Senior-Powered Ishpeming Follows Doubles Dominance to 1st Finals Win
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
October 5, 2023
KINGSFORD – Ishpeming coach Kaitlin Rich said she had a call to make after Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals.
The school never needed a girls tennis banner before, but they do now.
The Hematites won their first U.P. title Wednesday at Kingsford, edging West Iron County 19-18 on a warm, windy day in Dickinson County.
It’s been their goal since finishing runner-up to Iron Mountain last year. Rich was reminded of that earlier this week in her Facebook memories – her team of mostly seniors were juniors then, and their goal was, “U.P. ’23.”
“They set that goal, and they crushed it,” Rich said. “They showed up every day. They worked hard.”
Munising was third with seven points. Gwinn, Iron Mountain, Ironwood and Norway all had three.
After the longest event of the day finally wrapped up, the Ishpeming players went to the scoring area and confirmed their victory. They celebrated with their trophy and looked forward to their fire truck escort into Ishpeming later that evening.
Ten of the 12 Ishpeming players were seniors. One of the two sophomores is Rich’s sister.
“I have been connected to these seniors since I taught them in third grade, and as a coach, there’s not a greater moment that I think I’ve had or will ever have than this moment right now,” Rich said. “These girls work so hard every day. Most of them dual sport. They are the definition of athlete: They have commitment to each other, they have true grit and there’s nothing that will top this day for me as a coach – going forward, in the past, nothing.”
West Iron County, which won all four singles flights, came up just short of a first U.P. title since 2020.
“Overall a very good day for the team,” WIC coach Jen Schive said. “They are a team of seniors, so we were coming out and we were ready to compete against them. I think the girls overall did pretty well this year. I’m excited for next year because I have a good group of incoming juniors.”
Ishpeming won on the strength of its doubles teams, all four of which won Wednesday.
Addison Morton and Payton Manninen defeated West Iron County’s Destiny Lemery and Olivia LaMay 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 1 doubles final.
The No. 1 seeds started slow in their semifinal win over Ironwood after a first-round bye. They had to wait again to play the final, and they overcame a slow start once again.
“But we were able to bring the energy and play how we know we can play,” Morton said. “It was really good to be able to take the championship.”
She said the team title was “really important for us,” with all the seniors they had this season.
Rich said it’d be hard to find a more athletic doubles team than her No. 1 pair.
“They are just so athletic,” she said. “And I’ll tell you, those two have a fire in them that you can’t coach and they are just mentally tough.”
Ishpeming’s No. 2 doubles team of Jenna Maki and Emma LaFave defeated West Iron’s Aubrey Richardson and Kaycee Ingram 6-2, 6-0.
“I think this is the best me and Emma have ever played together,” Maki said. “We were pretty nervous going into it. Last time we played, we played about two weeks ago in Ishpeming, and it was tiebreaker each set, so we thought it was going to be a lot more of a challenge. But we played really great and swept them.”
They complement each other well, Rich said.
“Jenna Maki is just a beast at the net and Emma has just beautiful placement. She can get the other team running. She sees the gaps and hits them all the time,” Rich said.
The No. 3 duo of Ciara Schaffer and Kadie Kaukola downed Munising’s Tessa Salo and Emmy Crisp 6-1, 6-4.
“It feels really good to finally see our work pay off, all the practice we’ve put in, and also being our senior year, getting the title,” Kaukola said.
They work well together also, Rich said.
“The growth they’ve shown from the beginning of the season to now is just amazing,” she said. “And I’ll tell you, Katie Kaukola is just an athlete and she can get to any ball on that court. Ciara is a competitor, and she loves the game more than anybody.”
Rich’s sister, Ava Jo Hares, and Kaitlyn VanDeuren defeated Munising’s Tamryn Nolan and Lauren Nelson 6-2, 6-0, for the No. 4 doubles win. Hares said they did well battling the strong wind.
They’d lost only to Negaunee in what was a dominant season.
“They again are very well-balanced,” Rich said. “Kaitlyn is phenomenal at the net. She’s very intimidating up there. She’s very tall, and she gets a lot of the balls down. And then Ava hustles and she has very good placement and she also has a really good serve, especially for a sophomore.”
West Iron County swept the singles championships.
The Wykons’ Aubrey Bice defeated Gwinn’s Miaha Schiefel 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in No. 1 singles.
“It shows me that all my hard work finally paid off and at least I can go out with a bang in my last year,” Bice said.
Coach Schive said Bice is a phenomenal player.
“She’s a very focused player; she is a true No. 1,” Schive said. “I am glad that she won today, she fully deserves it. She’s been fighting all season and working every little bit, everything that she knows that she needs to win.”
Seanna Stine swept Ishpeming’s Emily DeMarois 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
“I stayed confident, and I hit well,” Stine said.
Schive said Stine showed her senior athleticism all season.
“She hits the ball well, and she strives to really work on her placement as a strategy,” she said.
Kaitlyn Smith took No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-1, over Ishpeming’s Lilly Swanson.
“What a competitor,” Schive said. “All year long, she strives to do well, she works and puts a lot of time in. You can see it paid off today.”
Erin Kolbas defeated Ishpeming’s Lilly Ryan 6-1, 6-0, at No. 4 singles. It was the final match of the day and all of the remaining players were able to watch.
“At first it was just me and the other team, and my team wasn’t over there. I was a little bit worried, I was scared. But then my team came over and they were cheering me on, so I felt a lot better,” Kolbas said. “I genuinely didn’t expect to get this far because this is my first year.”
Schieve said the sophomore has improved “leaps and bounds” this year.
“She has put her time in,” Schive said.
PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming's Emily DeMarois finished second at No. 2 singles at Wednesday's UP Division 2 Finals in Kingsford. (Middle) West Iron County's Aubrey Bice won No. 1 singles. (Below) Gwinn's Miaha Schiefel finished runner-up at No. 1 singles. (Photos by Jason Juno.)
Unexpected Doubles Champ Helps Spark West Iron County to 14th Finals Win
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
October 1, 2025
KINGSFORD — West Iron County is used to competing for Upper Peninsula tennis titles. Going into Wednesday’s Division 2 Finals, the Wykons had finished first or second 31 times at the season-concluding event.
The Wykons won their 14th championship after finishing runner-up three of the previous four years. They won five of the eight flights in Kingsford to finish ahead of Norway, which won the other three flights, and Ishpeming. Both finished five points behind West Iron, tied for second place.
“Amazing, absolutely amazing what they pulled off,” WIC coach Jen Schive said. “We won some, we lost some, but in the end, we are a team and we’re a U.P. championship team. I’m pretty proud of that. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them today.”
West Iron finished with victories at No. 1 and 3 singles along with 1, 2 and 4 doubles. That 4 doubles team may have impressed their coach the most.
They weren’t expected to win, but Marlee Benson and Rochelle Bear advanced through all three matches of the day, capping it with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ironwood’s Lily Magdziak and Lucy Stehlik in the final.
“I’m really proud of everybody that got a title, but this 4 doubles team, wow did they step up today,” Schive said. “I think I told them a hundred times, ‘I can’t believe it. You did it.’”
She didn’t settle on 3 and 4 doubles teams until about midway through the season. Both pairs learned to play together in a hurry.
“Having them win a U.P. title is huge, absolutely huge,” she said.
They were pretty happy as well.
“It’s unreal,” Benson said.
The No. 4 pair lost the first set 6-2. Bear said their mindset was just to put that behind them and move on to the next.
“I don’t even know, I’m amazed right now,” she said of winning.
WIC’s Grace Smith picked up a dominating win at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-0 over Norway’s Jordyn Moln.
“I’m proud of myself. I worked hard for it,” Smith said. “I’m a sophomore, but last year I lost.”
That was in the final at No. 2 singles. Smith took her sister Kaitlyn’s spot at the stop flight after Kaitlyn won as a senior last year.
“She stepped in, and she seems to be filling the role just fine,” Schive said. “She has an excellent little short shot, she can switch up her game, which is nice. I just know she’s ready to keep on with a very successful tennis career.”
Schive said Smith was worried about Ironwood’s Jacinta Lauzon in the semifinals because of their competitive matches during the regular season, but she won those sets 6-4, 6-2.
“There were times where she doubted herself, but I did not,” Schive said. “I knew she had what she needed. Just making sure she had the confidence, the mentality, to know herself. Very proud of her.”
West Iron’s Destiny Lemery and Aubrey Richardson won the No. 1 doubles final 6-3, 6-0 over Ishpeming’s Stella Nerlfi and Ava Lapin.
“Destiny had some good net shots and some hard hits down the alley and the line. And her serves were good,” Richardson said.
“(Richardson) does really good alley shots and angle shots,” Lemery added.
Schive said they play well together and communicate, and it translated into a great year for them. As for what they did well Wednesday — “Oh the net,” she said. “I’ve been telling them all year — ’Put it away, put it away, save yourself some energy.’ And they did that, they did just that, beautiful net game.”
West Iron’s No. 2 doubles team of Julia White and Olivia LaMay won 6-3, 6-2 over the Hematites’ Lilly Ryan and Janelle Seelen.
“I have Julia who is a beautiful long stroke, she can get it, and Olivia in the right place at the right time, she can take care of it at the net,” Schive said.
Erin Kolbas made it two titles at singles for West Iron, clinching at the No. 3 flight. She defeated Ishpeming’s Frankie Stetson 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the final.
“It’s been a long journey,” Kolbas said. “I tore my ACL and meniscus last year. Not playing last year and then now playing this year, it’s been a long road.”
Norway took the other three wins, at 2 and 4 singles and 3 doubles. Ella Wojtowicz defeated Ishpeming’s Sophia Nerlfi 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2.
“It’s nice because it took four years,” Wojtowicz said. “Lots of tries, lots of losing, but I got there. My goal this year was just to make myself proud, it wasn’t really to win anything. But winning is a plus.”
Her coach, Cassandra Gustafson, was happy to see her career end with a championship.
“She has had some ups and downs over the years, but she has really put in a lot of work in the offseason to get where she’s at, so I’m really proud of her,” Gustafson said.
Jessa Rossler took the final match at No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-2 over Ishpeming’s Camryn Miller.
“I won last year, too, so I was really hoping I would this year,” Rossler said. “At first, I kept hitting it to the net with the wind; it was kind of hard to judge it. But once I got used to that, I think I hit some better shots and it turned out well.”
Norway’s No. 3 doubles team of Emily Carlson and Myah Gilroy defeated Ishpeming’s Lydia Seelen and Jenessa Eagle 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the final. The matchup was similar to last year’s when Norway’s duo lost to Lydia and Janelle Seelen in the final.
“They really wanted it,” Gustafson said. “They really wanted it bad. They’ve been playing together two years straight, so they’re solid and jelled together.”
PHOTOS (Top) West Iron County celebrates its UPD2 championship Wednesday at Kingsford High School. (Middle) Ishpeming’s Stella Nerlfi gets to a ball at the net at No. 1 doubles. (Below) Norway's Jordyn Moln sends a volley during a No. 1 singles match. (Photos by Jason Juno.)