Rochester wins Troy Athens Invitational
POINT OF NO RETURN: Rochester No. 1 sinlges player Kelsey Dieters prepares to celebrate a point after this volley during Saturday's Troy Athens Invitational. Dieters won the No. 1 flight and the Falcons took home the team title with 24 points.
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
TROY — Rochester may only be a middle-of-the-pack team in the OAA Red Division girls tennis race. The Falcons, however, have made some noise out of conference.
Rochester, ranked 10th in the state in Division 1, captured its first invitational of the season Saturday, winning the Troy Athens Relays. The Falcons collected 24.5 points to topple the eight-school field, ahead of Bloomfield Hills Andover (No. 7 Division 2) and Utica Eisenhower (No. 9 Division 1). Andover had 23 points and Eisenhower 22.5 points.
Troy Athens claimed fourth with 17 points, followed by Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (12), Auburn Hills Avondale (9.5), Fraser (9) and Warren Mott (2.5).
Rochester won four of the competed seven flights and had one runner-up. No. 4 singles was not completed.
Rochester won its first invitational of the season after back-to-back third-place finishes. The Falcons did so without a full lineup.
“This is our last invitational of the season, so the girls are excited about winning a team title,” said Rochester coach Jerry Murphy. “the past two weekends we’ve played in tournaments with a bunch of top five teams in the state in them and did all right. We came in third in both of those. This time there weren’t any top five teams and we were able to win it. Andover and Eisenhower are still very good teams. We were able to finish just ahead of them.”
Kelsey Dieters remained unbeaten on the year with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Andover’s Kerry Hu at No. 1. Anna Parker of Rochester took the No. 3 single flight with a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Kelly Cvetkovski of Eisenhower.
“We were missing our No. 2 singles player, Brittany Baxter,” said Murphy. “I knew Kelsey would win her flight, but not having Brittany forced us to move some girls around.
“What I really liked was the performance of our doubles teams. We won a couple of flights there,” continued Murphy. “Our No. 1 doubles team had been struggling a little bit there earlier in the season, but now we are coming around. If our doubles teams can keeping getting better, that will really help us at the league meet and regional meet. Our goal is to finish in the top half of our league, which is a mini state meet, and qualify for the state tournament.”
Andover’s Kristen Law won the No. 2 flight with a 6-2, 6-1 sweep of Rachel Georges of Eisenhower, while Kate Cvetkovski of Eisenhower defeated Athens’ Stephanie Podolsky 7-5, 6-4 in the finals at No. 4 singles.
Rochester’s two doubles flight champions came at No. 1 doubles and No. 3 doubles.
Julie Markiewicz and Kelli Wetherhold of Rochester took home the No. 1 flight with a 6-4, 6-3 sweep of Athens’ Michelle Hwang and Brenda Wu. The Falcons’ No. 3 tandem of Stephanie Handley and Stephanie VonBehren swept the Athens duo of Manasa Gummalla and Pooja Chaku, 6-1, 6-4.
The other doubles flight winner came from Jasmine Yousif and Chrissy Cox, who finished the day with a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Rochester’s Leah Evanson and Kirsten Byszkowski in the No. 2 doubles flight.
TROY ATHENS RELAYS INVITATIONAL
(Saturday at Troy Athens)
TEAM SCORES — 1. Rochester, 24.5; 2. Bloomfield Hills Andover, 23; Utica Eisenhower, 22.5; 3. Troy Athens, 17; 4. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 12; 5. Auburn Hills Avondale, 9.5; 6. Fraser, 9; 7. Warren Mott 2.5.
SINGLES — 1. Kelsey Dieters (Rochester) d. Kerry Hu (Bloomfield Hills Andover) 6-0, 6-0; 2. Kristen Law (Bloomfield Hills Andover) d. Rachel Georges (Utica Eisenhower) 6-2, 6-1; 3. Anna Parker (Rochester) d. Kelly Cvetkovski (Utica Eisenhower) 6-0, 6-1; 4. Kate Cvetkovski (Utica Eisenhower) d. Stephanie Podolsky (Troy Athens) 7-5, 6-4.
DOUBLES — 1. Julie Markiewicz-Kelli Wetherhold (Rochester) d. Michelle Hwang-Brenda WU (Troy Athens) 6-4, 6-3; 2. Jasmine Yousif-Chrissy Cox (Bloomfield Hills Andover) d. Leah Evanson-Kirsten Byszkowski (Rochester) 6-2, 7-5; 3. Stephanie Handley-Stephanie VonBehren (Rochester) d. Manasa Gummalla-Pooja Chaku (Troy Athens) 6-1, 6-1; 4. Not completed.
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Category: Auburn Hills Avondale, High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester, Troy Athens
