When I opened up the state tennis draws this afternoon, my mind immediately began to go to work. Oakland County received 61 seeds in the four divisions, including 19 top-seeds (of the 32 awarded).
Though I plan on breaking down the draws and making my predictions next week, here are some early observations after glancing up and down the draws:

Division 1

• Not excited for Clarkston that Lexi Baylis and Utica's Davina Nguyen are the 2-3 seeds in the No. 1 singles draw. In my honest opinion, this potential semifinal matchup should be the state final. No disrespect to top-seeded Mary Hanna (who earned the top seed with a three-set win over Baylis a few weeks back), but Nguyen - the defending state champion - should be on the top-line. BUT, because of this, we have two potential tremendous semifinal matchups, as Hanna may now have to face West Bloomfield's Raven Neely in the top half of the draw. Neely is playing well right now. Upset alert?
• Clarkston's Isabella Spindler earned the top-seed at No. 2 singles, where she's on a collision course to meet West Bloomfield's Aerielle Pendleton (#2) in the finals. Spindler beat Pendelton in the dual, Pendleton won in the OAA Red finals, while Spindler won the rubber match at the regional last week.
• Farmington Hills Mercy grabbed more seeds (6) than any county team. Jessie Guindi (#2) at No. 4 singles leads the way. The potential is there for the Marlins to surprise some people. A couple upsets and they could find their way into the top-3.
• Clarkston is currently ranked No. 2 in Division 1 - behind Port Huron Northern. For the Wolves to have a chance at winning a second state title in three years, three things have to happen. 1) Their big guns must come to play. Baylis, Spindler, Dana Olsen, and the No. 1 doubles team of Paige Olsen and Alex Whall have the potential to score 16-19 points. 2) The other four flights must do their part. Katie Hubregsen earned the No. 5 seed at 4-singles. She has the potential to really help her team score a few big points. Nos. 2-3-4 doubles all have an opportunity to score. They must. 3) And finally, the team will need help from others to deny PHN and Grosse Pointe North points. Funny enough, some of Clarkston's rivals (Mercy, Troy and West Bloomfield) are in a position to do so, at 2-3 singles and 1-3-4 doubles.

Division 2

• Marian and Seaholm are seeded right where they need to be to bring home a second-straight D2 state championship to Oakland County. Each received seven seeds. Each received three top seeds. But I think Marian has the slight edge when you break down all the flights. The Mustangs have a distinct advantage at No. 2 singles and No. 3 doubles. Yes, Seaholm (Labina Petrovska) got the 3-seed at No. 1 singles, and I don't like unseeded Elaine Apaza's draw - Lahser's Mollie Fox (#1) - in the second round, but Petrovska drew defending state champion Abby Perkins of Mason in her quarter of the draw. That's a huge match for the Maples now. Huge. 
• The state did a nice job - unintentionally of course - of splitting up Seaholm and Marian in the draws. They are on the opposite sides of the draw at all eight flights. So each has a fighting chance to make their way through the brackets - void of each other.
• Andover did very well for itself, garnering seven seeds. Shouldn't come as a suprise. The Barons are ranked No. 4. It's just easy to forget them when you've got Seaholm and Marian competing less than five miles down the road.
• Intriguing draw at No. 1 singles. Fox is the top-seed, as warranted with a 21-2 record this year - both losses coming to Baylis in OAA Red play. She's on course to face future teammate Kerry Hu (Andover) in the semifinals. If she can beat her rival, she'll face the winner of Petrovska, Perkins or Richland Gull Lake's Sara Remynse, the No. 1 ranked senior in the state (Tennisrecruiting.com).

Division 3

•  When freshmen Anna Short and Allison Motea decided to make Cranbrook their home this past fall, it kind of took the fun out of Division 3. The only question is whether the Cranes can sweep all flight championships. They're top seeds at all singles flights - with Alex Najarian leading the way at No. 1. Their 3-4 doubles teams are No. 1 seeds as well. Something tells me Alissa Rowens and Meg Phyle (#3 at No. 1 doubles) and Kendra Sweet and Christina Roualet (#2 at No. 2 doubles) have something to prove in Holland.
• Country Day is ranked No. 2 in the division, but will have to play well if it hopes to finish that high. Forest Hills Eastern and Allegan are seeded well and any of the three could finish 2-3-4. Country Day's singles (Marina Selenica, Madelyn Karoub, Haley Mullins and Sarah Carroll must all score well.

Division 4

• Much like Cranbrook in Division 3, Sacred Heart is the favorite to win a second-straight Division 4 state championship. The Gazelles are positioned well - four top seeds, including three in doubles. Their depth is key. They won three of the four doubles championships this year. They have a chance to sweep in 2013. But coaches Judy Hehs and Jim Slaughter are not taking anything for granted.
• Grosse Ile - ranked No. 2 - is the wild card. Not much is known about it, which concerns Hehs and Slaughter. Sacred Heart's Tyler Papazian and Grosse Ile's Mary-Kate Mcshane will square off in a first-round matchup at No. 1 singles. Guess both schools will learn a lot about each other right away. Seed-wise, these two schools seem to be the teams to beat.

I will have predictions - and may add to this particular blog after talking to a coach or two - coming up, so check back often.

Congrats to Clarkston on a hard-fought OAA Red Tournament (and overall) championship Thursday in Troy. It wasn't easy. The Wolves had a sub in at each three and five doubles, yet still found a way to edge out Seaholm for the tourney title (43 to 42 points).
Lexi Baylis, Isabella Spindler, Dana Olsen, Katie Hubregsen scored 27 out of a possible 28 points in the singles competition to lead the way. And Paige Olsen and Alex Whall did their thing at 1-dubs, winning as they have all season long. Caitlin McCaghy and Mackenzie Sowers may have been the biggest difference-makers for the team, however. The fourth-seeded team at 4-doubles reached the finals, scoring six big points for their team.
There were several other highlights on the day - at least from this sportswriter's perspective:

West Bloomfield's Raven Neely.

• It was nice to finally get a chance to see West Bloomfield play. I know rain hit everyone hard, but every time I wanted to go out and see the Lakers play, rain postponed their match. I had wanted to see Raven Neely and Aerielle Pendleton play. And I was really impressed. I saw the last half of Neely's match with Baylis and then saw a great battle between she and Halle Hyman in the consolation final. Just a freshman, she's the future of OAA Red tennis. And seeing the Pendleton-Spindler final at 2-singles was a real treat, too. Pendleton won in three great sets. 
• Speaking of treats. Kind of surreal to be watching the No. 1 draw play out at Athens. Baylis looked phenomenal in her win over Lahser's Mollie Fox in the final. They were the top-two seeds, deservedly so. But then to look at the opposite end of the courts and see Neely and Hyman squaring off for 3rd-4th, and then glance to the right and see Seaholm's Labina Petrovska and Andover's Kerry Hu battling it our for 5th-6th, that was impressive. So much talent.
• There were several great performances on the day - not all necessarily resulting in victories. West Bloomfield's Sara Cahn pushed Dana Olsen to the limit in the finals at 3-singles. Shouldn't have come as a big surprise, though, as Cahn took Olsen three sets during the regular season as well. But Olsen is unbeaten on the year, so it was another good showing for Cahn. Hubregsen has continued to play well of late. The two seed beat top-seeded Meryl Reams of Lahser in three sets (the last coming via a default with a 3-0 lead). She's going to be key if the Wolves want to win their second state title in three years. At No. 1 doubles, Paige Olsen and Whall beat Seaholm's Nancy Benda and Jackie Meier in three sets in the finals. That's actually a good showing by both teams, which should be 1-seeds at the Division 1 and 2 state tournaments. And it's quite possible the two teams may see each other again this weekend at the Holly Volley Swingabout tournament. Seaholm's Rachel Wilson and Laine Boitos looked really solid in winning the No. 2 doubles title. They didn't drop any more than two games in their semifinal and final wins over Andover and Troy. And at No. 5 doubles, Andover's Leslie Alter and Hanna Klayman came out of the 4-seed position to win the flight championship, knocking off both top-seeded Troy and 2-seeded Seaholm.
• In the end four out of nine top seeds won flight championships (Baylis at #1 and Olsen at #3 singles, and Olsen-Whall at #1 doubles and Lillian Liang-Deepthi Devireddy at #3 doubles).

Now that the OAA Red tourney is completed. The OAA White and Blue tournaments are slated for Saturday, along with the KLAA and Catholic League tourneys. Busy day. Hope all the tournament directors can get me their information (team scores and flight championship results) by 7-8 p.m. Saturday (email prepsports@oakpress.com and jason.schmitt@oakpress.com) please. You can also call (248) 745-4775 from 5-8 p.m. Good luck to all teams involved.