Rivalry Swings Back to Westwood as Patriots Earn 1st Finals Title Since 2021
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
October 1, 2026
NEGAUNEE — Ishpeming Westwood and Negaunee are 10 minutes apart, so they play plenty of tennis against each other whether it’s routine dual meets or the bigger ones with conference and Upper Peninsula championships on the line.
The Miners have been the one winning those meaningful meets lately with the last four U.P. Division 1 titles to their name.
This, however, was Westwood’s year.
The Patriots won the U.P. Finals on Tuesday for the first time since 2021, the last championship before Negaunee’s streak started, with wins in five of the day’s eight flights.
Their mentality was the key to their success this year, coach Sarah Zindler said, and it showed in the way they went up against the Miners.
“They weren’t scared to play Negaunee; they were excited to play Negaunee,” she said. “They were up for the challenge, they wanted to compete. When they were down in a match, they had that mentality of, ‘I can still win this,’ not the defeated (attitude) after you lose a point. That can sometimes be hard, especially for seniors on a U.P. Finals day where they know it’s their last matches.”
Eliisa Doney is one of those seniors. She talked about seeing Negaunee lifting up trophies in front of them in recent years. So, yeah, this one felt pretty good.
But regardless of the rivalry, she won at No. 2 singles after playing doubles the majority of her career. Her last memories of high school tennis at Westwood are pretty good.
“I’ve never been (a U.P. champion) individually or as a team before, so it’s an incredible feeling that I’ve never felt before,” she said.
Doney played doubles as an underclassmen, missed her junior year with an injury and then filled a spot as Westwood battled other injuries this season. She beat Negaunee’s Addie Chapman 6-2, 7-5 in their flight final Wednesday.
“She just took on the challenge and her first couple matches were a little rocky, but she had that competitive attitude of, ‘I’m gonna figure it out,’” Zindler said. “And now she’s a U.P. champ.”
So are many of her teammates.
Westwood’s Emmi Carlson won No. 3 singles and finished the season with just one loss. Despite that, she trailed Negaunee’s Lucy Rogers 5-2 in the first set of the final.
“And she told us, ‘I got this, I’m gonna win this set 7-5,’” Zindler said. “And she won the set 7-5. And that’s how she’s been all season. If she loses three or four games, she’s like, ‘It’s fine, no big deal, I got this.’”
Carlson won 7-5, 6-2.
Westwood’s Isabel Belpedio beat Negaunee’s Katie Carlson in their final to become the No. 4 singles champion. Belpedio went undefeated in her first year on varsity.
“I played a calm, consistent game,” she said. “I just played my best, and I gave what I had. It feels pretty great … like all the hard work I put in definitely (paid) off.”
“She has also just been steady and confident and knows how to play her game, doesn’t try to do too much and doesn’t let the other girls get in her head,” Zindler added.
The No. 3 doubles team of Emerson Williams and Samiah LaFreniere came out on top over Negaunee’s Bree Helppi and Audrey Hahn in their final despite entering as the third seed. They had lost to Negaunee just last week.
Williams was a part of the winning No. 4 doubles team last year. Since then, she suffered an injury and had to play this entire season left-handed, which is her non-dominant hand.
“They played a great semifinal match, and then in finals just looked like they were confident. They played the net well, they played smart from the back,” Zindler said. “They weren’t the unexpected victory but the wild card that we really needed today for our team.”
The winning No. 4 doubles team was Westwood’s freshmen Jenna Marana and Brie Mahaffey, who just picked up a racket during the summer.
“From the start of the season until now, they have just continually grown and improved,” Zindler said. “I just kept saying, ‘You guys are going to be there, you just got to keep working on it.’ And today, they're the best four doubles team.”
Kingsford junior Aubrie Moore repeated as a U.P. champion with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 win over Escanaba’s Anna Martin at No. 1 singles.
“I’m feeling good, I’m really happy and I’m glad,” Moore said. “It’s my second year, so I’m just really proud of myself. I think I really improved on my serving, and my forehand has gotten a lot better.”
Moore and the entire team played with “We play for her,” shirts with the initials GM in honor of her mom Ginger, who died after battling cancer earlier this year.
“Obviously my mom was by my side the whole time and helped me get through this and win,” Moore said.
Negaunee’s No. 1 doubles team of Paige O’Donnell and Olivia Richards won as juniors.
O’Donnell said Marquette has been tough for them and she was focused on doing well in their match to help out their entire team.
“We played Marquette a couple times, it’s always been super competitive, always super back and forth, usually going to some tiebreakers,” Richards said. “We were kind of expecting that going into it, but we saw their weaknesses in the first set and we knew we had to capitalize on those while also working together.”
Negaunee’s Maia Brunette and Aubrey Harper defeated Escanaba’s Isabella Noblet and Lily Benetti for the No. 2 doubles title.
PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming Westwood’s Eliisa Doney sends a forehand during a match Wednesday at No. 2 singles. (Middle) Kingsford’s Aubrie Moore returns a volley at No. 1 singles. (Below) Marquette’s Charlotte Thomsen reaches out to return a shot. (Photos by Jason Juno.)
Senior-Dominated Iron Mountain Soars to UPD2 Finals Repeat
By
Steve Brownlee
Special for MHSAA.com
September 30, 2022
ISHPEMING — There was both a single reason and a singles reason why Iron Mountain won the championship at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Girls Tennis Finals played at Westwood High School on Thursday.
The difference is subtle — just a single letter “s” — but rings true both ways.
It was easy to see what the Mountaineers’ secret was — sweep the titles at every singles flight while adding one more in doubles just to be on the safe side.
IM finished with 19 points, while Ishpeming outdueled West Iron County in several late finals to eke out second place by one point, 14 to 13.
Gwinn posted five points to take fourth, while Munising had four, Norway one and Ironwood did not score.
Mountaineers coach Marcus Celello credited senior leadership for the team’s repeat championship.
“We have eight seniors on our team, including all four of our regular singles players and both our No. 1 doubles players, along with one each on Nos. 3 and 4 doubles,” the IM coach said.
He noted that all those singles flights were winners with the team’s championship in doubles also coming with the pair of seniors at No. 1.
“We won this last year and returned our core, so I knew we would at least be very competitive this year,” Celello said. “We won or tied every dual meet this season.”
He said that included a 4-4 tie against eventual U.P. Division 1 champion Negaunee to give the Miners the only blemish on their dual-meet record this fall.
“But sometimes when you haven’t faced adversity, it can be scary,” the coach continued. “You don’t always know how you’re going to react.”
No. 2 singles player Aziza Burgoon — of course, a senior — completed an undefeated season by winning a marathon final over WIC’s Seanna Stine, 7-5, 7-5.
IM also got singles titles from No. 3 Natalia Brown and No. 4 Rediet Husing, along with a doubles championship from No. 1 Elle Lofholm and Anja Kleiman.
But the biggest cheers and shrieks came after IM finished its singles sweep when No. 1 Callie Bianco pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 win over Gwinn’s Miaha Schiefel.
Schiefel led 4-2 in the second set looking to force a deciding third before Bianco won the final four games.
“I just was trying to stay focused, work the ball and follow through,” Bianco said. “And maybe the most important thing was to be patient, not panic.
“I’m known for being an impatient player. When I’m on, I like to be aggressive, but I know that when I’m not on, I have to focus on being patient.”
Asked if she was “on” Thursday, she was emphatic with her “Yes I was!”
One coach trying to be patient but excited for next season is Ishpeming’s Kaitlin Rich, who watched her junior-laden team set the groundwork for a big season next fall.
“We’ve already made a big improvement from last year,” she said. “I’m proud of how hard our girls have worked to make that improvement.
“Half of our players are dual-sport athletes, which means they’re playing another sport this fall, too, so they really have to balance their workload.”
The Hematites carted off one championship, one of the last finishing finals matches at No. 3 doubles when Kaitlyn VanDeuren and Paige Palomaki had to win a third-set tiebreaker to defeat WIC’s Bailey Hoffart and Aubrey Richardson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1).
That result decided the runner-up position team-wise as a Wykons’ win would’ve reversed their point totals and places in the standings.
“We had five finalists, at Nos. 3 and 4 singles and Nos. 1, 2 and 3 doubles,” Rich said. “We return nine of our juniors next year, so I’m really looking forward to next year. I think we should be ready to make a run at the U.P.’s (title) next year.
“Kaitlyn and Paige, those two by far are the most improved players from last year,” the Ishpeming coach added.
WIC veteran coach Joe Serbentas was philosophical after his players won a pair of doubles titles, at No. 2 with sisters Autumn Smith and Kaitlyn Smith and at No. 4 with Destiny Lemery and Olivia Lamay.
“We’ve played well at the U.P.’s the last five or six years, but we also seemed to come up that point short,” he said. “Iron Mountain is so senior-loaded, you just knew that they were the big favorites today.
“We had a 5-7-1 record in dual meets, but we play a lot of the best teams in the U.P., so I still think that’s pretty good.”
Gwinn made a run at a U.P. flight championship for the first time in a number of years with Schiefel at No. 1 singles, much to her coach’s delight.
“She has such a passion for the sport, and she’s such an avid athlete,” Modeltowners coach Darcia Mattson said. “She runs track and is a phenomenal basketball player. She trains at AdvantEdge (athletic training facility in Marquette).
“She used to play tennis against her brother, Jared Rolland.
“And she’s not a big girl at all, but her heart is twice as big as she is.”
PHOTOS (Top) The Iron Mountain and Ishpeming No. 2 doubles pairs face off during a semifinal. (Middle) Anja Kleiman gets a racket on the ball during her and partner Elle Lofholm’s match at No. 1 doubles. (Below) Gwinn’s Miaha Schiefel returns a volley at No. 1 singles. (Photos by Steve Brownlee.)