The Chelsea girls’ tennis team finished up another outstanding season with a D3 state runner-up finish at the state finals in Midland this weekend.
The Bulldogs used an all-around team effort to finish with 21 points, clipping East Grand Rapids by one point for the second spot. Cranbrook-Kingswood dominated the event with 37 points and won seven state titles along the way.
Unlike last year where the Bulldogs had three state champions to earn a majority of their points, all the players contributed this season on their way to the second-place finish.
Anne-Marie Begola made the jump to two-singles after winning the four-singles title last year. She was unseeded, but knocked off the two, three, and six seeds to reach the two-singles finals before falling to the top seed from Cranbrook Kingswood.
Kendall Spink and Izzy Barkey were seeded sixth at three-doubles and cruised to three wins to reach the finals. They dropped a hard-fought three set match to the number one seed from CK 4-6, 7-6, 5-7.
Natalie Roeser and Sarah Tillman reached the quarterfinals with two wins before falling to the three seed from Bloomfield Hills Marian.
Meghan Bareis and Megan Boughton picked up one win at two-doubles, while Amelia Loveland and Adrienne DeLong won two matches and reached the quarterfinals before falling to the CK number-one seed.
Amanda Dosey, Ines Grego, and Haley Hopkins each picked up one win in their singles flights for the Bulldogs.
The second-place finish is the best in school history for Chelsea, but the future looks bright for the Bulldogs as they lose just three of the top 12 players from this year’s squad as they set their sights for the top spot next season.