October 11, 2023
The WIAA State Girls Individual Tennis Tournament Starts this Thursday with FRCC participants landing top seeds for the tournament. The tournament takes place at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. First round matches are held on Thursday, October 12 with the next round of matches through the quarterfinals taking place on Friday, October 13. The semifinal and championships matches will be held on Saturday, October 14. You can get more detailed information and live updates on the WIAA tournament page by clicking on this link: Girls Individual State Tennis Tournament.
Five teams are represented from the FRCC in Individual State Tournament. Notre Dame Academy qualified two singles players and two doubles teams. Manitowoc qualified two singles players and a doubles team, Bay Port qualified a singles player and a doubles team and Ashwaubenon qualified a singles player. De Pere qualified a doubles team. Notre Dame Academy, the Champions of the Fox River Classic Conference also came within a whisker of qualifying for the WIAA Girls Tennis State Team Tournament, which will be held the following weekend, falling just short after losing the tiebreaker in the Sectional to Neenah.
In singles play, senior Olivia Minikel of Manitowoc Lincoln and freshman Karlie Schock of Bay Port acquired the top two seeds for the tournament and will receive first round byes. Minikel is the top seed and is appearing in her 4th consecutive state tournament. Last year Minikel was the #2 seed and finished in fifth place. Minikel is currently undefeated on the season at 29-0.
Karli Schock of Bay Port was given the #2 seed and enters the tournament with an 11-1 record. Her only loss this year coming to Minikel in 3 sets. This will be Schock’s first time in the tournament. Should Schock and Minikel win out, they would meet for the Division 1 Singles Championship.
Other participants from the FRCC in singles include:
Jordan Domnick (Sr. Ashwaubenon). Domnick also participated in last years meet and was eliminated in the first round. Domnick is scheduled to play Thursday at 10:30am against Lilly Witter of Wausau West. Should Domnick get past Witter that would set up a second round match with fellow FRCC representative Minikel of Manitowoc at 3:30pm on Thursday. Domnick lost to Minikel in the regular season.
Jordan Popp (So. Manitowoc Lincoln). Popp is making her first appearance. She will play at 10:30am on Thursday against Eliza Martin of Monona Grove. Popp is the second of three qualifiers from Manitowoc.
Vivian Bigari (Fr. Notre Dame Academy) Bigari is on of four qualifiers from Notre Dame Academy. Bigari will play at 10:30am on Thursday against Sonjana Shankar of Hamilton.
Lucy Lawton (Jr. Noter Dame Academy) Lawton also participated in last years tournament. Lawton won her first round match, but was upended in the second round. She will look to improve on last years results. Lawton will also play at 10:30am on Thursday against Addison Young of Pewaukee.
In doubles Play the team of sophomore Anna Cristescu and freshman Lilliana Graf of De Pere was given a #3 seed for the tournament and they will receive a first round bye. Their first match will take place on Friday. Cristescu and Graf come into the tourney with a 21-2 record. Cristescu, playing in her second state tournament finished third in last years tournament with a different partner. (Sophia Fergus)
Other participants from the FRCC in doubles includes:
Kennedy May (Sr) and Lilia Root (So) from Notre Dame. May and Root also participated in last years tourney and were upended in the first round in three sets. They received a tough draw in their first round pairing for this years tournament, matching up against #13 seed Tess Kornetzk and Katina Zimmerschied of Cedarburg. They will play at 1:00pm on Thursday.
Hannah Ernest (Sr) and Mira Matuszewski (Fr) from Bay Port. Ernest and Matuszewski are making their first appearance in the tourney. They will meet Sonja Mau and Brianna Owens of Kimberly. Their match is scheduled for 1:30pm on Thursday.
The final qualifying doubles teams from the FRCC will meet each other in the first round. Mary Sullivan (Jr) and Sophie Lin (Jr) of Notre Dame Academy will meet Taylor Peterson (So) and Zylia Kleinfeldt (Jr) of Manitowoc Lincoln. There match is scheduled to take place at 2:00pm on Thursday. Sullivan qualified for last years tournament with a different partner and oddly enough was also matched up with a team from Manitowoc in a first round match. Sullivan and her partner lost that match so she will see if she can turn the tables this year. These two double teams did not meet during the year in conference play as they were in different flights.
