No lone Wolves

Updated: June 2, 2011 10:04PM

Ashleigh Ellenwood will shed a tear at the Michigan City High School graduation ceremony.

It’s going to be one of those bittersweet moments for Ellenwood, a junior. Her tennis partner and good friend, Lauren Palmer, will cap her high school career that day. After three years of playing doubles together, the two will go their own ways.

Palmer will focus on her studies at Butler University, while Ellenwood will look ahead to her final year of high school and tend to business on the soccer field, where she earned a scholarship to play at the University of Arkansas.

But before Ellenwood and Palmer move on, they’ve got some business to take care of.

Ellenwood and Palmer, the Wolves’ No. 1 doubles team, play the team from South Bend Clay on Saturday in the semifinals of the LaPorte individual regional.

Whiting’s Guadalupe Cornejo and Megan Kazmierski meet Central Noble in the other semifinal.

“It’s so exciting that this is all finally happening,” Palmer said.

Ellenwood and Palmer have teamed up for 49 victories in their three years of playing together at doubles. They take a 16-3 record into Saturday’s individual regional.

“They’re a really strong tennis team,” Michigan City coach Norm Bruemmer said. “Ashleigh is very athletic, and Lauren complements her very well. They’re a very aggressive team, which in doubles is one thing you need to have and one thing that’s really hard to teach. That has helped them.”

What also has helped them is their friendship. The two didn’t know each other when they were paired three years ago. They’ve since become close friends.

“I couldn’t ask for a better partner,” Palmer said. “We really push each other. On the court, we’re like sisters. By that, I mean we’re really open with each other. If one is playing poorly, we’ll let that person know. That’s made us stronger.

“If I didn’t have Ashleigh, I’d rather be playing singles.”

Ellenwood, a standout on the soccer field, said she plays tennis for fun, calling soccer a more physical sport while tennis is more mental. But without Palmer, Ellenwood doubts she would be playing tennis at all.

“The reason I play tennis is because of Lauren,” Ellenwood said. “Lauren is definitely the more stable person. I’m the crazy one. She’s the one who keeps me level-headed. If I played singles, the frustration would take over. But with Lauren there, it’s totally different.”

If Ellenwood and Palmer are fortunate enough to advance to the individual state finals in Indianapolis on June 10 and 11, they’ll turn around and say good-bye on June 12 at the Michigan City High School graduation. It’ll be a strange twist of emotions.

“I’m going to go to graduation,” Ellenwood said, “and I’m probably going to cry, because I’ll never get to play tennis with her again.”

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