Clarkston won its first state championship since 2011 after winning three of the four singles legs and reaching the finals in two of the four doubles legs at Saturday’s Division 1 girls tennis state championship in Midland.
At the Greater Midland Tennis Center and Midland High School, Clarkston finished with 28 team points, edging second-place Utica Eisenhower with 22 and third-place Ann Arbor Pioneer, three-time defending champions, with 19. Troy and Novi finished tied for fourth place with 18 points and Port Huron Northern was sixth with 15 points.
Clarkston won the No. 2, 3 and 4 singles state titles and reached the finals at No. 2 and No. 4 doubles. In No. 2 singles, Sydney Geisz bounced back after losing the first game of the finals to beat Isabelle Hult of Okemos 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Kayla Lemke beat Holland West Ottawa’s Evie Price 6-0, 6-1 (a cap on a dominant streak without losing more than one game in a set in the final) and Charlotte Partchenko beat Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Arella He in the fourth place. individual finals 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Troy’s Marin Fox and Nainika Jasti defeated Clarkston’s Katarina Fisher and Ava Henkel in the second doubles final 6-4, 6-3. Troy’s Clara Yalamanchili and Elena White defeated Clarkston’s Lilly Stephenson and Abby Finnerty 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 doubles final.
Top seed Gabriella Sadowski of Utica Eisenhower took home the No. 1 singles trophy after defeating Nicole Fu of Rochester Adams, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 in the final. Eisenhower’s second state title came in No. 1 doubles after Brooke Nicholson and Alexis Gabriel beat Novi’s Mandira Sardar and Alice Chen 6-2, 6-4. Natalie Petrucci and Nisha Singhi of Bloomfield Hills were the third doubles champions, beating Anna Wang and Jhoshi Prasath of Troy 6-3, 6-2.
Division 2
On Saturday at Byron Center, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern won the Division 2 girls tennis state championship with 29 points. Defending champion Birmingham Seaholm finished second with 23 and Farmington Hills Mercy was third with 23.
Forest Hills Northern took home four of the eight state titles. Andrea Wang beat Farmington Hills Mercy’s Keira Kirkland 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 at second singles and Harriet Ogilvie beat North Farmington’s Samantha Karoub 6-1, 6-0 at third singles. Ryan Morey and Paige McKenzie won the No. 1 doubles 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 over Seaholm’s Jenna Ting and Katie Slazinski and Lauren Jaklitsch and Morgan McKenzie won the No. 2 doubles over Mattawan’s Kendall Coon and Nadia Baird .
Forest Hills Central’s Lily Ohlman defeated Farmington Hills Mercy’s Megan Sullivan 6-3, 6-3 for the No. 1 singles title. Farmington Hills Mercy’s Gabby Owens won fourth singles over Forest Hills Northern’s Aanya Dogra 6-0, 6-2. Jordyn Lusky and Lucy Jen won the third doubles 7-5, 7-6 (4) over Emma Pratt and Valeria Vega of Mattawan and Anna Olekszyk and Katie Joyce of Seaholm won the fourth doubles 6-4, 4-6, 7 -5 about Penelope Livermore and Reese Sinawi of Farmington Hills Mercy.
Division 3
Birmingham Detroit Country Day won its first state championship since 2021 in the Division 3 final in Kalamazoo with 33 points. Defending champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood finished second with 29 points and Chelsea was third with 24 points.
Country Day won three of the four singles titles and one doubles title. Sophia Grzesiak won No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1 over Lilah Zaskowski of Ada Forest Hills Eastern, Helen Benjamin won No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-1 over Muskan Rekhani of Ada Forest Hills Eastern, Katie Han won No. 4 singles 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Cranbrook’s Olivia Zhang and Peja Liles and Marin Norlander won No. 1 doubles, her second straight title, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 over Haley Hopkins and. Meghan Bareis of Chelsea.
Chelsea’s Samantha Bieber defeated Country Day’s Quinn Norlander for the second singles title by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Cranbrook swept the other three doubles titles. Grace Zhang and Sophia Kouza won the No. 2 doubles title 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 over Chelsea’s Brenna and Lucy Taylor, Madeline Day and Sanvi Upadhyayula won the No. 3 doubles title 7- 6 (3), 6-4, 6-3, Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Yana Higgins and Audrey Agbay and Jessica Hall and Michelle Chen won the fourth doubles 6-2, 6-3 over Marian’s Lauren Higdon and Stella Glorio.
Division 4
At the University of Michigan Tennis Center, Ann Arbor Greenhills won the Division 4 championship for the third consecutive year with 28 points; Notre Dame Pontiac Prep finished second with 27 points and Traverse City St. Francis was third with 19.
Greenhills won seven of eight state titles, all but No. 3 doubles. Maddie Morgan defeated Ayva Johnstone of Elk Rapids 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 at No. 1 singles; Ellie Kim defeated Anneka Croftchik of Elk Rapids 6-0, 6-1 at second singles; Shangyang Xia defeated Addison Bellows of Pontiac Prep 6-2, 6-0 at third singles; Danica Rakic-Dennis defeated Ava Pomaranski of St. Francis 6-0, 7-6 (3) at fourth singles.
Lauren Ye and Nina Malani won the No. 1 doubles over Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Alivia Mott and Brooke Tietz, Sophie Chen and Sophia Kleer won the No. 2 doubles 6-0, 6-1 over Wixom St’s Sarah Palushaj and Lily Wolocko .Catholic and Parini Rao and Alyssa Hong won the fourth doubles 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 against West Catholic’s Emily Dorato and Carly Wright. The only winner outside of Greenhills was Erin Delaney and Megan Fitzpatrick of Pontiac Prep, who won the third double 6-3, 6-1 over Laura Brandt and Leah Ulsted of Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian.
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