OAA-Red champion Clarkston, Rochester eye state finals passes

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

CLARKSTON — Even moving into the No. 1 slot a few weeks ago, there’s several bars Clarkston’s girls tennis program has been unable to clear in the past. The Wolves can now raise that bar one more notch.

Clarkston, which moved into the OAA Red Division for girls tennis in the early 2000s, earned its first OAA-Red league championship this season.

The Wolves, 20-0-1 on the yeas with four tournament wins on that resume, have defeated over a dozen state-ranked teams this season, including going a perfect 7-0-0 inside the OAA Red Division, where six other schools are ranked. The league tournaments were washed out due to poor weather last weekend and will not be made up, due to OAA by-laws and schedule conflicts in the spring months.

Clarkston earned the league title on its dual match record inside the eight-school OAA-Red. Previously, the Wolves had only won league titles in the OAA Division II (now the White Division) or in the old G.O.A.L. back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“This does mean something. Do you know hard it is to win this league?” asked Beckie Freeman, Clarkston’s current head coach.”I think we were second last season. (Birmingham) Seaholm won it. Most of the teams in our league are ranked (every year).”

In this week’s polls, Clarkston is ranked first in Division 1, with Rochester and Troy sharing the No. 9 spot in the same division. In Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Andover (No. 3), Seaholm (No. 4), Bloomfield Hills Lahser (No. 8) and North Farmington (No. 9) are also members of the OAA-Red which are ranked this week. Only West Bloomfield is unranked this week, as the Lakers were dropped from the polls back in April.

Clarkston is favored at Thursday’s Division 1 regional at Rochester. The top-ranked Wolves and Rochester are expected to advance, although West Bloomfield, Rochester Stoney Creek and Rochester Adams hope to gain a third slot in the Lower Peninsula Division 1 state finals June 3-4 at Midland Community Tennis Center.

AT THE TOP: Clarkston's Lexy Baylis and the Wolves have already won the coveted OAA Red Division title and now turn their attention to Thursday's Division 1 regional at Rochester. File Photo.

The top two teams, additional teams scoring 18 or more points, and the finalists at No. 1 singles, advance to the state finals. There is an average of 10 schools per region.

Adams competed in Division 2 last season and boasted the No. 1 singles state champion, who has since graduated.

“We have some great seeds,” said Freeman, whose team has the No. 1 seeds in every flight but No.1 singles and No. 4 doubles, where they are seeded second. “We have several flights where we are undefeated or have only one or two losses.

Between the four singles flights and the No. 1 doubles, Clarkston has c a combined four losses with the No. 2 and No. 3 singles flights both undefeated. The No. 1 and No. 4 singles flights have one loss each, while the No. 1 doubles has just two losses.

“Our goal is to win regionals and get as many high seeds for the (state finals) as we can,” admitted Freeman, whose team’s all-time best at the state finals is fourth back in 2004. The Wolves were seventh in 2010, 14^th in 2009 and eight in 2008. “Getting those high seeds are very important, so we need to do very well at the regional.”

Rochester, with eight seniors, is trying to make it four straight state finals berths. With No. 1 singles star Kelsey Dieters, headed for Ohio State, the heavy favorite to win an individual state crown. Dieters has only lost twice in four years and is undefeated this season.

The Falcons were 12^th at last year’s finals after Dieters was upset in the state semifinals.

“I think we have a great shot at it,” said veteran Rochester coach Jerry Murphy, also the regional tournament director. “We have some pretty good seeds and Kelsey is playing great tennis. Obviously, Clarkston is the favorite, but if we play well we should be in the running for that second spot.”

At last season’s regional, West Bloomfield, Rochester and Clarkston all scored between 18 and 23 points to advance. Stoney Creek finished fourth with 13 points.

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Tags: girls tennis, OAA Red Division girls tennis, Prep Girls Tennis

Category: Clarkston, High School, High School (M-Z), Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek