ANN ARBOR — The early part of Friday was trending upward for northern Michigan as three area teams occupied the top three spots of the Division 4 varsity girls tennis state finals.
Traverse City St. Francis was in the lead with 10 points and both Elk Rapids and Harbor Springs were sitting in second with five points apiece. But by the end of play Friday, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Ann Arbor Greenhills leapfrogged the Gladiators to move into first and second.
Pontiac Notre Dame has the slimmest of margins over AA Greenhills, 24-23. St. Francis sits in third with 18 points while Elk Rapids is tied with Wixom St. Catherine for fourth at 15 points. Harbor Springs finished Friday with 11 points to hold steady in seventh place.
“It was a good day,” St. Francis head coach Dane Fosgard said. “Everyone on our team got us at least one point, so they all pulled their weight.”
The one-singles semifinal will have some NoMI drama as Elk Rapids’ Ayva Johnstone — the undefeated No. 1 seed — takes on St. Francis’ Mary-Kate Ansley with a trip to the state championship finals on the line.
Johnstone did not drop a single point in Friday’s play, winning her matches against Grand Rapids West Catholic and Hemlock by 6-0, 6-0 finals.
Ansley bested Saginaw Nouvel 6-0 and 6-1 in the second round before beating Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard in the quarterfinals, 6-1 and 6-2.
In two-singles, there could be an all-NoMI state final as St. Francis’s Elliana McClellan and Elk Rapids’ Anneka Croftchik play on opposite sides of the semifinal bracket Saturday. McClellan takes on top-seeded Ellie Kim of AA Greenhills, and Croftchik battles Pontiac ND’s Francheska Daugaru.
McClellan beat Frankenmuth 6-1, 6-0 in round two and then toppled West Catholic 6-4, 6-4 in the quarters. Croftchik had a clean sweep of Saginaw Nouvel 6-0, 6-0 and then beat Kalamazoo Hackett 6-2, 6-1 to reach Saturday.
Elk Rapids’ Morgan Bergquist is the lone northern Michigan representative in the three-singles semifinals. She earned her ticket to Saturday’s match against Pontiac ND’s Addison Bellows with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Grand Rapids NorthPointe and a three-set victory against St. Francis’ Abby Corpus, 2-6, 6-3 and 6-1.
St. Francis’ Ava Pomaranksi has a good shot at reaching the state title match in four-singles. The No. 2 seed takes on St. Catherine’s sixth-seeded Samantha Alstott in the semis after beating NorthPointe 6-0, 6-1 and Hemlock 6-1, 6-2 on Friday.
“We’ll see what happens (Saturday),” Fosgard said. “All three of our players that we have left have a good chance at going all the way.”
Unfortunately, all of the doubles teams from St. Francis, Elk Rapids and Harbor Springs wrapped up their 2024 seasons with losses on Friday and did not advance to Saturday.
TENNIS STATE FINALS
Two Trojans’ doubles teams reach semis
GRAND RAPIDS — Going to the state finals every year for nearly half a century has the Traverse City Central varsity girls tennis program expecting success.
The Trojans racked up 10 points to finish the first day of the Division 2 state finals tied for eighth place. Midland Dow is in the lead with 19. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern is in second with 18 points, and three teams are tied for third with 17 heading into Saturday’s championship play.
Natalie Bourdo and Wren Walker won 6-1, 6-0 over DeWitt after a first-round bye in one-doubles action. The Trojan duo then knocked off Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4.
They’ll take on GR Forest Hills Northern’s and top-seeded Ryan Morey and Paige McKenzie in the semifinals Saturday.
A first-round bye and a 6-3, 6-0 win over Grosse Pointe North in round two moved Carly Galsterer and Audrey Parker onto the two-doubles quarterfinals against Birmingham Seaholm. Galsterer and Parker won that match, 6-3 and 6-2, to earn a spot in Saturday’s semifinal against No. 1 seed Lauren Jaklitsch and Morgan McKenzie from Forest Hills Northern.
Irena Briggs and Caroline Henkel also advanced to the quarterfinals in four-doubles after a first-round bye and a second-round win over St. Joseph, 6-4 and 6-2. They lost, however, to Forest Hills Central in a close sweep, 6-3 and 7-5.
The three-doubles team of Annie Goldkuhle and Macy Parker knocked off East Lansing in the first round, 5-7, 7-5 and 7-5. The Trojan duo lost to top-seeded Birmingham Seaholm in the second round to end their tournament run.
Singles play did not go as favorably as doubles did for the Trojans.
Central’s Alexis Smith fell to St. Joseph’s Ellie Fischer in the first round of one-singles, 6-2 and 6-2. Abby Pfannenstiel lost her first matchup of the day, falling to North Farmington in the second round. Pfannenstiel won the first set 6-0 and dropped the next two, 6-3 and 6-1.
Lola Ruoff also dropped out of competition in her first match of the day, losing in the second round of three-singles play to Grosse Pointe South, 6-1 and 6-1. Kate O’Keefe suffered the same fate in four-singles, losing 6-2 and 6-2 to Flushing in the second round after a first-round bye.
In the Division 3 finals at Kalamazoo, Petoskey’s Katya Peck was the lone state qualifier from the area.
She came in unseeded and won her first- and second-round matches with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Parma Western and a 6-3, 6-2 win over Chelsea to make it to the quarterfinals against Otsego. Peck dropped the quarters match in straight sets by a 7-5, 6-0 score to end her tournament run.
GIRLS SOCCER DISTRICTS
Shelby 2(OT)
McBain NMC 1
McBain Northern Michigan Christian: Jada VanNoord 1 goal; Harper Tossey 13 saves.
UP NEXT: The Comets fall in the district championship game and end their season at 16-3-2.
BASEBALL DISTRICTS
Bulldogs fall in title game to Marion
MARION — The Mesick Bulldogs knocked off Buckley by a 21-11 final in the semifinals of the Division 4 district tournament Friday. But that is as far as they would get.
Marion rocked Mesick 22-1 in the district championship game after beating Forest Area 13-0 in the semis.
Manistee CC beats Brethren, wins championship
BRETHREN — Manistee Catholic Central is heading to the regional semifinals after beating Brethren, 9-7, in Friday’s Division 4 district championship game.
MCC shut out Mason County Eastern in the semifinals, 3-0, and Brethren got by Onekama, 6-2, in the other semi to set up the title game.
The Sabers play in the regional tournament at Muskegon Catholic Central on Wednesday.
SOFTBALL DISTRICTS
Lake Leelanau St. Mary wins title
MESICK — The Lake Leelanau St. Mary Eagles took down Buckley and Forest Area en route to a Division 4 district championship Friday.
St. Mary defeated the Bears, 4-2, in the district semifinals and then won a barnburner against Forest Area by a 22-12 final in the championship game.
Forest Area defeated Suttons Bay in three innings, 16-1, in the other semifinal. Stacia Shananaquet had two hits, including a triple, as well as an RBI, for the Norse. Keke Williams scored their lone run in the loss.
The Eagles move on to the regional semifinals at Frankfort on June 8 at Lockhart Field.