Troy tennis’ ‘special’ group of seniors end season on high note

TROY — Troy tennis knew this was the year heading into the 2023 season.

A healthy number of seniors returning, a third-place finish at the state finals in 2022, and back-to-back regional titles spelled a potentially historic season for head coach Brian Miska’s squad.

“We were ready to win,” Miska said. “We’re obviously in win-now mode, right? This group of girls, unfortunately, missed their first year because of the whole COVID situation, but they’ve just stayed hungry over the past couple years. This is the year we knew we’d have a shot to win states and be a contender.”

After the two-day Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 State Finals from June 2 to 3 at Hope College and Holland Christian concluded, the ladies had achieved everything coach Miska expected and more with a runner-up finish to a stacked Ann Arbor Pioneer squad.

What seemed almost like an every-tournament-occurrence for Troy, the doubles flights were the key component to their impressive score, earning state titles in three of four doubles flights with impressive performances from their senior and junior class.

Senior Grace Zhu and Nika Tanako, who were the first seed in the tournament, failed to lose a set en route to a state title in the doubles flight 1, but doubles flights 2 and 3 are where Troy really put the tournament on notice.

In doubles flight 2, seniors Varsha Penumalee and Vienna Thieu, who were three-seeds, took down top-seeded Pioneer in the state finals match, and doubles flight 3 followed suit as juniors Hannah Lee and Michelle Baik defeated top-seeded Pioneer as well to earn state champion honors.

Zhu said the team’s dedication to the sport was what really motivated them.

“We really value putting in the extra hours, because we know we’re not the most talented bunch, but we try to compensate that with hard work,” Zhu said.

Senior Stephanie Ochoa and junior Shreyana Keeta each made the semifinals in singles flights three and four, respectively.

Even if you put the state finals aside, Troy’s incredible season was capped off with an Oakland Activities Association-Red league title for the first time in more than 15 years and first time under Miska, and Troy’s third straight regional title.

Talk about dominance. Troy clean-swept all eight flights at the Region 5 Championship at Troy High School May 18.

Senior Hayley Chenfang collected a regional title in singles flight 1 over top-seeded Troy Athens, while senior Amritha Yelleti, Ochoa and Keeta all earned regional title wins.

Zhu and Tanako, Penumalee and Thieu, and Lee and Baik continued their reign on the 2023 season with regional title wins, but junior Marin Fox and freshman Nainika Jasti imposed their will on the competition in doubles flight 4 as they failed to drop a point in the regionals.

Miska had high praise for the shining freshman and her performance this season.

“For a freshman, she’s incredibly mentally tough,” Miska said. “I always joke with the team that our freshman is one of the most mentally tough players on our team. If you look at the record, they’ve only dropped one set the entire year.”

With the juniors and underclassmen Troy possesses, they’re in good hands entering next season, but it’s hard to recognize not only one of the strongest senior classes in Troy tennis history, but a class that achieved program-altering achievements to lay the foundation for the next group.

Zhu said her class had a leader in 2021 graduate Sabrina Song, so she said it was only right her class continued that trend.

“She really set the tone for having a strong and united team, and just keeping your head down and working hard,” Zhu said. “I think we’ve really strived to keep doing that ever since then.”

Troy is set to graduate six state finals players this season, but will look to keep the regional streak alive, and maybe even start a league streak of their own.

“This senior class is special,” Miska said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m not knocking on any other senior class, but this is by far the hardest working senior class as a whole. A lot of times in high school they get busy with AP classes, prom, and social lives, and they kind of start to not be as engaged, but this group never stopped working hard. It’s been a real treat to coach, because all four years they’ve worked their butts off. It’s going to be a tough class to lose.”