Laynie
Laynie is more even-keeled and keeps her emotions in check, and it’s hard to tell whether she is having a rough game or is going off for 31 points, which she did in an early-season basketball win last season.
Laynie, who was born two minutes after Maddie on Aug. 14, 2008, was bigger at birth (she was 7 pounds, 4 ounces and Maddie was 5 pounds, 7 ounces). Then Maddie shot up and was taller in elementary school, they were about even in middle school, and now Laynie is about a half-inch taller.
Their height came as no surprise as Mike is 6-5 and their mom Jennifer is 6-1.
The tallest member of the Russell family is older brother Donovan, a 2022 Mona Shores graduate who is 6-8 and plays on the Michigan State men’s club volleyball team. “Dono” will graduate in May with a civil engineering degree.
Like her sister, Laynie is happiest when bouncing from sport to sport. She remembers briefly considering not playing a spring sport as a freshman.
“I didn’t do anything for like a week after basketball season and I was so bored,” said Laynie, who is serving her school this year as the National Honor Society chapter president. “That’s when I knew I had to be doing something, so I went out for tennis.”
Basketball was her favorite sport for many years, and she certainly left her mark on the hardwood, finishing as the 12th-leading scorer in school history and setting the school’s single-season rebounding record her junior year. Laynie, who could handle the ball like a guard and made 38 3-pointers during her career, was a two-time Ottawa-Kent Conference Green all-league selection.
It wasn’t until the past couple years that volleyball became her clear focus. Laynie is a dominant hitter and blocker at the net, finishing with 711 kills and 224 blocks.
Her most memorable games both came during her junior year, and both were big wins in front of rowdy crowds at the Sailor Center – a volleyball victory over No. 6-ranked Jenison, which featured a wild 38-36 win in the final set, and then a basketball upset of rival Muskegon.
But she said her most meaningful memory is time spent volunteering at youth volleyball and basketball clinics.
“We always worked a ton of youth camps, and I always loved that,” said Laynie, who is considering becoming a teacher and coach someday. “It’s fun seeing how excited (kids) get when they figure something out. And now some of those girls have grown up and they’re going to be taking our place.”
Separate ways
The “Russell twins” will, in many ways, truly will become Maddie and Laynie for the first time this fall.
Maddie will journey 216 miles south to Indiana Tech, which is in Fort Wayne, and Laynie will venture 417 miles in the opposite direction to Northern Michigan in Marquette.
“It’s going to be hard, for sure, but I’m trying to focus on what a unique opportunity it will be for both of them,” said Jennifer Russell. “For the first time, they will each have their own separate life, and I am excited for that.”
One thing is for certain: mom’s day-in, day-out Google calendar will free up immensely.
Right now, it’s somewhat comical when she calls up her color-coded family calendar on her phone (Maddie is purple, Laynie is pink, Dono is green, etc.) and it looks like a rainbow, with a crazy blend of school activities, school sports, travel sports, family obligations and work.
Dono will graduate from MSU next month, the twins will graduate from Mona Shores in June and then they will head off and begin their college journeys in August.
Mike and Jennifer, both 1988 Shores graduates and high school sweethearts, will be empty nesters, but at least will still have the family’s two dogs, Scout and Coco. The biggest challenge will be finding a way to be in two places at once – with the twins playing volleyball 633 miles apart.
About one mile away from their home at Mona Shores High School, the Sailors girls sports programs will need to replace two standouts who gave everything they had to their school – as individuals, teammates and role models for little girls in the community.
“Maddie and Laynie always put their school and their teammates above themselves,” said Phillips, whose three daughters played with and became friends with the Russell twins. “Their focus was, how can I help my school? In the spring it was, how can I help another one of our teams?
“What I will remember most about them is the great people and teammates that they were. I will be forever grateful to them for that.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Senior twins Laynie Russell (left) and Maddie Russell (right) have left their mark on the Muskegon Mona Shores athletic program as standout three-sport athletes. (2) Laynie (left) and Maddie are all smiles for a much earlier photo. (3) Maddie (left) and Laynie (right) are dominant forces at the volleyball net, shown here going up for a double block. (4) Jennifer, Maddie, Laynie and Mike Russell pose for a photo with the Sailors' Division 1 District championship trophy Nov. 7, 2024, at Coopersville. (Top photo courtesy of Billinghurst Photography. Family photos courtesy of Jennifer Russell. Action photo by Eric Sturr.)