Braves finish second at GNC tennis meet
Escanaba comes in fifth-place with 10 points
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KINGSFORD -- The Great Northern Conference tennis meet was held Wednesday at the Kingsford High School tennis facility. With the meet beginning in the morning and lasting into the evening, it saw various levels of typical U.P. fall weather, including strong winds at times.
With 24 match points, the Marquette Redettes were crowned conference champions.
"As a team, I thought we played pretty well today," Marquette head coach Derek Sandstrom said. "But we have plenty of room for improvement over the next week, and hopefully we can do that before U.P Finals."
Marquette had three first-place finishers on the day. Elysa Olivier won the No. 1 singles bracket, defeating Andie Balenger of Gladstone 6-1, 6-1. Campbell Kallio won No. 3 singles by defeating Gladstone's Kate Matthews 6-2, 6-0, and Zoey Brian-Ruth Hummell won No. 3 doubles by defeating Aurora Dahl-Madison Berutti of West Iron County.
Gladstone finished second with 14 points, one point ahead of third-place West Iron County with 13. The Braves were led by Emma Wagner and Taelor Zeise, who won No. 4 doubles in straight sets over Menominee's Kennedy Olson and Anna Nerat.
"Emma and Taelor played unreal today," Braves' coach Ryan Barron said. "(That was) by far the best I've seen of them so far this year."
One point behind the Wykons was Menominee with 12 and a fourth-place finish. Escanaba's 10 points placed them in fifth-place, meet host Kingsford scored seven to finish in sixth, and conference newcomer Munising finished seventh.
"Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of today," Barron said. "The girls came out with high energy and heads held high."
Balenger, who was fighting off a sickness, dropped the first set in the second round against Menominee's Jenna Nolde but recovered to win the next two and advance to the championship.
"I am so proud of how Andie rebounded after dropping that first set against Menominee," Barron said. "You can't teach that type of mental toughness."
Barron also had high praise for Matthews.
"Kate has been very consistent for me this year," he said. "She is a calm and quiet girl, but she is so fierce when she gets on the court."
Kingsford's Lizzy Cross won No. 4 singles over Marquette's Haddie Katzenberger 6-3, 6-4.
West Iron County won the top two doubles flights. Eden Golliher-Tori Bociek won No. 1 6-0, 6-2 over Marquette's Kennedy Tate-Ryleigh Jackson, and West Iron's Emily Nelson-Anna Malmquist defeated Gladstone's Emma Delaire-Emily Marenger 6-0, 6-2.
"I am ecstatic about how Em and Em played today," Barron said. "They communicated great, they hit some great shots, and they did what they needed to do to reach the championship. They just didn't have enough in the tank to take down West Iron County."
Escanaba had four third-place finishers, including Jacey Moreau at No. 2 singles, Amber Yang at No. 4 singles, Anna Branstrom and Laura Sliva at No. 2 doubles, and Maddy Mishica and Gracie Wickham at No. 3 doubles. Jasmine Clark took fourth at No. 1 singles and Maddy Ide and Alison Sommers took fourth at No. 1 doubles.
"Overall, the team competed hard today," Esky coach Chris Ogren said. "No. 1 doubles and No. 3 doubles both played three-set semifinal matches and just missed going to their respective finals. Marquette was the best team today, but after that we had some very evenly matched teams that played competitive matches today. It was good experience for the girls, and we're looking forward to competing again at U.P. Finals in Negaunee next week."
Some of Wednesday's competing teams have regular season dual matches left either today or Monday. All seven teams will prepare for Oct. 2, which is U.P. Finals. West Iron and Munising will compete in Division 2 for U.P. Finals, which are held at various courts in Iron Mountain and Kingsford. Escanaba, Gladstone, Kingsford, Marquette and Menominee join host Negaunee in the Division 1 Finals.
Team scores
Marquette 24, Gladstone 14, West Iron County 13, Menominee 12, Escanaba 10, Kingsford 7, Munising 0.