Girl’s Tennis in the 2008 State Tournament May 30-31
The brackets are available here! All the singles and 1 doubles will play all of their matches at MSU’s outdoor courts (weather permitting). 2, 3, 4 doubles will play their first rounds at Okemos then move to MSU.
Hint: If you view the file below on Slideshare, you can do a full screen view to make it easy to read!
Williamston Invitational
The Williamston Hornets tennis team hosted a three team invitational on Saturday, May 10, 2008. The visiting teams were 10th ranked Jackson Lumen Christi and Essexville-Garber. The Hornets won the tournament with 12 points, Jackson Lumen Christi finished second with 7 points and Essexville-Garber had 5 points.
The tournament format was a round robin in which each team’s flight played the other two teams’ flights so it was a double dual tournament as well. In the dual match ups Williamston defeated Jackson Lumen Christi 6-2 and Essexville-Garber by the same 6-2 score.
The faces of the Hornets’ tennis players were tired but they displayed the satisfaction that comes from winning a tough tournament following CAAC championship match play just the day before. “The girls were all pretty worn out,” said Coach Steve Stanley. “When we originally scheduled our Invitational the league championships were supposed to be on Thursday, giving us a day to rest. When they moved them to Friday I knew this would be a grueling phase of our schedule,” he continued.
“This is what the state finals are like, though,” added assistant coach Dan Slider. “You play two tough matches on Friday and then have to come right back to play the finals the next morning. The girls showed they have the mental and physical toughness that it takes to win under those conditions,” he said.
Winning the gold medals for the Hornets by finishing first in their flights were Tiffany Ash at one singles, Allyson Nash at two singles, Anya Nikolai and Gabby Meijer at number one doubles, Sandra Suryak and Katherine Noren at number two doubles, Olivia Green and Erin Donovan at number three doubles, and Erin Graham and Aubree Barton at number four doubles. Placing third for the Hornets were Mattie Nelson at number three singles and Miranda Vorce at number four singles.
The Hornets are now 13-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play.
Prep Tennis: Williamston Invitational
Team scores:
Invitational results:
Williamston 12, Jackson Lumen Christi 7, Essexville-Garber 5.
Dual match results:
Williamston 6, Jackson Lumen Christi 2
Williamston 6, Essexville-Garber 2
Jackson Lumen Christi 5, Essexville Garber 3
Singles: Ash (W) d. Griffin (J) 6-0, 6-0; Nash (W) d. Fodor 6-1, 6-2; Berkerneier (J) d. Goldstein (E) 7-5, 6-2; McHugh (J) d. Freed (E) 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles: Meijer-Nikolai (W) d. Dardas-Piorkowski (E) 6-1, 3-6, 6-6(4); Noren-Suryak (W) d. Hunter-Schubert (E) 6-2, 6-1; Donovan-Green (W) d. Brewster-Kennedy (J) 6-0, 6-2; Barton-Graham (W) d. Monville-Studley (E) 6-4, 6-2.
Mason Invitational
The tennis Lady Hornets continued their winning ways on a very cold and windy day in Mason and Holt on Saturday, April 26, 2008. They traveled to Mason and then split up the flights playing half the matches at Holt and the other half at Mason in the Mason Lady Bulldog Invitational tournament. The Williamston team returned home with a hard earned second place trophy.
“The teams in this tournament were very good,” said Rich Ash, parent of Tiffany who plays number one singles for the Hornets. “Four of the eight teams were Division I teams, and another, B. H. Andover is ranked sixth in Division III,” he continued. “To place second in that field is very good result,” he concluded.
B. H. Andover won the first place trophy with 37 points. Division 4 Williamston and Division 1 school Grand Blanc tied with 31 points for second, a Division 2 school, Mattawan finished in fourth with 30 points, followed by another Division 1 school, Holt in 5th , with 21 points, host school Mason in 6th, with 17 points, Flint Powers in 7th with 13 points and South Lyon completing the field with 7 points.
“I was impressed with the play of all the flights,” said assistant coach Dan Slider. “Number three doubles Olivia Green and Erin Donovan were amazing today,” he added. “They played a very tough three set match against Andover that many people mentioned to me that they thought was the match of the day. The play was tough and every point mattered. First Williamston and then Andover would forge ahead, only to have the match turn around again. Olivia and Erin found a way to win that match and set them selves up for their first place finish and well earned first place medals,” he concluded.
Finishing with second place medals for the day were Tiffany Ash at number one singles, Sandra Suryak and Katherine Noren at number two doubles and Erica Krantz and Kourtnee Barton at number five doubles. Winning a third place medal was Allyson Nash at number two singles. Placing fourth at number three singles was Mattie Nelson. Placing fifth were Sarah Vogel and Anya Nikolai at number one doubles and Erin Graham and Aubree Barton at number four doubles. Finishing in seventh place was Miranda Vorce at number four singles.
Okemos Invitational
The Williamston girls’ tennis team visited Okemos on Saturday, April 19, 2008, to compete in a four team Okemos Invitational tournament. They returned with an impressive second place finish with 14 points. Division 1, Okemos won the tournament. Also competing were Grand Ledge, a division two school and St. Johns, a division three school. “The girls represented Williamston High School very well,” said Coach Steve Stanley. “To be a small division four school and to finish a strong second is very impressive.”
Winning gold medals for the Hornets were Miranda Vorce at number four singles and Erin Donovan and Olivia Green at number three doubles. “It was my birthday,” said Erin, “when we were receiving serve against Okemos ahead 4-5, I told Olivia I wanted to win that game for my present and we won it.” Miranda really worked hard in the second set against her St. Johns opponent. “I really didn’t want to go three sets. I was so tired. So I just tried to win that second set tiebreaker,” she said. She did win it by a score of 11-9.
“I learned so much today,” said number two singles player Allyson Nash. “My opponent from Okemos was really good,” she continued, “I won some points but I had to work for them. The matches against St. Johns and Grand Ledge were much easier compared my Okemos match,” she concluded. Allyson received a silver medal for her efforts.
Also winning silver medals for the Hornets were Tiffany Ash at number one singles, Sarah Vogel and Anya Nikolai at number two doubles, and Erin Graham and Aubree Barton at number four doubles.
Sandra Suryak and Katherine Noren tied in games won with two other second doubles teams, but finished fourth because they lost the place tiebreaker having more losses because they played three sets in one of the matches they won.
Regionals in Portland
The boys had a terrific day, accumulating enough points to continue their season in the state tournament! The Williamston team qualified for the state finals to be held next Friday by scoring 19 points (18 points required to make finals). Taking second place were Peter Sienko at number one singles, Pat Belanger and Bryan Kendall at number two doubles, and Andrew Hall and Curtis Sawdon at number three doubles. Every member of the team scored at least two points in earning our way to states.
See the complete results below! Congratulations Team!
DeWitt Invitational
The team looked forward to a rematch against Parma Western and a strong eight team field that included Division 4 state finalist Parchment, Division 3 state finalist DeWitt and a solid Division 2 Okemos J.V. squad. The team was hobbled by injuries to Brian Sanborn (knees), Ben Taylor (hip flexor) and Peter Sienko (hamstrings and hip flexors who had to retire in his first match due to the injury), and ended up finishing fourth. Again, the highlight of the day was the championship earned by the number three doubles squad of Curtis Sawdon and Andrew Hall. Finishing second in the tournament were Patrick Belanger and Bryan Kendall at number two doubles and Kyle Bartrem and Brad Walters at number three and four singles respectively.
Jackson Tournament
The boys tennis team traveled to Jackson Parma Western Sept. 8, to compete against three larger schools. Division I Battle Creek Central, and Division III Parma Western and Coldwater. The Hornets finished second with 24 points to Parma Western’s 30 points. Coldwater finished third with 16 points and Battle Creek Central compiled 10 points to round out the field.
First Serve Tournament
Come play doubles tennis with the finest tennis players in Williamston! All abilities welcome - each team consists of one youth and one adult. The First Serve Tournament will take place on September 9 (rain date is September 16) at 2:00 pm at the WHS tennis courts. Register with any tennis player or Coach Stanley. Share the First Serve Tournament Flyer with your friends! This tournament is a fundraiser for the WHS Tennis programs. Entry fee: $50 per team.
Northern Invitational
The WHS Boy’s Tennis team played well in Petosky on Saturday. The team finished second behind Division I Brighton and ahead of two teams that went to the state finals last year, Elk Rapids and Harbor Springs. Brighton had 22 points, Williamston 12, Elk Rapids 9 and Harbor Springs 4. Andrew Hall and Curtis Sawdon won the title at number two doubles. Finishing in second place were Bret Graham at number two singles, Bryan Kendall and Patrick Belanger at number one doubles, Zach Frenzel and Nathan Fedewa at number two doubles and Robert Gillespie and Brian Sanborn at number four doubles. Congratulations to a great start to the season!