Preview: Lineup Packed with Powers
May 30, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A number of familiar faces will return to the Lower Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals this weekend – and the frequent contenders are expected to battle again in three of four divisions.
But a pair of hopefuls are looking to join the powers with their first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi and Traverse City St. Francis are among the top-three ranked teams in Division 4, and both are seeking a first Finals championship – although annual power Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart remains in the mix as well.
In Division 1, meanwhile, 2017 co-champs Midland Dow and Northville are expected to decide the title, while a traditional crew of powers holds many of the top seeds in Division 2. Detroit Country Day is the likely team to beat again in Division 3.
Following are all four sites and start times for both Friday and Saturday’s rounds:
- Division 1 – Greater Midland Tennis Center (8:30 a.m. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 2 – Kalamazoo College (8 a.m. 6/1, 9 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 3 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (Singles at Hope 8 a.m./Doubles at Holland Christian 8:30 a.m. 6/1, all finals at Hope 8 a.m. 6/2)
- Division 4 – Novi (8 a.m. both days)
Below is a brief look at top contenders at each tournament; click for more including brackets and seeds for all 32 flights across the four divisions.
LP Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Midland Dow, 2. Northville, 3. Bloomfield Hills.
These three made up the contenders in a little different order a year ago as well, and Dow and Northville shared the championship in 2017 after taking turns finishing first and second the previous two seasons. Both have nearly their entire lineups back, and Dow edged Northville by two points to win the Holly Invitational at the beginning of this month.
Midland Dow: The Chargers have top-three seeds at seven of eight flights, with Sarah Ismail on the top line at No. 3 singles and Amelie Kraef and Reema Patel the favorite at No. 4 doubles. Ismail won No. 2 singles in 2017 and No. 3 in 2016, and Patel was part of the championship-winning pair at No. 4 doubles last season. Hadley Camp and Tatum Matthews were runners-up in 2017; Camp was second at No. 3 singles and this weekend is the second seed at No. 4, while Matthews was runner-up at No. 2 doubles and is now part of the top seed at No. 1 with Kelly Livingston, part of the 2016 champ at No. 2. Unseeded No. 1 singles player Jessica Brown was runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman in 2015 and has made the No. 1 quarterfinals the last two seasons.
Northville: The Mustangs are seeded at every flight, with three top seeds and two flights in the second spot. Shanoli Kumar is top-seeded at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals in 2017 and winning and finishing second at No. 2 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Serena Wang and Sophie Zhuang are seeded first at No. 1 doubles for the second straight year after making the semifinals last season, and Neha Chava and Andrea Nam are top-seeded at No. 2 doubles after Chava won that flight last spring and Nam was part of the runner-up at No. 3. Renee Torres and Tori Mady are the reigning champions at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively; Mady is seeded second at No. 2 singles and Torres is the fourth seed at No. 3 this weekend.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks finished third last season, only three points back of the co-champs and 10 ahead of the rest of the field. Junior Tia Mukherjee is second-seeded at No. 1 singles and hoping to play for the title again after finishing runner-up at that flight a year ago. Jenna Silverman at No. 4 singles and Ellen Burke and Lauren Walkon at No. 3 doubles also earned top seeds, and Kaela Bernard at No. 2 doubles was part of the runner-up at No. 4 last year.
Ann Arbor Huron’s Angie Zhou: The freshman No. 1 singles player has enjoyed a big high school debut and is seeded third at the top flight.
Plymouth’s Jessica Braun: She’s seeded fourth at No. 1 singles after making the quarterfinals as the fifth seed the last two seasons.
Grosse Pointe South’s Laurel Sullivan: She’s seeded fifth at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up to Ismail at No. 2 in 2017.
LP Division 2 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. East Grand Rapids, 3. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Similar to Division 1, these were the top three ranked teams at this point in 2017 as well but in a different order. East Grand Rapids won last year’s championship, three points ahead of Forest Hills Northern, but Seaholm is the favorite to take back the title for what would be the first time since 2015 but fourth time this decade. Forest Hills Northern shared the championship with the Maples in 2014 and also finished runner-up in 2012 and 2015.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples have four top seeds and three second seeds after winning seven flights to claim the Regional title two weeks ago ahead of No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Marian, which beat Seaholm by a point at the Regional last year and then finished a point ahead of Seaholm at the Final. The Maples are expected to dominate doubles – Brooke Forte and Lilly Trinch at No. 2, Jessica Buechner and Lea Cazaudumec at No. 3 and Charlie Kutchman and Sofia Manzo at No. 4 are all top-seeded, while Layla Bellissimo and Emily Hirsch are the second seed at No. 1. Forte and Trinch were the No. 3 runners-up in 2017. Mollie Judge at No. 3 singles carries a top seed as well and made the quarterfinals at No. 2 a year ago.
East Grand Rapids: All eight flights are seeded, led by reigning No. 1 singles champion Sloane Teske holding down the top line in that flight. Hannah Stuursma is the reigning champion at No. 2 singles and seeded third in her return, while Halley Elliott is seeded second at No. 3 after making the semifinals at No. 4 last spring. Audrey Devries and Kate Mackeigan are the reigning champions at No. 4 doubles and seeded this time fifth at No. 2, and Alivia Vincelj is part of the third seed at No. 1 after finishing as part of last season’s runner-up at No. 2.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies are seeded in seven flights coming off last season’s runner-up run. Claire Tatman and Sydney McLean both were flight champions last season – Tatman at No. 1 doubles and McLean at No. 3 – and they’re teaming up for the fourth-seeded pairing at No. 1. Abby Zhang was part of last season’s No. 2 doubles champion and is partnering with Lilla Henkel for the third-seeded pair at that flight.
Royal Oak’s Olivia Weiss: Another standout freshman, she’s holding down the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Holly’s Taylor Barrett: The third seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last season as the fourth seed.
St. Joseph’s Ashley Ke: The fourth-seeded player at No. 1 came back after dropping the first set to win her Regional against Mattawan’s Kate Novak.
Mattawan’s Kate Novak: Last year’s sixth seed at No. 1 is up to the fifth seed at this Final; a year ago she upset Ke on the way to making the flight semifinals.
Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Madison Dering and Gigi Kalabat: Dering made the quarterfinals at No. 1 doubles last year with Kate Currier; Dering this time is part of the top-seeded pair with reigning No. 4 singles runner-up Kalabat, while Currier is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 2.
LP Division 3 at Hope College
The ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 3. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Detroit Country Day repeated last season as champion with a near-perfect 39 points, as Grand Rapids Christian finished second for the third straight season. Forest Hills Eastern finished ahead of Christian two weeks ago at their Regional to enter this weekend as the top contender from the west side of the state, and Cranbrook Kingswood always is in the mix with its five straight titles to start this decade hardly a distant memory.
Detroit Country Day: Freshman Julie Fliegner is the top seed at No. 1 singles, an even more substantial accomplishment as teammate Monique Karoub is the top seed at No. 2 – after winning the championship at No. 1 a year ago. Elle Hartje is the top seed at No. 3 after winning No. 1 doubles championships the last two seasons, and Alexis Nardicchio is the top seed at No. 4 after winning that flight in 2017. All four doubles pairs are seeded as well, with Maya Nassif and Ruhi Nayak a top seed at No. 3 after Nassif won the title at No. 4 and Nayak was part of the runner-up at 3 last spring. Heather Zimmerman and Tara Rahmani won the No. 2 doubles title last year, and this weekend Zimmerman enters as part of the second seed at No. 1 and Rahmani as part of the fourth seed at No. 2.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern: The Hawks are shooting for their first top-two Finals finish and came in fourth last season. All eight flights this weekend have seeds of fifth or higher, with Avneet Deol the team’s highest as a second seed at No. 4 singles after she made the semifinals at No. 3 a year ago.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes came in third a year ago and may make their run this time on the strength of powerful doubles. Kate Cao and Amelia Smith are the top seed at No. 1 after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Sophia Moustakas and Abby Foltyn are the top seed at No. 2 and Simrin Nagaraju and Mia Inakage have the top line of the bracket at No. 4.
Paw Paw’s Lorena Castellanos: Coming off a Regional title, she’s earned the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Danko: Enters this weekend as the third seed at No. 1 singles after beating fifth-seeded Leah Palladino of Forest Hills Eastern in the Regional title match.
Flint Powers Catholic’s Alise Haddad: The fourth seed at No. 1 singles made the semifinals last year as the sixth seed in the top flight.
LP Division 4 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Jackson Lumen Christi, 2. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
After finishing runner-up and five points behind champion Ann Arbor Greenhills in 2017, Lumen Christi is favored to win its first MHSAA Finals championship in this spring. But Academy of the Sacred Heart of course can’t be counted out; the Gazelles were third last season and won four titles in five years from 2012-16. St. Francis was the runner-up for the last of those two Sacred Heart titles, in 2015 and 2016, and also is pursuing its first MHSAA title in this sport.
Jackson Lumen Christi: Seven flights are seeded, six as fourth seeds are higher. Singles are loaded. Taylor Smith at No. 1 singles and Sela Clifford at No. 2 are second seeds at their respective flights, and Smith is the reigning No. 1 singles champion after entering as a second seed last year as well and beating Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer, who is the top seed this weekend. Clifford, who made the No. 2 semifinals last spring, also brings championship experience after winning a No. 1 doubles title in 2016. Nina Dunigan made the semifinals at No. 3 last year and is seeded third at that flight, and Shae Wright is the reigning No. 4 runner-up and is seeded fifth in her return to that bracket. Geraldine Berkemeier and Madison King are unseeded at No. 1 doubles, but Berkemeier was half of the championship pair at that flight last season when King was part of a semifinalist at No. 2.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: Six flights are seeded, and the Gazelles again are expected to surge with powerful doubles. Following in that Sacred Heart tradition are top seeds Sara Gerard and Annie Keating at No. 1, Kathryn Monahan and Serena Seneker and No. 3, and Hannah Kakos and Kate Myers at No. 4, with Nolwenn Crosnier and Kelleigh Keating second seeded at No. 2. Gerard and Keating were the runners-up last season at No. 1 and Monahan was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 as well as a two-time champion at No. 3 doubles as a freshman and sophomore.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators are back in the hunt after a 16th-place finish in 2017. Every flight is seeded, with Paige Davies on the top line at No. 4 singles and Maddie Muzljakovich and Mary Mawby the second seed at No. 3 doubles. Anne Bandrowski, the runner-up at No. 4 singles in 2015 and No. 3 in 2016, will play her final high school event as the sixth seed at No. 1.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Maggie Ketels: The top seed at No. 2 singles is seeking her second straight championship at that flight.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Natalie Moyer: The top seed at No. 1 singles was the runner-up last year and won No. 2 in 2016.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Vidhya Rajaprabhakaran: Last season’s champion at No. 3 singles will play in the top flight this weekend.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Giselle Farjo and Jamie Todd: The second seed at No. 1 doubles includes Farjo from last year’s No. 2 champion and Todd from the No. 3 title winner.
Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Genna Goist and Ryan Perry: The top seeded-pair at No. 2 doubles includes Perry, who won No. 3 with Todd in 2017.
PHOTO: Midland Dow's Sarah Ismail returns a volley during last season's LP Division 1 Finals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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.)