Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
In her first trip to the MHSAA state tennis finals last year, Abby Perkins learned a lot about the mental aspect of the game.
It was her first year on the Mason girls tennis team, and Perkins was playing No. 1 singles against some of the best tennis players in the state.
She won her first match, but in the second round, she dropped a 6-0, 6-1 match to Cranbrook Kingswood’s Alexandra Najarian.
“Last year I learned to focus on winning the tough matches,” Perkins said. “You need to focus even more on those matches, because there are so many tough matches at state.”
Perkins applied what she learned last year, and it showed on the court this year.
Moving up to Division 2, Perkins was seeded fifth in a tough field of No. 1 singles players, including rival Irene Ng of Okemos.
But Perkins remained focused and won the state title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Bloomfield Hills Andover’s Kerry Hu in the finals at Kalamazoo College on June 2.
Perkins’ path to the title included wins over No. 4 seed Ng in the quarterfinal, over No. 1 seed Mollie Fox of Bloomfield Hills Lahser in the semifinal, and over Hu, the second seed, in the final.
“I just went out there and played,” Perkins said. “I was the underdog and went out there and played free. I went in feeling like I know how I could play with everybody. They had the pressure, since they had the advantage on me.
“It hasn’t even sunk in yet,” she added. “It’s just now starting to sink in. It was overwhelming, and I couldn’t wait to go celebrate with my family.”
Mason coach Jim D’Angelo says it was a well-deserved title for his talented sophomore.
“She was playing great, and one thing led to another,” D’Angelo said. “She positively deserved it. No one made this easier for her. You do not go into a tournament and get any help. She beat the 4th seed in the quarterfinals, the top seed in the semifinals, and the second seed in the finals, that’s a heck of a run. She earned it.”
Perkins has been playing tennis since the age of four. She comes from a tennis family, where dad Bruce played high school tennis at Mason and then went on to play at Ferris State.
So she had the physical tools, but D’Angelo believes she won this year’s championship thanks to her improved mental understanding of the game.
“She has improved her game,” D’Angelo said. “She is more versatile than before, more mature in her thinking on the court, that’s the biggest thing. Physically she has matured, but to me the biggest thing is the way she has conducted herself on the court, and the way she can think her way through a match. She used to have one style, but now she has more. Depending on her opponent, she was more of a chameleon. She did that at state this year.”
Added Perkins: “I wanted to go in and do better than I did last year. I did not expect to win at all. When I played Mollie, I said to myself that this was the one seed and said to myself to go just go out there and play. And then in the finals, I didn’t believe it I won until the final point. But I was really focused, I really wanted it.”
Mason qualified for the finals as a team, and ended up in 12th place. Aside from Perkins’ great run, the only other win came from junior Emily Fox, who won a match in the No. 2 singles flight.
But the team is young, and it is now led by a state champion at No. 1 singles.
“We lost two three setters at state, and lose two players and have 10 coming back,” said D’Angelo, whose team has qualified for three state finals and has won three straight Capital Area Activities Conference titles. “And of the 12, only five played varsity matches. So I’m amazed with how well they did. The future looks bright. We are hopeful if the kids keep hitting this summer and they can improve and the team can place higher next year.”