AUGUST 2023

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SPORTS Terrific Tennis Trio Meet three Chaldean girls who won championships BY STEVE STEIN Raegan Tomina. Kayla Nafso. Alana Hindo. Three Chaldean girls, three winners of high school state championships in tennis this past spring. Tomina won the No. 2 singles title in Division 1 just before she graduated from Bloomfield Hills. Nafso and Hindo were half of the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles state championship teams in Division 4, playing for Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart. Nafso will be a senior and Hindo will be a junior this fall. All three girls were named to the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association’s All-State team for their division. Their tennis journeys include losing a season to the COVID-19 pandemic, having sisters who also were tennis stars at their school, changing spots in their team’s lineup, and transferring to another school. Raegan Tomina Tomina, 17, who lives in Bloomfield Hills, is moving on to Oakland University to pursue a career in nursing. Her competitive tennis career is most likely over. “I’ve played competitive tennis for a long time, and I loved playing tennis in high school,” she said. “I’ll miss it a lot, but it’s time to move on to new things.” Two of the new things are pickleball and reading. “I love pickleball; It’s my new tennis,” Tomina said. “As for reading, I really didn’t like it until a couple years ago. But a found a couple genres I like, murder mysteries and romance novels.” After losing her freshman tennis season at Bloomfield Hills to the pandemic, Tomina won the Division 1 state championship at No. 2 doubles as a sophomore. Her sister Hannah won the state title at No. 1 doubles for PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HINDO FAMILY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NAFSO FAMILY Bloomfield Hills that year as a senior. “I really didn’t want to play doubles when I was a sophomore, but I ended up loving it,” Raegan said. After starting her junior year at No. 1 doubles, Raegan was moved to No. 2 singles and lost in the Division 1 state quarterfinals. She was at No. 2 singles all season this past spring and won another state championship. Hannah, now 20 and a junior at the University of Michigan who also plans to be a nurse, won the Division 1 No. 1 doubles state championship as a sophomore and senior, sandwiching a lost junior season because of the pandemic. Another Tomina sister is ready to make her mark on the Bloomfield Hills girls tennis team. Sophia, 14, the youngest of the sibling trio, will be a freshman in high school this fall. Kayla Nafso Nafso, 17, a Bloomfield Hills resident, has played for the No. 1 doubles state championship in Division 4 all three years of her Sacred Heart career. She won with her sister Marisa in 2021 but lost with her in 2022. Because of graduation losses, it is not certain Kayla will be back at No. 1 doubles for Sacred Heart come next spring. She may be needed to play singles, probably No. 1. “I don’t love singles like I love doubles,” she said. “But if my team needs me to play singles, I’ll do it.” Clockwise from above: State champion Raegan Tomina is surrounded by family members (from left) Sophia, Kelly, Hannah and Patrick. Alana Hindo won a state championship as a sophomore. Kayla Nafso (right) and her doubles partner Jade Horcoff celebrate not only their regional championship, but Sacred Heart’s team regional championship this past spring. It has been a busy summer for Kayla, who attended the University of Notre Dame’s two-week, “History of London as a Global Trading Capital,” program last month in England. Back home, she’s involved in Focus: HOPE’s Food for Seniors program, which provides thousands of seniors with monthly food packages. Alana Hindo Hindo, 16, who lives in Commerce Township and is active at St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church in West Bloomfield, has left Sacred Heart and is transferring to Birmingham Marian because she wants to attend a bigger high school. Because she’s transferring, she can’t play golf or tennis for Marian this school year. She said she’d likely resume playing one or both sports when she’s a senior. Hindo played No. 3 singles for Sacred Heart as a freshman. She wanted to play doubles with close friend and practice partner Presley Krywko this past spring, and they were given that opportunity. “Did I think Presley and I could win a state championship?” she asked. “I didn’t think it could happen at first, but as the season wore on, we got more confident,” said Hindo. The Scoreboard So how did the three girls win their state championships in June? Tomina, the No. 3 seed at No. 2 singles in Division 1, defeated two familiar foes en route to her state title. She beat No. 6 seed Abbey Labate of Clarkston 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Katie Fu of Rochester Adams 7-5, 6-0 in the state championship match. Tomina had defeated both earlier in the season, including Fu in the regional title match. Nafso and her partner Jade Horcoff, the No. 3 seed, had a tough road to the No. 1 doubles state championship in Division 4. They had to rally for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 2 seed Brooke Tietz and Alivia Mott of Grand Rapids West Catholic in the semifinals, and they turned back No. 1 seed Sophie Chen and Lauren Ye of Ann Arbor Greenhills 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the championship match. Hindo and Krywko were the No. 1 seed at No. 3 doubles. They dropped just nine games in three matches before their 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over No. 2 seed Meera Pandey and Meera Tewari of Greenhills in the title match. They had beaten the Greenhills duo twice earlier in the season in close matches. Tennis fans will be sad to see this trio move on but rest assured, there will be others to take their place. Bloomfield Hills junior Julia Yousif, another young Chaldean, was the No. 2 seed at No. 3 singles at the Division 1 state tournament. She advanced to the semifinals in the flight. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOMINA FAMILY 40 CHALDEAN NEWS AUGUST 2023
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