INDEPENDENCE TWP. — The Clarkston Girls Varsity Tennis team kicked off their dual matches with wins over top ten ranked teams.
They defeated Bloomfield Hills, ranked No. 10, by 8-1 on Thursday; and Detroit Country Day, ranked No. 2 in Division 3, 8-1 on Friday, both at Deer Lake Athletic Club.
“I’m starting to see the girls find their groove, and am so happy to see the players adjusting to their positions,” said Mary Jo Colonna, head coach. “They have risen to every challenge they’ve faced, and we will continue to face challenges as the level of competition is fierce. We are ranked No. 1, everyone wants to take us down, so we continue to channel the pressure into focused, driven tennis.”
Players standing out for the week were: Kayla Lemke on Singles No. 3, who didn’t drop a game all week in all three of her matches; and Leah Geisz on Singles No. 1, who defeated Detroit Country Day’s Sophia Grzesiak in three sets on Friday.
Clarkston Girls Tennis hosted a quad with the varsity team from Lakeland and JV team from Northville. For the event the Clarkston Varsity-B and JV teams were divided into Blue and Gold teams for the quad.
Clarkston Blue battled opponents and 20-plus MPH winds for a first place victory. Clarkston Gold tied with Lakeland for second place.
Highlights from the day included Grace Conlen and Evan Ryan on Doubles No. 3 for Clarkston Blue going undefeated. Also going undefeated for Clarkston Blue was the Doubles No. 2 team of Lily Haviland and Allison Goodrich.
Lilah Hill and Carigan Carene went undefeated for Clarkston Gold Doubles No. 5 team.
Clarkston Blue and Gold combined to earn 12 medals.
The list of medalists include: Annie Malys, Singles No. 2, first place; team of Conlen and Ryan, first place; team of Haviland and Goodrich, first place; team of Hill and Carene, first place; team of Claire Mathews and Caroline Wuensche, Doubles No. 4, first place; Harper Jones, Singles No. 1, second place; Paityn Sweet, Singles No. 2, second place; team of Gabby Smith and Ava Ebling, Doubles No. 1, second place; team of Emily Goodrich and Lia Fabrizio, Doubles No. 2, second place; team of Diana Marshall and Ella Hynes, Doubles No. 3, second place; Emma Nanzer and Ella Kurmaniak, Doubles No. 4, second place; and team of Evalyn Dubia and Molly Roush, Doubles No. 5, second place.
The Clarkston Varsity team faces eighth-ranked Rochester Adams at home on Thursday, 4 p.m. They head to Port Huron on Saturday to play fifth-ranked Northville and seventh-ranked Port Huron Northern.
Clarkston Varsity B heads to Rochester Adams on Thursday.
Clarkston JV opened this week with Utica Eisenhower on Monday and Oxford on Tuesday. They head to Walled Lake Northern on Wednesday.
-Nikole Carlson

  Clarkston Athletics