I spent far too much time breaking down the brackets in all four divisions these past couple nights. Here's a look at what I came up with. As always, your thoughts are welcomed. Though, remember, these predictions are just that, predictions, not personal attacks on anyone. I've been known to be spot on at times, and off as well.

DIVISION 1
Grosse Pointe South 26, Clarkston 24, Bloomfield Hills 20, Northville 19, Midland Dow 16, Port Huron Northern 16, Traverse City Central 14, West Bloomfield 13, Ann Arbor Pioneer 10, Novi 9, Troy 8, Farmington Hills Mercy 6, Hudsonville 6, Ann Arbor Skyline 4, Utica 4, Ann Arbor Huron 3, Utica Eisenhower 2, Livonia Stevenson 2, Walled Lake Northern 1, Rockford 0, Grand Ledge 0

Flight Finalists
1S — Lexi Baylis (Clarkston) d. Davina Nguyen (Utica)
2S — Caroline Dzabo (Midland Dow) d. Isabella Spindler (Clarkston)
3S — Dana Olsen (Clarkston) d. Afua Ofori-Darko (Midland Dow)
4S — Elaina Parrillo (Midland Dow) d. Paige Olsen (Clarkston)
1D — Wirtz-Basha (PH Northern) d. Meyers-Cahn (West Bloomfield)
2D — Tseng-Bacheller (PH Northern) d. Dotterrer-Palisin (Traverse City Central)
3D — Kalogeridis-Moy (GP South) d. Hermiz-Jeannotte (Northville)
4D — Hayden-Beardslee (GP South) d. Quinn-Page (Northville)

My thoughts
Division 1 can be a crapshoot. So much talent. So deep. It's hard to predict. Grosse Pointe South is the best team - top to bottom - in the field. The Blue Devils are as deep as they come. Clarkston is as talented as they come. So it's an interesting tournament, to say the least. If Clarkston maximizes its opportunities, it can win its second title in four years. Singles will do its part once again. And as much as I'd like to say the doubles lineup is the key - which it is A key - having the singles lineup perform beyond expectations is just as important. The No. 1 singles draw is loaded. Mollie Fox (Bloomfield Hills) and Paige Cooley (TC Central) in a quarterfinal is intriguing. Lexi Baylis will be awaiting the winner. On the bottom half of the draw, Utica's Davina Nguyen, who won this flight two years ago, will be playing the winner of Christina Jordan (West Bloomfield) and Raven Neeley (GPS). That pairing is another great quarter. The winner better get her rest before Saturday morning.


DIVISION 2
Birmingham Seaholm 31, GR Forest Hills Northern 30, Birmingham Marian 28, East Grand Rapids 20, Okemos 17, Portage Central 15, North Farmington 10, East Lansing 9, Fenton 6, Battle Creek Lakeview 5, Mason 4, Allen Park 3, Holly 2, Farmington 2, Farmington Hills Harrison 2, Riverview 2, Grosse Pointe North 2, Royal Oak 1, Grand Rapids Northview 1, Port Huron 0, Richland Gull Lake 0, Wyandotte-Roosevelt 0

Flight Finalists
1S — Labina Petrovska (Seaholm) d. Abby Perkins (Mason)
2S — Madeline Bissett (Forest Hills Northern) d. Carly Pratt (Portage Central)
3S — Catherine Wingrove (Okemos) d. Claire Markley (Seaholm)
4S — Sydney Whitfield (Forest Hills Northern) d. Sophia Balardo (Marian)
1D — Minzlaff-Stevens (Forest Hills Northern) d. Dadabbo-Emde (Marian)
2D — MacEachern-Landis (Marian) d. Jones-Nguyen (Forest Hills Northern)
3D — McDermott-Flynn (Seaholm) d. Hudson-Cibulas (Marian)
4D — Dixon-Johnston (Seaholm) d. Champion-Colosimo (Marian)

My thoughts  
If you went by the seeds alone, Seaholm would walk away with its second title in three years. The Maples are everyone's favorites heading in. To combat the pressure, coach Scott Ransome has downplayed that fact. Marian has won two championships in the past four years and Forest Hills Northern has won eight championships since 2002. That's what I'd be telling my team if it was a favorite heading into this weekend. All three teams will be ready to play - that's for sure. My projections show a much closer chase for the championship. The difference very well may be Seaholm's balance from top to bottom. It's got the best player in the tournament, as well as the best 3-4 doubles teams. Can the rest of the Maples' singles lineup step it up and score the way the rest of the state expect them to? We shall see. I've got Seaholm advancing to the semifinals in all eight flights. And I've got Forest Hills Northern and Marian advancing in seven. That very well might be the difference.


DIVISION 3
Cranbrook Kingswood 36, Allegan 27, Detroit Country Day 25, Grand Rapids Christian 19, St. Clair 15, Forest Hills Eastern 13, Williamston 12, Holland Christian 12, Haslett 10, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 9, Spring Lake 6, Cadillac 6, Armada 5, Trenton 3, Vicksburg 3, Parma Western 2, Niles 1, Carleton Airport 0, Chelsea 0, Hamilton 0, Battle Creek Harper Creek 0

Flight Finalists
1S — Alexandria Najarian (Cranbrook) d. Sara Daavettila (Williamston)
2S — Anna Short (Cranbrook) d. Abbey Dekkinga (Allegan)
3S — Madelyn Karoub (Country Day) d. Claire Brooks (St. Clair)
4S — Jazz Teste (Cranbrook) d. Karlie Wells (Allegan)
1D — Phyle-Simmons (Cranbrook) d. Boniface-Boniface (Notre Dame Prep)
2D — Vanklompenberg-Orr (Allegan) d. DeVos-Heule (Grand Rapids Christian)
3D — Lanzon-Beckett (Cranbrook) d. Hopkins-Rizgallah (Allegan)
4D — Du-Wysocki (Cranbrook) d. Harkema-Koopman (Grand Rapids Christian)

My thoughts
About a week before regionals, I was certain about two things as the state tournament approached: Cranbrook was sure of a fourth straight Division 3 state championship; and senior Alex Najarian would finish her high school career as an unbeaten, four-time state champion herself. Three weeks later, I feel those same two things will happen. But after finding out Williamston's Sara Daavettila, a Blue Chip sophomore, is in the draw, it made things very much more interesting. Daavettila is the real deal. She and Najarian played twice out of season last June. Najarian won both times, but needed three sets the second time. Since then, Daavettila is 33-2 playing some of the top USTA competition in the country. If I wasn't committed to attending the Division 1 finals in Midland, I would be in Kalamazoo on Saturday afternoon, watching that match. It's clearly the match of the season - for all of high school tennis in Michigan. As for the team, Cranbrook is clearly the team to beat and I think the Cranes will win championships at all six flights they are seed #1 at. Ann Short is a lock at 2-singles. And Cranbrook's doubles lineup is stacked. Country Day's Madelyn Karoub is a lock at No. 3 singles as well.

DIVISION 4
Grosse Ile 32, Portland 20, BH Sacred Heart 17, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard 17, Lansing Catholic 16, Ludington 15, Traverse City St. Francis 14, Kalamazoo Christian 14, Berrien Springs 11, Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central 11, North Muskegon 9, Grandville Calvin Christian 8, Niles Brandywine 7, Jackson Lumen-Christi 6, Liggett 5, Imlay City 2, NorthPointe Christian 1, Clarkston Everest Collegiate-WOLL 1, Saginaw Nouvel 1, Flint Powers 0, Frankenmuth 0, Paw Paw 0

Flight Finalists
1S — Colleen O'Brien (AA Gabriel Richard) d. Arien Kissinger (Berrien Springs)
2S — Maddy Szuba (AA Gabriel Richard) d. Julia Formentin (Grosse Ile)
3S — Audrey Bouma (Kalamazoo Christian) d. Ola Latala (Grosse Ile)
4S — Kennedy Quinn (Grosse Ile) d. Sydni Greenhoe (Portland)
1D — Kelly-Kelly (Ludington) d. Lemon-Spangler (Sacred Heart)
2D — Laman-Schneider (Ludington) d. Kvasnitova-Formentin (Grosse Ile)
3D — Kuzmiak-Terauchi (Grosse Ile) d. Bonn-Dorshimer (Portland)
4D — Tucker-Guthrie (Grosse Ile) d. Butterfield-Wittkopp (Portland)

My thoughts 
Well, for the first time in three years, there will be a team other than Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart winning the Division 4 state title. The Gazelles are a good team. But Grosse Ile is a great team. The Red Devils finished runner-up to Sacred Heart last year. This season, they are a very deep team. I've predicted them to reach six flight championships, winning three. They will pull away from the field - take it to the bank. Sacred Heart is seeded at six flights. That's enough to keep the team in contention after Day 1. If the team can outperform expectations - many of those seeds are 3-4-5-6 - they can push for a top-3 finish. It's been a remarkable run for coach Judy Hehs' bunch.

Seaholm seniors Jackie Meier (left) and Labina
Petrovska pose with the runner-up trophy at
the Midland Dow Quad.

So far, the weather's wreaked a little havoc on the tennis season. But it is getting better. Had a chance to get out to a few tennis matches and shoot some photo galleries. They've been a big hit for us here at The Oakland Press and MIPrepZone.
We used to be able to provide a simple tennis box score in the newspaper. Those days are over. Shrinking paper sizes have forced us online. But, the good part is that we can provide a lot more there. Those same box scores will still be there. But now we're able to provide some short writeups and a ton of photos. An example of the photos slideshows include: Feature on Clarkston's Olsen twins; West Bloomfield vs. Troy; feature on Marian's Dadabbo; Clarkston vs. Seaholm; season preview on Cranbrook; 2014 top teams and players; 2014 team capsules; Bloomfield Hills vs. Marian; Holly vs. Brandon; various Clawson, Lamphere photos; and the Marian Quad.

Keep calling us
Coaches, we do appreciate the calls or emails we've been receiving. But we can do better. Every player should be recognized . So please, I implore you, let's try to get more results sent into us here at The Oakland Press. The OAA Red is doing a good job. But we're hit and miss with the OAA White, OAA Blue, KLAA and Catholic League teams. Call (248) 745-4775 after matches or email your results into us at prepsports@oakpress.com. Make sure to speak slow. Some names are difficult for us to spell.

Seaholm a close second at Midland Dow Quad
The Maples made their way up to the thumb to take on some good competition earlier this week. Host Midland Dow won the quad with 17 points, followed closely by Seaholm (16) and Traverse City Central (15). Senior Labina Petrovska was unbeaten (3-0) at No. 1 singles for Seaholm. Also finishing 3-0 were the 3-4 doubles teams of Emily McDermott and Meaghan Flynn and Sophie Dixon and Lisa Johnston.

North Farmington's Maria Vicini (above) and
Groves' Mikayla Kazdan (below).
(The Oakland Press/JASON SCHMITT)

On Monday, North Farmington and Birmingham Groves set up what should be an exciting OAA White tennis tournament this Saturday. The two teams entered the match 6-0, with the regular season title on the line.
The Raiders won the match, 5-3, and should enter the tourney as the favorite. But Groves will have something to say come Saturday afternoon. On Monday, The two teams split in singles, with North winning at No. 1 (Arti Vaishnav beating Mikayla Kazdan in three sets) and No. 2 (Rachel Gringlas beating Shayna Brickman in straight sets. Claudia Fuderer and Katie Weitzel answered for the Falcons at Nos. 3-4.
North's doubles looked really good, as Sarah Tobin and Maria Vicini beat Kelly Greer and Kasey Rechter 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles. Tobin is quite a presence at the net and this team should have no problems come Saturday. Groves' Rayven Goodwin and Claire Nader needed three sets to win at No. 2 doubles, as did North's Shannon Kelly and Dania Abdulhamid at No. 4. Alyssa Cutcher and Ashley Sauerbrey won in straight sets at No. 3 for the Raiders. Kyra Cutcher missed the match due to an injury. So that was a nice win for North.

The seed meeting for the tournament is Thursday. The Raiders and Falcons should find themselves on the 1-2 seed lines at most flights. But Troy Athens and Rochester won't make things easy. There's still a lot of talent on the court for the Red Hawks and Falcons, too.

OAA Red tourney set to go
I know the coaches aren't thrilled about the OAA Red Tournament these days. With the amount of talent in this county, I understand the big prize (a state championship) is within reach of a couple of our schools. But this tournament is so loaded with individual and team talent, that I look forward to it each and every year. No league in the state can boast of this much talent. When you have a player like Kerry Hu (Andover) - who finished runner-up at the Division 2 state finals last year - as the No. 6 seed in the No. 1 singles draw, you know just how talented this league is.
The tournament will be held at three sites in Troy on Thursday. Clarkston finished the league season 6-0. Seaholm was 5-1. Andover and Troy were 3-3. West Bloomfield (2-3) and Lahser (1-4) have yet to play their final match. And Adams, which boasts a tremendous amount of talent at the top of its singles lineup, finished 0-6.
The featured draw is of course at No. 1 singles. Clarkston's Lexi Baylis is the top seed and will get a bye in the first round. In her half of the draw is the 4-seed (Raven Neely of West Bloomfield) and 5-seed (Labina Petrovska of Seaholm). Lahser's Mollie Fox is the 2-seed and will face Troy's Amanda Guo (#7) in her first match. The winner gets the winner of #3 Halle Hyman of Adams and Hu.
I'm also intrigued by the great No. 2 singles draw. Clarkston freshman Isabella Spindler has been fantastic this year and is the 1-seed. On the opposite end of the draw is West Bloomfield's Aerielle Pendleton, at #2. Spindler won the regular season matchup 6-4, 6-1. I'd like to see the rematch.
Clarkston's Dana Olsen and Seaholm's Claire Markley are 1-2 at No. 3 singles. Olsen beat Markley 6-1, 6-4 in their dual. And at No. 4 singles, Lahser's Meryl Reams got the nod for the top seed, with Clarkston's Katie Hubregsen opposite her at #2.
In doubles, Clarkston's Paige Olsen and Alex Whall have been the class of the entire state this season. They're #1 at No. 1 doubles and will be heavy favorites. On the 2-3 line, Seaholm's Nancy Benda and Jackie Meier are on a collision course with Troy's Kalie Collins and Brittany Friesen - for the right to get to the finals. That should be a good one.
Troy's 2-5 doubles teams all received #1 seeds. Hope and Claire Keating, Lillian Liang and Deepthi Devireddy, Katie Forche and Leena Penumalee, and JulieAnn Fava and Anna Balas are all on the top line. Seaholm is on the #2 line for all those flights.

KLAA Tourney set for Saturday
Novi will be hosting the KLAA Tournament this Saturday. The hosts will be one of the favorites - as they always are - along with Northville. The Mustangs handed the Wildcats their only league loss of the season, 7-2. Northville swept the singles competition that day and took three of five doubles flights. Novi's Caitlin O'Brien and Amy Zhou (at No. 1 doubles) and Rebecca Chen and Asawari Kanitkar (at No. 3 doubles) picked up the team's lone wins.
Walled Lake Northern finished a perfect 5-0 in the KLAA North Division, with Lakeland finishing runner-up at 4-1. Walled Lake Western was third (3-2), followed by Walled Lake Central (2-3), Kettering and Mott (both 0-4).

Marian, Mercy the favorites at the CHSL tourney Saturday
The Mustangs - ranked No. 1 in the latest Division 2 state rankings - and Mercy - No. 4 in the latest D-1 rankings - will most likely battle it out for the league championship Saturday. Marian beat Mercy 5-3 during the regular season, but there have been some lineup changes since then. Both teams earned three top seeds, with Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard and Sacred Heart getting one each. Jessie Guindi's move to the singles lineup strengthened the Marlins up top. But it's yet to be seen how that will affect the doubles matchups - which had three 3-setters in their dual match against Marian.

Farmington on top of the OAA Blue
The Falcons ran the gauntlet of the OAA Blue and will be the clear favorites at Saturday's league tournament, being hosted by Southfield. The matches will be played at Birmingham Groves, Seaholm and Southfield-Lathrup.
Farmington finished unbeaten in league play. Avondale, Royal Oak and Southfield - in that order - finished behind the Falcons. Though the seed meeting will not be held until Thursday night, Southfield's Lauren Hughes will be the top seed at No. 1 singles. The senior is a three-time defending league champion.

UPDATE: Holly wins Flint Metro League Tournament
Here are the results of Tuesday's league tournament:

Flint Metro League Tournament

TEAM SCORES — Holly 61, Fenton 49, Lapeer West 43, Clio 38, Swartz Creek 31, Lapeer East 27, Ortonville-Brandon 26, Flint Kearsley 13

CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES — 1. Madison Ballard (F) d. Natalie Clink (H) 6-2, 6-1; 2. Victoria Skubik (H) d. MacKenzie Welker (LW) 6-3, 6-2; 3. Blake Clements (LW) d. Alex Knight (H) 6-0, 7-5; 4. Jenna Pepper (H) d. Josie Foguth (F) 6-3, 6-1

CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES — 1. Carley Postma-Sydney Renehan (H) d. Lilly DuBois-Emily McIntosh (F) 7-5, 7-5; 2. Ashley Bearden-Hanna Horton (F) d. Daryl Spurgeon-Haley Crimmins (H) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; 3. Alahah Rau-Leah Moller (H) d. Lindsey Zietz-Madaleine Paul (C) 6-2, 6-0; 4. Katherine Skubik-Claire Young (H) d. Sylee Kiran-Katie Kurycz (F) 6-4, 6-4

FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS (Regular season and tournament combined): 1. Holly; 2. Fenton; 3. Lapeer West; 4. Clio; 5. Lapeer East; 6. Swartz Creek; 7. Ortonville-Brandon; 8. Flint Kearsley