The Pioneer High School girls tennis team handily defeated Saline at regionals two weeks ago and finished well ahead of the Hornets just four days later at the Southeastern Conference Red Division championships.

The Pioneers won six of eight flights and remain the only team to have ever won the conference since joining in 2000.

Despite the teams’ head-to-head results, Saline coach Andrew BeDell believes his team has as good of a chance as any to win this weekend’s Division 1 MHSAA state championship at the Midland Community Tennis Center.

Pioneer is the defending state champion.

“The way it all works out, us along with about five other teams, have a legitimate chance of winning it,” BeDell said.

Top-ranked Clarkston has a heavy advantage in the singles portion of the tournament, earning the No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in all four flights. Pioneer, which has won two state titles and been runners-up five times over the past seven years, features four highly-seeded doubles teams that could make up ground.

Huron is seeded at just one flight, No. 3 doubles.

Unlike smaller competitions, the state tournament won’t see as many head-to-head matchups between the local rivals Pioneer and Saline.

BeDell thinks his team -- though they may not have stacked up head-to-head with the Pioneers -- will fare very well against the field with the way the seeds worked out.

“We’ll see them in a couple spots, but that’s OK,” BeDell said, noting that for his optimistic outlook to come true, some girls might have to avenge some close three-set losses suffered at the hands of their Pioneer opponents this year.

“We just lost so many close matches,” he said.

Saline sophomore Mary Hanna is the fifth seed at No. 1 singles, but BeDell thinks she has a legitimate chance of outplaying that seed. Her only two losses of the season came early and BeDel believes she’s capable of winning a rematch with either of those opponents, No. 2 seed Gabriella Spindler of Clarkston or No. 4 seed Daniella Patton of Midland Dow.

The championships being played indoors also works to Hanna’s advantage because she’s a power player. The Midland Tennis Center is replacing the surface on some of its outdoor courts, moving all singles and No. 4 doubles inside on the first day of the two-day competition.

“She hits the ball real hard and has a big serve. Take sun and wind out of equation, we like to think she has an advantage, as most of the bangers do,” BeDell said.

Matches will begin at 9 a.m. both Friday at Saturday at the Midland Community Tennis Center.

DIVISION 4

Father Gabriel Richard will compete at the Division 4 state finals played in the Holly/Grand Blanc area this weekend.

Natalie Ring carries the team's top seed into the tournament, fourth at No. 4 singles. Molly Geppner (No. 1 singles) and Annie Sturgeon (No. 3 singles) both have a fifth seed.

Geppner reached the No. 1 singles championship match last season, losing to Kathleen Hawkins of Kalamazoo Hackett. Hawkins graduated, but Hackett's Meika Ashby has replaced her as the top seed in the singles flight.

The Fighting Irish, ranked No. 7 in the latest coaches association poll, will need some wins from their unseeded doubles flights to

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2561 or by email at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.