high school tennis : All posts

Year after falling six stories from dorm window, Greenhills tennis alum helping team

Lexi Pew, far left, had her senior tennis season ruined by falling from a dorm window at Michigan State University.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

The 19-year-old Greenhills graduate started last season as a Gryphons doubles player and team captain, looking forward to leading her teammates to another state finals appearance.

Huron girls and Saline's Mary Hanna win regional tennis titles

Saline senior Mary Hanna, pictured above during a tournament in April, won a regional title at No. 1 singles on Friday, May 17.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com file photo

team of the week: Greenhills girls tennis playing the 'long game' in quest for return to state title contention

• Related: Three Gryphons make tough doubles-to-singles transition
• Sunday: A year after fall from dorm window, Lexi Pew back supporting Greenhills tennis

The first seven matches of the Saline-Greenhills girls tennis dual all finished in straight sets Tuesday, and players crowded around to watch the final remaining one, No. 4 singles.

When the two players split the first two sets, the coaches huddled together to decide whether or not to play out the entire third set with everyone else already finished. For Gryphons coach Mark Randolph, there was no question he wanted his player, freshman Anjali Purohit, to play out the set.

Former Greenhills doubles state champ Rae Schueller makes tough singles transition

Greenhills No 1 singles player Rae Schueller plays against Saline on Tuesday, May 14.

Daniel Brenner I AnnArbor.com

• Related: Greenhills girls tennis playing the 'long game' in quest for return to state title contention
• Sunday: A year after fall from dorm window, Lexi Pew back supporting Greenhills tennis

The holes were plenty in the Greenhills lineup heading into the 2013 season, with seven players having moved on from a team that finished third at the state finals last year.

Greenhills transfer Colleen O'Brien helps Father Gabriel Richard to sixth straight state finals berth

Colleen O'Brien won the No. 1 singles regional title Thursday at Greenhills.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

Colleen O’Brien was back at Greenhills Thursday, once again wearing green and once again winning a girls tennis regional title.

Saline tops Greenhills in girls tennis, both teams look forward to regionals

Greenhills' Rae Schuller hits a ball against Saline's Mary Hanna Tuesday at Saline.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

The atmosphere was relaxed Tuesday afternoon at the Saline High School tennis courts. One last non-league dual before the race to the state finals begins.

team of the week: Greenhills girls tennis team wins AnnArbor.com Team of the Week honors

After nearly 6,000 votes in the past three weeks of voting in the AnnArbor.com Team of the Week polls, we were bound for a down week. The 513 votes garnered in this week's poll is a precipitous drop off from previous weeks of 1,522 and 3,229.

with gallery: Huron girls tennis wins dual match against Pioneer for first time in more than 12 years

Robbie Risdon is in her first year coaching the Huron girls tennis team, so her historical knowledge of the Pioneer rivalry is thin.

With Poll: AnnArbor.com Team of the Week poll looks to keep momentum going

We’re coming off two great Team of the Week polls, a combined 4,500 votes cast in the past two weeks.

photo gallery: Huron wins girls tennis invite, Saline's Mary Hannah takes No. 1 singles flight

Huron scored 15 points, tying Port Huron Northern for the team title at Saturday's Ann Arbor Invitational held at Saline. The event that featured many of the top Division 1 teams from around the state.

Saline's Mary Hannah won the No. 1 singles title with a 3-0 record.

• Full local results are available on Mlive's High School Sports Network

Pioneer senior Anna Borowicz hopes to cap season with third straight doubles state title

Pioneer senior Anna Borowicz hits a shot during Thursday's practice.

Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com

• Team of the Week: Rich tradition provides motivation for Pioneer girls tennis

Anna Borowicz paused as the topic came up.

team of the week: Rich tradition provides motivation for Pioneer girls tennis

• Related: Pioneer senior Anna Borowicz hopes to cap season with third straight doubles state title

The Pioneer High School girls tennis team won the SEC Red title last year, was the regional runner-up and finished in fourth place at the state meet.

Pioneer girls tennis wins second AnnArbor.com Team of the Week vote

Anna Borowicz and the Pioneer girls tennis team is our AnnArbor.com Team of the Week.

Mlive Media Group file

If you’re going to spend a week covering one Washtenaw County girls tennis team, it’s tough to go wrong with Pioneer.

Poll: Vote for the top performance by a local athlete during Saturday's MHSAA tournaments

For coverage of these events, visit our High School Sports page.

Two Pioneer doubles teams battle back to claim state tennis titles

Pioneer junior Anna Borowicz embraces a teammate after winning a No. 3 doubles state championship Saturday at the Midland Community Tennis Center while her partner, Sarah Court, right, is congratulated.

Samantha Hegeman | for AnnArbor.com

MIDLAND -- Sometimes pressure isn't all bad.

And no one found that out better than a pair of Pioneer High School girls' doubles tennis teams.

Both Pioneer's No. 3 doubles tandem of Anna Borowicz and Sarah Court and the No. 4 pair of Alyssa Roopas and Evie Van DeWege fell behind and had uphill battles Saturday.

But in the end, all four left the Midland Community Tennis Center with Division 1 state championship medals.

Greenhills' Kasey Gardiner, Colleen O'Brien sweep top spots at D4 tennis finals

Kasey Gardiner is perfect.

The Greenhills School senior wrapped up her high school tennis career with an unblemished record by winning the No. 1 singles title at the Division 4 state championships Saturday in Holland.

The Gryphons' Colleen O'Brien added a title at No. 2 singles to lead Greenhills to a third-place finish in the team standings.

Boys golf teams from Dexter, Chelsea and Father Gabriel Richard advance to regionals

Welcome to the party Dexter, Chelsea and Father Gabriel Richard.

The boys golf teams from those three Washtenaw County high schools advanced to the regional round after finishing in the top six in district tournaments on Friday.

They join teams from Saline, Skyline, Greenhills and Whitmore Lake that qualified in Thursday district tournaments.

A Division 2 district at Monroe Golf and Country Club, which included Milan, was postponed because of rain. It will be played at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

After year away from high school tennis, Kasey Gardiner looks to cap perfect career at Greenhills

When Greenhills School senior Kasey Gardiner takes the court this weekend at the Division 4 state tennis finals, she’ll enter the tournament with a perfect record on the line.

That perfect record is not just for this season, however. It’s for her entire high school career.

“I’m trying not to think about it too much. If I start thinking ahead of myself, I’ll mess myself up,” said Gardiner. “Anything can happen once you get on the court.”

The top-rated female singles tennis player in the state, Gardiner has won more than sixty consecutive matches at the high school level and it wasn’t until earlier this season that she lost a set (she lost another later in the year ... gasp). Because of her impressive streak, she has become something of a target for other top players.

with gallery: Slim margin determines girls tennis champions in SEC Red tournament

Five days after each qualified for the MHSAA Division 1 state tennis tournament, the girls tennis teams from Huron, Pioneer and Saline high schools were back on the courts fighting for a Southeastern Conference Red Division title.

The host Pioneers won the overall title, scoring 31.5 points, highlighted by winning or sharing the title in all four doubles flights. Regional champion Huron seconnd with 28.5 points and Saline finished 3rd with 28 points.

It was the second consecutive strong showing from the River Rats, who brought home their first regional championship in over a decade last Friday by beating the same primary contenders.

The recent success has coach Kendra Clark confident her team can continue using the momentum at next week’s state finals.

Five Washtenaw County teams qualify for girls state tennis finals

Prior to last week’s Division 1 regional tennis tournament, Pioneer High School coach Tom Pullen was concerned about his team qualifying for the MHSAA finals that begin June 1 at the Midland Community Tennis Center.

Pullen was able to breathe a sigh of relief as his team was one of three Washtenaw County teams to emerge from the Division 1 regional.

Huron won the event by scoring 25 points and Pioneer earned the other automatic state finals berth with a second-place finish (24 points). A third Southeastern Conference Red Division team, Saline, finished third with a state-qualifying score of 22 points.