Perrysburg’s girls tennis team came awfully close to seeing its streak of Northern Lakes League titles
come to an end Thursday at Bowling Green State University.
But however close it was, the Yellow Jackets are still NLL champions for an impressive seventh
consecutive season.
Perrysburg tied Southview for the NLL tournament and overall title, but only after Southview lost a
heartbreaking three-setter to Anthony Wayne in the consolation finals of first doubles which was the
last match of the day. A win in that match would have clinched an outright title for the Cougars.
“We’ll take the tie,” said first-year Perrysburg coach Julie Weider. “We knew it was going to be tough.
But we’re very excited.”
Perrysburg and Southview each finished with 49 tournament points. The two teams, along with Bowling
Green, entered the tournament with a record of 6-1 in league dual matches. The tournament finish,
combined with the regular season record, gave Southview and Perrysburg an equal amount of overall points
and a share of the title.
“We thought we were going to lose,” Weider said. “Anthony Wayne came through for us.”
BG finished third overall (30 points) and in the tournament, while Anthony Wayne finished fourth overall
with 23 points. Northview was a distant fifth with 13 overall points.
The Yellow Jackets had individual champions at first singles with April Weaver and at first doubles with
the team of Megan Roberts and Maddie Karnitis.
Weaver defeated Southview’s Genna Haidar in a rematch of last season’s second singles final, a match won
by Haidar. But this time Weaver won fairly handily, 6-2, 6-3.
“We have a lot of confidence and I think that helps,” said Weaver. “It showed on the court today.”
Roberts and Karnitis lost only four games in their win in the finals over Bowling Green’s Bethany Hoehner
and Stephanie Motsinger. Roberts won the NLL title at No. 2 doubles last season.
“It feels very good,” Roberts said. “We didn’t doubt we were going to win.”
“Teamwork was the key,” Karnitis said. “We knew we were good. We came in pretty confident but we knew we
had to fight against a pretty good team.”
Perrysburg also got points at third singles, as Cammy Messenger finished runnerup to Southview’s Anjali
Naik, 6-3, 6-1. Messenger was the defending NLL third singles champion.
Another key performance for Perrysburg was Samantha Hayes at second singles. Hayes won her consolation
match to finish third, giving the ’Jackets some crucial tournament points.
“Samantha Hayes’ match was critical,” Weider said. Hayes defeated Northview’s Jackie Leizerman, 2-6, 6-2,
6-0.
Perrysburg’s second doubles team of Paige Zilba and Savannah Northcutt also contributed. The team lost
its consolation final, but still earned the team four tournament points.
“It was a strong performance,” Weider said. “We just kept on getting better as the season went along. Now
we have this under our belts. This is just a start.”
Meanwhile Day 2 was not so enjoyable for BG, which came into the day with a chance at an overall title.

The Bobcats’ No. 2 doubles team of Abby Sell and Gina Buzzelli claimed an NLL title, but BG lost its
other three matches Thursday.
“I’m disappointed, but you can’t take away the season these girls have had,” said veteran BG coach Greg
Brown. “Now we’ve been here so hopefully we can learn from this.”
NORTHERN LAKES LEAGUE
GIRLS TENNIS MEET
at Keefe Courts, BGSU
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
Tournament standings: 1) Perrysburg, 49; 1) Southview, 49; 3) Bowling Green, 40; 4) Anthony Wayne, 30; 5)
Northview, 13; 6) Springfield, 6; 7) Maumee, 4; 7) Rossford, 4.
Dual-match records: 1) Bowling Green, 6-1, 12 points; 1) Perrysburg, 6-1, 12 points; 1) Southview, 6-1,
12 points; 4) Anthony Wayne, 4-3, 8 points; 5) Springfield, 3-4, 6 points; 6) Northview, 2-5, 4 points;
7) Rossford, 1-6, 2 points; 8) Maumee, 0-7, 0 points.
Final NLL standings (combines tournament and dual-meet finishes): 1) Perrysburg, 34.5; 1) Southview,
34.5; 3) Bowling Green, 30; 4) Anthony Wayne, 23; 5) Northview, 16; 6) Springfield, 15; 7) Rossford,
6.5; 8) Maumee, 4.5.
FLIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS
FIRST SINGLES
April Weaver (Perrysburg) d. Genna Haidar (Southview), 6-2, 6-3.
SECOND SINGLES
Ann Kamenny (Southview) d. Maddie Telecky (Bowling Green), 6-3, 6-0.
THIRD SINGLES
Anjali Naik (Southview) d. Cammy Messenger (Perrysburg), 6-3, 6-1.
FIRST DOUBLES
Megan Roberts and Maddie Karnitis (Perrysburg) d. Bethany Hoehner and Stephanie Motsinger (Bowling
Green), 6-1, 6-3.
SECOND DOUBLES
Abby Sell and Gina Buzzelli (Bowling Green) d. M. Draheim and J. Hoeflinger (Anthony Wayne), 4-6, 6-3,
6-4.
FLIGHT CONSOLATIONS
(Wood County schools only)
SECOND SINGLES
Samantha Hayes (Perrysburg) d. Jackie Leizerman (Northview), 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
THIRD SINGLES
Courtney Kreig (Anthony Wayne) d. Shelby Finn (Bowling Green), 6-1, 6-2.
SECOND DOUBLES
B. Carroll and D. Gilbert (Southview) d. Paige Zilba and Savannah Northcutt (Perrysburg), 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.