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Lakeview returning to state finals in girls tennis for third year in a row

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Lakeview returning to state finals in girls tennis for third year in a row

BATTLE CREEK – It’s getting to be a habit, so the Lakeview girls tennis team has started to put the MHSAA state finals on its unofficial calendar.

It is the third straight year the Spartans have qualified as a team to compete at the Michigan High School Athletic Association state girls tennis championships.

This year, Lakeview heads a local group that includes a handful of tennis players that are getting ready for the state tournament on Friday-Saturday.

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“It’s exciting to be back for the third year in a row,” Lakeview coach Jeff Van Dis said. “The girls have really set their minds to their goals and have been working hard and this is kind of a reward to get to go to the state tournament.”

Lakeview qualified for the Division 1 state meet at Midland after finishing second in regional play last week.

The Spartans had qualified for the Division 2 state meet the last two years before being moved up a class due to enrollment.

“We as coaches would have goals for the team and the girls would come up with goals,” Van Dis said. “My goal as a coach was always to make them better tennis player and make them better people and the kids would set some goals.. The last few years, I have added the goal of, that the team should expect to go to the state. The program is at a place now that the expectations are such that we should feel like we should be at states. That should be part of our season every year.”

Lakeview freshman Maddy Simonds leads the Spartan group at No. 1 singles. No. 2 Sade Blackwell and No. 3 Emmy Ruger each took second in their flights at regionals for Lakeview. All four doubles teams for Lakeview took second at regionals, including Dawt Sung/Ashley Thawmluai (No. 1 doubles), KaiLani Etheridge/Karlee Gutsue (No. 2 doubles), Tiffany Aungsoe/Abby Winer (No. 3 doubles), Zoe Brizendine/Anya Foljahn (No. 4 doubles).

Two other No. 1 singles players in the city also qualified for the state finals in their division. At the Division 3 regional, Harper Creek’s Mia Helbing won her flight at No. 1 singles, defeating Pennfield’s Vivian Burns in the championship. Both players qualified for state by making the finals. Harper Creek’s No. 1 doubles team of Addison Woodruff/Elena Sandel also qualified for state for advancing to the finals at regionals, finishing second.

The MHSAA Division 3 state finals in girls tennis is set to be played at both Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University on Friday-Saturday.

Lakeview finished in the top 10 two seasons ago in the girls finals and 13th overall as a team last year.

“We are in Division 1 this year. There’s more of a pool of players across the state in Division 1 and probably better talent,” Van Dis said. “But our kids are very mature and they are ready. They understand there are very good players, the talent is higher than what we saw in Division 2. But, I feel like we are on the right track to deal with that.”

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

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