Williamston Tennis

The East Lansing Trojan girls’ tennis team traveled to Williamston and left with a solid 6-2 victory over the Lady Hornets. “This was a great test for our team,” said Hornet coach Steve Stanley, “East Lansing is a great Division 2 tennis team from top to bottom. They are very well coached and have a lot of players who belong to a tennis club. So it was a great measure of where we are and what we have to do to get better.”

The two really bright spots for the match were the number one and number three doubles teams. Sarah Vogel, senior captain and her partner sophomore Anya Nikolai had to play their best to come out victorious in a tight 6-3, 6-4 match. “They were good,” said Sarah, “but we played smart and found a way to win it.” Senior Olivia Green and sophomore Erin Donovan also notched a victory at number three doubles with the same score, 6-3, 6-4. “The first two games we were just in awe of how good they were,” said Erin Donovan, “then Olivia just said, ‘Hey, we can win this’ and we settled down and played great.”

Tiffany Ash lost at number one singles 6-0, 7-6(2). “Tiffany really started hitting the ball hard in the second set and really gave her senior opponent a run for it,” said Coach Stanley. “That was a great effort. Tiffany was coiling and getting excellent rotation on her ground strokes,” he added.

Allyson Nash, hitting at second singles lost 6-0, 6-1. Miranda Vorce lost at three singles, 6-0, 6-0. Cassy Voss lost at four singles, 6-1, 6-3. The number two doubles team of seniors Sandra Suryak and Katherine Noren, put up a fight but succumbed, 6-2, 6-4. Also, losing for the Hornets was the number four doubles team of junior Erin Graham and sophomore Aubree Barton, 6-0, 6-2.

The Hornet junior varsity squad traveled to East Lansing and returned with a hard fought victory 5-3. “The star of the match was Gabby Meijer at number two singles,” said junior varsity coach John Bragle. “She came back so many times I thought she was a letter with insufficient postage,” he laughed. “Gabby lost the first set 6-4 and was behind in the second but fought back to force a tie break and then winning it 7-6(4) to force a third set super tiebreak,” he added. Gabby then clinched the victory by winning the super tiebreak 10-7. Not be outdone, the Hornet’s number three singles player Gilly Cobb took her match to three sets as well winning 6-4, 4-6, 10-6. “Gilly just played every point and really showed me something today,” said Coach Bragle. Also winning matches for the Hornets were the doubles teams of Erica Krantz-Kourtnee Barton at number one doubles, 0-6, 6-3, 10-4 and Ali Wallace-Carrie Donohoe at number two, 6-1, 6-3; and number four doubles Andrea Krantz-Kelsey Ellsworth 4-6, 6-4, 10-3. Losing matches for the Hornets were Audrey Porter at number one singles 6-2, 6-0; Jacqui Schrote at number four singles 6-2, 6-2; and Casey Shipman-Annelise McGoff at number three doubles 6-2, 6-1. Winning exhibition matches for the Hornets were Caroline Lupini (two matches), and the doubles team of Caitlin Geyer-Kathryn Kendall also winning two matches. Losing an exhibition match was the doubles team of Callie Risch-Amber Wilson-Daeschlein.

The Williamston number tennis girls’ traveled to Lakewood for their CAAC White Division season opener on Tuesday, April 15, 2008. The Hornets dominated the match sweeping all flights in the regular and exhibition matches. “These girls are tenacious,” said Coach Steve Stanley. “They were behind on a lot of courts and they just made some adjustments in either technique or strategies and turned the matches around,” he continued. “I was particularly impressed with three flights,” he said, “the number four doubles team of Aubree Barton and Erin Graham struggled in the beginning but found their footing and starting hitting their targets consistently 7-5, 6-1.”

“I was also pleased with Mattie Nelson at number three singles,” he said, “She is coming back from a pretty serious bout with mononucleosis so we were all interested in her stamina and how she would do,” Stanley said. “She lost the first game and then rolled to a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win,” he said. When asked how she felt, Mattie smiled and quoted Nietzsche, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

The third flight that impressed the coach was Miranda Vorce’s effort at the number four singles position. Miranda won the first set 6-4 and then quickly fell behind in the second set, 1-4. “Miranda showed me a lot today,” said Stanley. “She got herself in trouble by not moving her feet and stopping in no man’s land,” he added. “Then she regained her focus and won a very thrilling second set tiebreaker 8-6,” he said.

Also winning for the Hornets were Tiffany Ash at number one singles, 6-0, 6-0; Allyson Nash at number two singles 6-0, 6-2; Sarah Vogel and Anya Nikolai at number one doubles, 6-1, 6-2; Sandra Suryak and Katherine Noren at number two doubles 6-0, 6-3; and Olivia Green and Erin Donovan at number three doubles, 6-2, 6-4.

Winning exhibition matches for the Hornets were Cassy Voss at number five singles 6-3, 6-3; and Kourtnee Barton and Erica Krantz at number five doubles, 6-2, 6-4.

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.

Williamston 7, Lansing Catholic 1

Singles: Ash, (W) d. M. LaBlanc 6-2, 6-2; Nash (W) d. Japinga 6-2, 6-2; Cuison (L) d. Nelson 6-1, 6-4; Vorce (W) d. E. LaBlanc 3-1 (ret.);

Doubles: Nikolai-Vogel (W) d. Laskey-Moreau 6-0, 6-1; Noren-Suryak (W) d. J. Kurowski-Cisneros 6-4, 6-3; Green-Donovan (W) d. Cummings-Spagnuolo 6-3, 6-1; Graham-Barton (W) d. LaBuda-H. Kurowski 6-0, 6-2

Team records:
Williamston 8-2, CAAC 3-0

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.