Preview: Powers Set to Shine Again
May 30, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Saturday’s girls tennis forecast calls for traditional powers to dominate another Lower Peninsula Finals.
But keep an eye out for at least a pair of hopefuls aiming for their first championships in this sport.
Bloomfield Hills in Division 1 and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central in Division 4 are among contenders with the best chances of joining the list of teams that have earned titles over nearly a half century.
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. 5/31, 9 a.m. 6/1)
- Division 2 – Hope College/Holland Christian HS (5/31 Singles at Hope at 8 a.m., doubles at Holland Christian at 8:30; 6/1 all finals at Hope at 8 a.m.)
- Division 3 – Novi High School (5/31 Novi HS 8 a.m., Novi MS 8:30 a.m.; 6/1 Novi HS 8 a.m.)
- Division 4 – Kalamazoo College (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 Greater Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Grosse Pointe South, 2. Bloomfield Hills, 3. Northville.
After sharing with Midland Dow in 2017, Northville won the title alone last spring to make it three championships over four seasons. This week, the Mustangs jumped up two spots in the final rankings to join the two contenders who have been at the top since the last week in April. Grosse Pointe South is seeking its first title since 2014 and third this decade, while Bloomfield Hills is seeking its first ever. They finished fourth and third, respectively, in 2018.
Grosse Pointe South: All eight Blue Devils flights are seeded at least fourth, with No. 4 singles Moira Hix and No. 1 doubles Kate Beardslee and Maddie Hurley top-seeded. Laurel Sullivan, second-seeded at No. 2, was the No. 2 runner-up in 2017 and made the quarterfinals at No. 1 a year ago. Beardslee advanced to the No. 4 singles semifinals last season. Grosse Pointe South won all eight flights at its Regional, which also included No. 6 Troy.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks fell just four points shy of that first championship last season and return two individual champions, No. 1 singles Tia Mukherjee and No. 4 Jenna Silverman, who has moved up to No. 3. Seven of eight flights are seeded, with Emily Ross and Carly Bernard at No. 3 doubles and Susan Baenen and Emma Gray at No. 4 owning top seeds. The one unseeded flight, No. 2 doubles, includes Kaela Bernard, who was part of the runner-up pair at No. 2 last season. Mukherjee is seeded only fourth, but also finished No. 1 singles runner-up in 2017.
Northville: The Mustangs’ win last year came with two flight champions and four runners-up, and a number of those players return. After finishing second at No. 2 singles, Tori Mady has moved up to No. 1, and last year’s No. 3 runner-up Renee Torres also jumped up a flight. Both also won singles flights in 2017. Connie Gao and Sneha Ganan won No. 4 doubles last season, but Ganan is now a seeded player at No. 4 singles and Gao and Michelle Tong are seeded at No. 3 doubles – where Tong and Madison DeYoung were runners-up last season. Sophie Zhuang was part of last season’s No. 1 doubles champion and is part of the fourth-seeded pair this weekend with Maya Mulchandani. The team’s lone top seed is at No. 2 doubles, where DeYoung and Andrea Nam hold down the top spot, Nam coming off a run to the semifinals at that flight a year ago.
Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kari Miller: The standout junior defeated Mukherjee two seasons ago to win No. 1 singles as a freshman, and after a year away from high school tennis is back as the top seed at the top flight.
Plymouth’s Jessica Braun: The second seed at No. 1 singles has made the quarterfinals twice and semifinals last season at this flight, and gave Miller a run in the first set of their Regional championship match.
Midland Dow’s Meghan Killmaster and Victoria Leiti: Last season’s champion at No. 2 doubles is teaming up as the fifth seed at No. 1.
LP Division 2 at Hope College/Holland Christian
Top-ranked: 1. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 2 Birmingham Seaholm, 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian.
Aside from East Grand Rapids jumping to the top in 2017, either Forest Hills Northern, Seaholm or Marian has won the LPD2 title 15 of the last 16 seasons – with two of them even sharing the title twice. Reigning champ Seaholm won basically a dual with last year’s runner-up Marian at this year’s Regional, while Forest Hills Northern is hoping to make the move from fourth in 2018.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: All eight flights are seeded fourth or higher, with Isabella Paul at No. 3 singles and Alexis Pena at No. 4 topping their flights. Abigail Zhang and Lilia Henkel were No. 2 doubles runners-up a year ago and are seeded third at that flight; Zhang was half of the No. 2 doubles champion in 2017 as well. The Huskies won seven of eight flights and placed second in the eighth at a Regional that included No. 4 East Grand Rapids and No. 7 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples cleared the field by seven points last season with five flight championships including a sweep of doubles, and they’re in position to repeat at least the latter. Three pairs are top seeds: Madison Daminato and Emily Hirsch at No. 1, Brooke Forte and Lilly Trinch at No. 2 and Ashley Buechner and Remi Maynard at No. 4, with Hirsch a reigning champion at No. 1, Forte and Trinch the reigning champions at No. 2, Buechner a champ last year at No. 3 and Charlie Kuchman and Sofia Manzo the 2018 champions at No. 4 moving up to earn the second seed at No. 3 this time. Reigning No. 4 singles champ Greta Albertie is the second seed at that flight, and last year’s No. 2 runner-up Sofia Gryzenia has moved to No. 1.
Bloomfield Hills Marian: Last season’s runner-up made a run despite no flight winners but four runners-up including three in doubles, and they also are loaded again with a top seed and three second seeds filling that half of the lineup. Ragad Almsaddi and Gigi Kalabat are the top seed at No. 3 – Kalabat was part of last year’s No. 1 runner-up. This year’s second-seeded No. 1 includes Marlo Hudson – last year’s No. 3 singles runner-up – and 2018 No. 2 singles semifinalist Mia Schwartz. Ariana Kotsakis and Claire Stechow are both back after finishing second at No. 3 doubles last season, Kotsakis again at that flight and Stechow at No. 1 singles. Reigning No. 4 doubles runner-up Emma Albertie and Kathryn Torok both are helping fill out the singles lineup, Albertie a fifth seed at No. 3 and Torok the fourth at No. 4.
East Grand Rapids’ Sloane Teske: To no surprise, the reigning two-time champion at No. 1 singles is the top seed again at the top flight in her final high school tournament.
Holly’s Taylor Barrett: Now a senior and the second seed at No. 1, she made the semifinals as the third seed a year ago and took that match to three sets.
East Grand Rapids’ Halley Elliott: Last season’s champion at No. 3 singles as a second seed is moving up to No. 2 as a junior.
LP Division 3 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Allegan.
Country Day is looking to run its championship streak to four after Cranbrook Kingswood won the five previous titles before that. They finished first and second, respectively, a year ago, Country Day just short of a perfect score with 38 points. Allegan was fifth last season and is seeking to add its first Finals title to four runner-up finishes, the most recent coming in 2013.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets won all but Nos. 1 and 2 doubles at last season’s Finals, and they’re seeded first in four flights this time. Monique Karoub – a two-time champion at No. 2 singles and the No. 1 champion in 2017 – is seeded first at No. 1. Elle Hartje is the top seed at No. 2 singles with championships at No. 3 singles last year and No. 1 doubles her first two. No. 3 singles top seed Alexis Nardicchio won No. 4 singles the last two years. The top seed at No. 1 doubles is made up of Tara Rahmani and Nina Khaghany; Rahmani was a No. 2 doubles champ in 2017 and Khaghany won No. 3 singles that season and was part of the No. 1 doubles runner-up in 2018. Anushri Radhakrishnan and Maria Sicilia won No. 4 doubles last season, and Radhakrishnan returns to No. 4 as part of the third seed while Sicilia is part of the third seed at No. 3.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes are expected to match up with Country Day quite a bit Saturday with five second seeds and Charlotte Brown the top seed at No. 4 singles. Abby Foltyn is part of the second-seeded No. 1 doubles pair after winning No. 2 last season, and Simrin Nagaraju is part of the second seed at No. 2 after finishing runner-up at No. 4 doubles with Mia Inakage, part of the second seed at No. 3 doubles this time. Freshman Nina Govila is the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Allegan: The Tigers are seeded at every flight, with Delaney Heckman and Maddy Layton at No. 3 doubles and Krista Kocur and Maddie Wagner at No. 4 holding down top seeds. Heckman and Layton were the runners-up at No. 3 last season. Emma Philippus and Nicole Galloway were the runners-up at No. 2 and have moved up to the fourth seed at No. 1.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Claire Danko: The fifth seed at No. 1 singles finished runner-up a year ago as a sophomore after entering as the third seed.
LP Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, 2. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, 3. Grosse Ile.
Academy of the Sacred Heart has won five of the last seven Division 4 championships and finished seven points ahead of runner-up Traverse City St. Francis a year ago. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central came in fifth, just two points out of third, and is seeking its first title after coming closest as runner-up in 2012. Grosse Ile won in 2014 and was second in 2013, and tied for 10th in Division 3 last season.
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart: The Gazelles swept doubles last season and are seeded first at all four of those flights to go with four third seeds in singles. The No. 1 pair is made up of returning Annie Keating and Reagan Beatty, last season’s champion at No. 3 singles. Nolwenn Crosnier was part of the winner last season at No. 2 and is joined this time by Marisa Nafso, while No. 3 top seeds Kate Myers and Serena Seneker won titles with different partners at Nos. 4 and 3 last season, respectively. Hannah Kakos was Myers’ partner last season and is teaming up with Catherine Blumberg for the No. 4 favorite pair.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central: The Kestrels are seeded at seven flights, with the lone unseeded player Willow Biggs returning to No. 1 singles. Taylor Kennedy is the top seed at No. 3 and Hannah Hodgson is the top seed at No. 4 after both finished runners-up at the same flights last year.
Grosse Ile: The Red Devils have posted four straight top-10 finishes in Division 3 since that Division 4 title. They are seeded at six flights with a pair of top-two seeds in singles – top-seeded Jessica Schutt at No. 2 and second-seeded Jenna Sheets at No. 4. Schutt made the quarterfinals at No. 2 last season in Division 3.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s Melanie Zampardo: The top seed at No. 1 singles was the fourth seed and made the semifinals as a sophomore last season and entered as the sixth seed as a freshman.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Moorea McNalley: One of the state’s freshman standouts this spring, she enters her first Finals as the second seed at No. 1 singles.
PHOTO: Bloomfield Hills' Tia Mukherjee returns a volley during last season's run to the LP Division 1 title at No. 1 singles. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Built Right, No Rebuild Needed: Cornelius Taking Gull Lake Back to Tennis Finals
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2025
RICHLAND – Once the boys season ends later this week, Roger Cornelius will begin preparing for his 50th year as varsity girls tennis coach at Gull Lake High School.
That tenure may have been cut short at 22 years, if not for the Gull Lake tennis community.
In January 1998, Cornelius’ 16-year-old daughter, Lindsay, died as a result of a winter car crash.
He had recently ended the fall season with the girls team and “I didn’t know if I could (coach) the boys that spring,” he said, still emotional when talking about the tragedy.
One of his former students, Jason Ryan, now a vascular surgeon at Beacon Kalamazoo Hospital, contacted Cornelius.
“He and one or two other guys talked with me and, if not for them, I would have quit tennis,” Cornelius said. “I decided to continue with tennis, and I’m glad I did. I found out that God was going to carry me through the toughest time of my life. The tennis community was really big for me back then. Richland, especially, came beside me and lifted me up.”
Although tennis is his sport of choice, Cornelius played football at Western Michigan University and was first hired at Gull Lake in 1975 to help with the football program. He jumped at the chance to coach the tennis team that spring and has coached either the boys or girls, and sometimes both, every year since.
He has been named Regional Coach of the Year several times and was enshrined in the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association (MHSTeCA) Hall of Fame in 2018.
Cornelius will lead the boys (12-2-1) to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals this Friday and Saturday at Midland Tennis Center. The Blue Devils finished 10th the last two years, earning eight points both times.
In a rebuilding year after losing all four singles and two doubles players to graduation, Cornelius was surprised and thrilled that this year’s team earned 20 points at its Regional, finishing second to St. Joseph and qualifying for the Finals.
At the beginning of the season, senior Peyton Orley said he wasn’t sure how good the team would be.
“Last year at the beginning of the season, we could tell we had a really good team,” Orley said. "This year, we lost a lot of our seniors and it didn’t look promising for states.
“Everyone on the team was mission-motivated to get to the state tournament.”
Orley pairs with senior Sullivan Abegg at No 1 singles and the pair did their part, winning their Regional flight. For Abegg, it was a three-peat after taking the title at No. 3 doubles two years ago and No. 2 doubles last year.
The Blue Devils are led at No. 1 singles by freshman Kade DeMaagd, whose father also played for Cornelius.
“Kade’s got the best strokes on the team,” the coach said.
Lucas Nichols, at No. 4 doubles, is the other freshman in the lineup. The other three seniors are Max Uppal (No 3 singles) and Dylan Piwko and Evan McCann, both doubles players. Three juniors, who all play doubles, are Jaden Jones, Jackson McDermott and McGuire Abegg. Two sophomores round out the singles flights: Jake Worgess at No. 2 and Jacob Nichols at No. 4.
Comparing old & new
Cornelius said there isn’t much difference between the tennis players today compared to those 50 years ago.
“I think what’s changed the most is today’s athletes have so many different options, so many different interest areas,” he said. “A lot of the kids have early college classes, some of them have to come to practice from off site and so many things are happening, whether it’s the Model United Nations or tutoring someone at the high school or DECA. I think that’s the biggest difference.”
While the boys are competing in Division 3, the girls are in Division 2, a more difficult road to the Finals, Cornelius said.
“It does make it pretty tough for the girls to make it out of Division 2 with the Mattawans, Portage Central, St. Joe, Battle Creek Lakeview,” he said.
Orley’s sister, Ava, a junior who plays at No. 1 doubles, said the girls team has already bonded.
“We build our team off loving each other,” she said. “It’s not everyone out for themselves, it’s all of us (working together). We focus on being a good role model.
"We’ve had coaches tell us how we played with class and how it’s an honor to play us because we learned from (Cornelius) that you always want to be a good sport.”
Competitive, compassionate
Cornelius, who taught French at the high school for 32 years, currently tutors French-speaking African and Haitian families for the district.
“I tutor the kids and work with the families,” he said. “It’s vastly different than what I did in the classroom. The greatest thing that’s ever happened to me in my nearly 50 years working with Gull Lake schools was working with a little African boy who was blind.”
Cornelius and some friends pooled money to take the boy to a specialist in Grand Rapids. The specialist asked Cornelius to translate for the mother that he thought he could help the young boy regain some sight.
“The two surgeries were successful,” said Cornelius, choking up a bit with emotion. "He has to wear glasses, but he can see. It’s the high watermark of my life.”
That compassion is visible on the tennis courts, said retired Allegan coach Gary Ellis, now a volunteer assistant tennis coach at the school.
“I’ve known Roger since 1977,” Ellis said. “We started competing against each other when he started coaching the boys.”
He said that although Cornelius wants to win and likes to compete, “at the same time, he’s got a good perspective on the whole thing and the value of high school sports, and tennis in particular. He’s very positive, both with his team and with the opponents.”
Cornelius was so supportive of opponents that one year Ellis’ girls team invited the Gull Lake coach to their awards banquet at the end of the season.
“He had a conflict and couldn’t attend, but he sent a really nice letter to the girls,” Ellis said.
Cornelius makes it a point to talk with opponents, both coaches and players.
“I love to get to talk to the kids that I would never get to talk with,” he said. “My favorite is Battle Creek Central because they have struggles that most of us at Gull Lake don’t know about.
“For them to commit their spring or their fall to tennis, that’s a major decision. I want to make darn sure that after the match, I get to meet every one of them, talk with them, talk with their coach.”
Cornelius doesn’t expect this to be his last season.
“I will step down when the good Lord says, ‘I think it’s time,’” he said. “And I don’t think it’s time quite yet.
“I wouldn’t mind if they put on my gravestone ‘Loved God, Loved People.’”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Richland Gull Lake tennis coach Roger Cornelius hits with his players during practice this season. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Cornelius, assistant Gary Ellis, junior Ava Orley and senior Peyton Orley. (Below) Cornelius talks things over with his team. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)