Williamston Tennis

DeWitt, MI.  “We knew going into this DeWitt Invitational that it was going to be a tough day.  Some of the tops teams there were Lansing Catholic, Parma Western, St. Johns, and DeWitt,” said varsity coach Phil Brillantes.  “We had tied Lansing Catholic in our dual league match, lost to Parma at their invitational, and knew St. Johns and Dewitt had strong teams,” he added.

The Hornets finished a very close second with 38 points behind Lansing Catholic with 40.  DeWitt finished third with 25 points and Parma Western finished fourth with 24.  “Our second place finish seems to be a theme this season.  We are close but just can’t quite seem to get there,” Coach Brillantes said.  “We had 6 flights in the finals: 1-3 singles and 1-3 doubles.  Lansing Catholic had 5 flights in the finals.  Unfortunately, the ones that we needed to win, went in their favor.  We ended up winning 4 of the flights.  1-3 singles won, and #3 doubles.  Lansing Catholic took the rest, 4 singles, and 1,2, and 4 doubles.  So match wise, we won just as many flights but due to overall points, and an early lost at #4 singles, LCC beat us by one match, or two points,” he concluded.

Individual Results:
1st singles:
Peter Sienko-1st place

2nd singles:
Ian Sheets- 1st place

3rd Singles:
Brett Graham -1st place

4th Singles
Nathan Fedewa -5th place

1st Doubles
Bartrem/Taylor -2nd place

2nd Doubles
Frenzel/Bennett- 2nd place

3rd Doubles
Hall/Johnson- 1st place

4th Doubles-
Pueppke/McGuire- 3rd place


Williamston, MI.  The number six ranked Hornets matched up against the number three ranked Griphons from Ann Arbor Greenhills on Thursday, September 18, 2008.  The result was a tie 4-4.

The match results were 1st Singles, Chris Song (G) def. Peter Sienko (W) 7-6(0), 6-3;
2nd Singles, Ian Sheets (W) def. Connor Tremper (G) 6-2, 6-1; 3rd Singles Brett Graham (W) def. John Adams (G) 6-4, 6-1; 4th Singles Nathan Fedewa (W) def. George Tam (G) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6); 1st Doubles Engers/Prabhu (G) def. Bartrem/Taylor (W) 6-2, 6-2; 2nd Doubles Bennett/Frenzel (W) def. Steinhoff/Sackett (G) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; 3rd DoublesGay/Goldfarb (G) def. Hall/Johnson (W) 7-6 (4), 6-4; 4th Doubles Weinberg/Chung (G) def. Pueppke/McGuire (W) 6-0, 6-1.

“Peter Sienko lost for the first time this season, said Coach Phil Brillantes, fortunately, the rest of the singles line-up won against a very reputable singles line-up.  Doubles fought better then in the past.  The mental toughness and working to get better was lot more evident during this match than in past.  The boys really saw the potential today and hopefully the spark plug needed to get even better,” he concluded.

Photo credit:  Marianne Frenzel

Williamston tennis team celebrates runner up finish at DeWitt Invitational

The Williamston Tennis Boosters hosted the Fifth Annual First Serve Tournament fundraiser on Saturday, September 7.  The tournament featured 25 doubles teams competing in a fun filled, and yet highly competitive day of single set matches.  The doubles teams match up one player from either the boys’ or girls’ high school tennis teams and a member of the community as their partner.  “I just had a blast,” said Teresa Wood who sponsored two teams in the tournament.  “I started out playing with Kourtnee Barton, but she fell ill in our first match, Coacher (Coach Stanley the tournament director) found another player (Annie McGoff) to substitute in so I could continue to play,” she continued.  “As Coacher says, ‘We play tennis because we can’ and I just loved the chance to meet the team on the courts and play,” she concluded.

“This is a fun way to raise funds to support the high school tennis program,” said Rich Ash, the chair of the Williamston Tennis Boosters.  “As both the boys’ and girls’ teams become more successful, the costs involved increase.  That is a great problem to have to solve and this tournament is a way for the Williamston tennis community to help out.”

The tournament was won by Michael Sienko and Bret Graham as they defeated Don Topliff and Nathan Fedewa in a very close finals match.

Firstserve tournament Winners

From left: Rich Ash, Michael Sienko, Bret Graham

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.

Congratulations on a terrific tournament!
Lowell 36, Williamston 28, Ann Arbor Pioneer 24, John Glenn 15, Haslett 14, Athron 10, Ovid–Elsie 5, Eaton Rapids 4.

SINGLES–1. Peter Sienko (W) d. Travis Trapp (L) 0-3; 2. Josh Hobrla (L) d. David Rowe (Ath) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. 3. Cort Thompson (L) d. Mark Roedel (AP) 4-2; 4. Partrick Meisner (L) d. Ryan Toben (JG) 1-3.

DOUBLES–1. Taylor Eagle/Jackson Deloria (AP) d. Zack Frezel/Nathan Fedewa (W) 1-3; 2. Patrick Bellinger/Bryan Kendall (W) d. Matt Parcell/Mike Wang (AP) 7-6, 6-3; 3. Jim Hyang/Mike Chen (AP) d. Clayton Stedman/Sean Greenhoe (L) 1-1; 4. Evan Wilterink/Dylan Dues (L) d. Robert Gillespie/Brian Sanborn (W) 4-4 .