OAA White champion Red Hawks set sights on netting state finals berth
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
TROY — Troy Athens usually doesn’t find itself in the girls state tennis rankings every year. The state rankings are already half-full of Oakland County schools.
The Red Hawks have quietly soared under the radar this season.
Athens has been able to have on e of its best seasons to date, posting an 8-3-1 overall record and winning the OAA White Division crown at a perfect 7-0-0. The league championship is the first since the fall 1998 season, some 12.5 years ago.
“It’s been a very long time,” sighed Athens coach Andrew Shipp, who was not even the head coach back when Athens won the OAA Division II title. “I guess 1998 is a long time. We’ve been competitive, but there’s so many good teams in the OAA (Red and White divisions) that it’s hard to win a league.”
The three OAA divisional meets were washed out last Saturday due to rain and current by-laws state that the dual meet champion or co-champs will earn the overall title if the league meet is not contested. The league meets are not going to be rescheduled due to conflicts.
“I’m sure we would have loved to been able to win the league meet, but that is something that we can’t control,” said Shipp.
The Red Hawks have four seniors on the roster that have helped Athens continue to be a solid team and bring home the first league title in 13 seasons. Shannon Wen and Nina Lu are the top two singles players, while Michelle Hwang and Brenda Wu are holding down the fort at No. 1 doubles.
All four have been in the varsity lineup all four years of high school.
“They are a great group of kids,” said Shipp. “This is a good senior class that has worked hard for four years. I hope they go out by making the state finals.”
Athens will now turn its attention to Thursday’s Division 1 regional at Grosse Pointe South. The host Blue Devils are the favorite and Troy is also expected to make the cut. Athens hopes to be an additional qualifier.
The top two teams, additional schools that score 18 or more points, and the two finalists at No.1 singles, all advance to the Lower Peninsula Division 1 state finals June 3-4 at Midland Community Tennis Center.
Last season, Athens scored exactly 18 points to advance to the state tournament, also in Midland, and hope for similar fortunes. The Red Hawks tied for 24th at last year’s D-1 state finals.
“We hope to make it. I think it’s going to be close (again),”admitted Shipp.”Last year we had a couple of upsets and squeaked in as the third team. I know (Grosse Pointe South and Troy are the two favorites, and that Utica Ford has a couple of good players. We are going to have to win all of the matches we are supposed to and hopefully gain an upset or two. Right now, I see us at around 17 points. But who knows? We might be able to score a few more. It’s been one of our goals this season.”
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Troy, Troy Athens
