The Seaholm varsity girls tennis team opened their season on a positive note with their performance in their tournament held at Troy Racquet Club, Saturday, March 26.
Seaholm swept all of their matchups against Troy High, and they were able to win the overall tournament, that included Troy High and Portage Northern.
Junior Megan Dooley and junior Katie Root won their No.2 doubles matches against Troy High (6-3, 6-0) and Portage Northern (6-0, 6-0).
Freshman Labina Petrovska and senior captain Elizabeth Gunkle, who are No.1 doubles partners also contributed by beating Troy in a tiebreaker. Senior captain Sammy Miller and junior Annie Grier, who are the No.3 doubles, escaped with a tiebreaker victory, winning 7-5 in the second tiebreaker.
Junior Bella Levya and senior Katy Shook were able to win their No.4 doubles match against Portage Northern with an impressive 6-0, 6-0 victory.
The team had an impressive showing in the tournament and their entire lineup was able to beat Troy and every doubles team was able to beat Portage Northern.
Head coach Scott Ransome is in his second season as the Maples head coach and is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“I was very pleased with our play,” Ransome said. “We demonstrated good command of the fundamentals and we are going to get better as the season goes forward.”
Sophomore Nancy Benda believed that the performance in this tournament was a good way to start the season.
“It’s always nerve wracking to play in the first match of the season,” Benda said.
“But everyone played well and the team chemistry was really good. We all were enthusiastic and supportive of each other, even our freshmen were getting pumped up, and it was awesome to have won all of our flights against Troy.”
The Maples’ performance at the tournament was a good way to start the year that looks to build on last year’s fourth finish at the MHSAA Division 2 state championships at Michigan State University. Only behind Bloomfield Hills Marian, Grand Rapids Forrest Hills Northern, and Traverse City Central fared better in 2010.
But despite the top four finish, some players believed it was a somewhat bitter end to what many called a very successful season.
“It was a little bit of a disappointment,” Miller said. “But we have players returning from last year’s team and we hope to have a successful season.”
Benda, Dooley, and Gunkle are some of the key players that returned from last year’s team.
The team also has some new faces to go along with the players that are returning from last year’s team.
Three new players on the team this year are freshmen Jackie Meier, Petrovska, and Lauren Frazier.
The team worked very hard in the off season and they are excited about having a successful year and hoping that their hard work pays off during the season and on into states.
“We have high expectations for this season,” Shook said. “Our team is on the right track to winning states. So hopefully we do!”
The team has their next match April 14 at Rochester high school.
