Grace Sweet will take her tennis talents to the Kalamazoo College Hornets this fall.
By Jon Styf
LocalSportsJournal.com
When Grace Sweet reached state tennis finals with a runner-up finish at the Spring Lake regional, it became the eighth straight season that Fruitport sent a player to the finals.
Sweet watched Alison Blakeman reach the state finals three years ago and Hope Busscher the year after and decided that’s where she wanted to be when it was time.
Her time came last year, when she was 23-1 heading into the state finals, won her first match after a bye and eventually fell to second-seeded Sophia Grzesiak in her second match.
“I went into it very nervous to start playing,” Sweet said. “I learned that they’re just people like me. I’m playing people that are in the same place. They’re playing for the same thing that I am and it really gave me a boost of confidence to know that I could get that far.”
Since that experience, Sweet has been working toward an improved finish to her senior year.
She worked on shot placement, being able to hit spots better and stay both focused and composed. She also worked on her net game, becoming more than a strict baseline player while finding moments to move forward and finish points.
“I don’t get to do it often,” Sweet said. “I’m not exactly weak at the net, I’m just more of a baseline player.”
Sweet said that isn’t the only thing she learned at last year’s finals.
“I also think that I’m a lot better mentally,” Sweet said. “Staying more positive when I’m on the court.”
Sweet enters her second state finals with a 23-3 record, with all three losses coming to Coopersville’s Chrissy Lipecky, including in the finals of the Spring Lake regional.
Tennis has always been something Sweet loved, learning the game playing first with her parents starting at age 6 growing up in Portage. As she entered high school, she moved to Fruitport and got her first taste of competitive tennis.
That’s when she learned from Blakeman and Busscher what it was like to see that type of singles success, moving up to No. 2 singles as a sophomore.
“I think they helped me a lot, being young and never competitively playing before, they were real big role models for me to step into their shoes when I could get there,” Sweet said.
Coach Brad Busscher said his team has been blessed to have “really good No. 1 singles players play at Fruitport High School.”
Part of that was learning how to prepare for each match and maintain that focus.
Busscher said it was clear from when Sweet arrived in Fruitport that she had a good basis and had played in some tournaments, but she has developed from there into “hopefully one of the best players in the state.”
She’s improved not just mentally, but finding moments to move forward and volley to close out a point.
Sweet isn’t strictly a tennis player year-round. She tries to find time on winter weekends to hit but also plays basketball for Fruitport.
But she’s always looking to find time to hit as well.
While Sweet’s main goal was having her team join her at the state tournament, she knew the best way to do that was to “just focus on the opponent that’s in front of me and not what I have to do the rest of the day.”
That will be the goal as Sweet’s high school tennis career finished from May 31-June 1 in Kalamazoo.
She will focus on staying positive, focused “smiling and having fun but also being competitive.”
Once her prep career comes to an end with her appearance in the Division 2 state finals, Sweet will be taking her tennis talents to Kalamazoo, where she will continue her academics and athletics at Kalamazoo College. The Hornets are coached by Mark Murphy.
LocalSportsJournal.com
When Grace Sweet reached state tennis finals with a runner-up finish at the Spring Lake regional, it became the eighth straight season that Fruitport sent a player to the finals.
Sweet watched Alison Blakeman reach the state finals three years ago and Hope Busscher the year after and decided that’s where she wanted to be when it was time.
Her time came last year, when she was 23-1 heading into the state finals, won her first match after a bye and eventually fell to second-seeded Sophia Grzesiak in her second match.
“I went into it very nervous to start playing,” Sweet said. “I learned that they’re just people like me. I’m playing people that are in the same place. They’re playing for the same thing that I am and it really gave me a boost of confidence to know that I could get that far.”
Since that experience, Sweet has been working toward an improved finish to her senior year.
She worked on shot placement, being able to hit spots better and stay both focused and composed. She also worked on her net game, becoming more than a strict baseline player while finding moments to move forward and finish points.
“I don’t get to do it often,” Sweet said. “I’m not exactly weak at the net, I’m just more of a baseline player.”
Sweet said that isn’t the only thing she learned at last year’s finals.
“I also think that I’m a lot better mentally,” Sweet said. “Staying more positive when I’m on the court.”
Sweet enters her second state finals with a 23-3 record, with all three losses coming to Coopersville’s Chrissy Lipecky, including in the finals of the Spring Lake regional.
Tennis has always been something Sweet loved, learning the game playing first with her parents starting at age 6 growing up in Portage. As she entered high school, she moved to Fruitport and got her first taste of competitive tennis.
That’s when she learned from Blakeman and Busscher what it was like to see that type of singles success, moving up to No. 2 singles as a sophomore.
“I think they helped me a lot, being young and never competitively playing before, they were real big role models for me to step into their shoes when I could get there,” Sweet said.
Coach Brad Busscher said his team has been blessed to have “really good No. 1 singles players play at Fruitport High School.”
Part of that was learning how to prepare for each match and maintain that focus.
Busscher said it was clear from when Sweet arrived in Fruitport that she had a good basis and had played in some tournaments, but she has developed from there into “hopefully one of the best players in the state.”
She’s improved not just mentally, but finding moments to move forward and volley to close out a point.
Sweet isn’t strictly a tennis player year-round. She tries to find time on winter weekends to hit but also plays basketball for Fruitport.
But she’s always looking to find time to hit as well.
While Sweet’s main goal was having her team join her at the state tournament, she knew the best way to do that was to “just focus on the opponent that’s in front of me and not what I have to do the rest of the day.”
That will be the goal as Sweet’s high school tennis career finished from May 31-June 1 in Kalamazoo.
She will focus on staying positive, focused “smiling and having fun but also being competitive.”
Once her prep career comes to an end with her appearance in the Division 2 state finals, Sweet will be taking her tennis talents to Kalamazoo, where she will continue her academics and athletics at Kalamazoo College. The Hornets are coached by Mark Murphy.
