Vermont’s best high school tennis players are ready to square off this week at two sites in Burlington.

The state’s singles and double individual state tournaments begin Thursday and wrap Saturday with championship matches.

The girls tourney is slated for Burlington Tennis Club; while the boys will compete at Leddy Park.

Reigning individual boys champion Nathan Kim of Brattleboro is this year’s top seed, followed by Jackson Murray of Middlebury at No 2, Derin Suren of Essex at No. 3 and Oscar Anderson of Champlain Valley at No. 4.

In the girls singles tournament, Rutland’s Arikka Patorti is the No. 1 seed and Tabitha Bastress of CVU is ranked second. Julia Biedermann of Stowe is slotted third and Mount Mansfield’s Bea Molson, the 2022 champion, is fourth.

Vermont high school tennis: Past champions of the individual tournament

In girls doubles, Stowe’s Gabby Doehla and Kate Tilgner are chasing an unprecedented fourth straight state title. For boys doubles, the Middlebury duo of Milo Rees and Eddie Fallis top the field.

The draws:

(Editor’s note: This file will be updated Thursday, Friday and Saturday as tourney play unfolds and results are reported).

GIRLS SINGLES

Round of 64 (Thursday)

Molly Hershberg, BBA vs. Riley Austin, Essex

Round of 32 (Thursday)

Hershberg-Austin winner vs. Arikka Patorti, Rutland

Lily Collins, Rice vs. Leonor I. A. Vazquez, GCS

Aoife Crainich, BHS vs. Olivia Badilo, Col

Ada Krull, MMU vs. Anna Dauerman, CVU

Charlotte Stevens, Stowe vs. Kaitlyn Corbin, Essex

Claire Zimpfer, MAU vs. Cassie Bastress, CVU

Maren Lindstrom, BHS vs. Shelby Bechard, BFA

Maggie Pierce, Wood vs. Bea Molson, MMU

Julia Biedermann, Stowe vs. Salome Tchantouridze, U-32

Avela Krull, MMU vs. Phoebe Richardson, Col

Lulu Barr-Brandt, BHS vs. Anna Gallipo, Rutland

Sage Peterson, CVU vs. Wynne Adamson, SB

Hannah Knickerbocker, Essex vs. Allegra Muller, Mont

Mia Zilian, Wood vs. Francesca Tully, BBA

Violet Small, MAU vs. Elizabeth Lassner, Mont

Tess Nagy, Rice vs. Tabitha Bastress, CVU

Round of 16 (Thursday)

Matchups, TBD

Quarterfinals (Friday)

Matchups, TBD

Semifinals (Friday/Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

Finals (Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

BOYS SINGLES

First round (Thursday)

Wyatt Tuff, BBA vs. Kellan Bartlett, Midd

Sam Wick, BHS vs. Charles Young, Midd

Second round (Thursday)

Nathan Kim, Bratt vs. Tuff-Bartlett winner

Ziggy Babbott, CV vs. Lazar Milosavljevic, Grace Christian

Cristo Buckley, BBA vs. Milo Vinson, MMU

Nate McDonald, Rice vs. Carter MacDonald, Stowe

Oscar Crainich, BHS vs. Mark Richards, Bratt

Ethan Pastella, Stowe vs. Parker Vinson, MMU

Mateo Duracak, SB vs. Pedro Perez Lorente, Grace Christian

Oscar Andersson, CV vs. Wick-Young winner

Derin Suren, Essex vs. Tanner Ciufo, Rutland

Julian Fitz, U-32 vs. Malo Renault, Bratt

Anthony Klemm, Col vs. Lincoln Smith, U-32

Parker Guffey, Stowe vs. Yuyang Zhang, SB

Ethan Croke, Verg vs. Nevin Morton, BHS

Emmett Waite, R vs. Micah Whitmore, Grace Christian

Kaelen Lundberg, Wood vs. Visnhu Konnanur, Essex

Jack Beach, Rutland vs. Jackson Murray, Midd

Third round (Friday)

Matchups, TBD

Quartefinals (Friday)

Matchups, TBD

Semifinals (Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

Matchups, TBD

Finals (Saturday)

GIRLS DOUBLES

Round of 32 (Thursday)

Clio Barr-Brandt/Lila Fitzpatrick, BHS vs. Maya Williams/Harper Mait, BBA

Ella Lisle/Leonie Schwetlick, CV vs. Grace Marroquin/Gabby Sneddon, R

Harper Freund/Malise Sigler, Stowe vs. Estelle First/Ava Poehlmann, MMU

Round of 16 (Thursday)

Gabby Doehla/Kate Tilgner, S vs. Maddie Dutton/Abigail Richards, Col

Yvette Petrella/Meredith Wilcox, U-32 vs. Barr-Brandt/Fitzpatrick-Williams/Mait winner

Emma Barclay/Caroline McCormack, Rutland vs. Lisle/Schwetlick-Marroquin/Sneddon winner

Ella Maynard/Bridget Simone, SB vs. Freund/Malise Sigler-First/Poehlmann winner

Dieuna Beynnon/Kali Ali, B vs. Sam Scott/Geo Cuciti, Essex

Mohini Vallabhaneni/Katie McCullagh, Col vs. Lucy Andrus/Sarah Hailey, S

Christine Rottcher/Ella McCormick, R vs. Evangeline Clifford/Yorda Gebreselasie, SB

Finn Lofgren/Ellie Duprey, M vs. Addie Maurer/Ariel Toohey, CV

Quarterfinals (Thursday/Friday)

Matchups, TBD

Semifinals (Friday/Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

Finals (Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

Boys doubles

First round (Saturday)

Eben Wagner/Dorian Paquette, Bratt vs. Dylan Ingham/Ian Tillman, MU

Dash Tota/Luke Sampson, CVU vs. Robin Hokenmaier/James Bradley, SB

Quinn Moore/Max Ladner, BHS vs. Dietrich Caler/Noah Chester, Rut

Lucien Timmerman/Nate Meyers, Col vs. Miles Huyler/Ian Ritter, MMU

Baxter Harrington/Noah Doherty Konczal, Midd vs. Jay Eagle/Jules Butler, SB

Silas Cohen/Kyle Krieger, CV vs. Hugo Jercinovic/Brock Roick, Stowe

Iver Anderson/Nate Cook Yoder, Midd vs. Wilfred St. Francis/Leevi Kilpala, Rice

Isaac Blaisdell/Kaine Than, Col vs. Drew Zimmerman/Xavi Violette, Stowe

Second round (Friday)

Milo Rees/Eddie Fallis, Midd vs. Wagner/Paquette-Ingham/Tillman winner

Will Bradley/Omar Daoudi, SB vs. Timmerman/Meyers-Huyler/Ritter winner

Lucas St. Hilaire/Donovan Ho, Essex vs. Julian Pirie vs. J. Lahue, BBA

Ben Berg/Leo Bodett, Bratt vs. Harrington/Doherty Konczal-Eagle/Butler winner

Isaac Dunkiel/Daniel Wick, BHS vs. Blaisdell/Than-Zimmerman/Violette winner

Jackson Pals/Elias Frazer Olsen, Bratt vs. Lewis Pilcher/Henry Farrell, Essex

Quarterfinals (Friday)

Matchups, TBD

Semifinals (Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

Finals (Saturday)

Matchups, TBD

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Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

The Bishop of Vermont — a Black woman in one of the whitest states in the country — has experienced hostility and conflict in her role, to the extent that she is always accompanied when visiting churches in the diocese, and her visitation schedule is not publicized.

The Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown also faced demands for her resignation from members of the Standing Committee. In 2023, the now-former president of the committee lodged complaints about “leadership and accountability” with the presiding bishop’s office — without first attempting to address the concerns with the bishop herself.

The tensions are remarkable in light of the fact that MacVean-Brown was handily elected on the first ballot at a diocesan convention in 2019, outpolling two white candidates.

“Nobody was thinking, oh, this is going to be great to elect this black woman. I mean, there were just so many other things about who I am as a leader, my experiences, that meshed with who the Diocese of Vermont is. and so it made sense for us to be Bishop and people together,” MacVean-Brown told TLC in an hour-long interview. “And I think we all sort of took for granted that there is an opportunity for us … we could have been more proactive, and foreseen that there could be differences.”

The situation is described in a 22-page Mission Leadership Review written by the Rev. Gay Jennings, the former president of the House of Deputies who now serves as a consultant to dioceses. She based her conclusions on interviews with 48 people in leadership roles or otherwise associated with the Diocese of Vermont.

“The bishop has experienced people speaking to her and about her in ways that are inappropriate – she is the bishop, but more importantly, she is a beloved child of God,” the report says. “It has to be safer for her as a Black woman. Experiencing a home intrusion; installing security cameras for physical safety; needing two restraining orders; needing to be accompanied on visitations; being verbally assaulted by a few people in the diocese – all this consultant can say is, Lord, have mercy—and, I am pretty sure this would not be happening if she were white.”

The home intrusion was a frightening episode, but did not appear to be related to MacVean-Brown’s diocesan role. Diocesan offices and the bishop’s residence are located in Rock Point Commons, a 130-acre forested enclave owned by the diocese on the edge of Burlington. MacVean-Brown and her husband Phil were at home one night in November 2021 when they heard glass break. They called police, who responded and arrested a man with a long criminal record.

There’s a separate restraining order against a woman who repeatedly confronted the bishop at her home and office. “She was upset with someone at one of the parishes, but was coming to me to try to make me do something about it. And it became invasive in the ways she was trying to do that,” MacVean-Brown said.

Vermont has a reputation as a very progressive state, but it is also nearly 94 percent white, making it the second-whitest state (Maine is a roundoff error whiter). According to a local television report in 2021: “Since 2018, at least three Black female leaders in Vermont, including a state lawmaker, a town board member and the former head of the Rutland area NAACP branch, have left their roles in response to persistent harassment and sometimes violent threats.”

“Vermont is so beautiful,” the bishop said, and when she visits one of the 42 Episcopal churches in the state, “the drive never gets old, doesn’t matter what season it is.”

But “as you drive around in different places, pockets of the state, you’ll see things that let you know that I might not be safe by myself,” she said, citing militia activity as an example. “And so for peace of mind, my husband goes with me when we make visitations.”

Tension escalated in early 2023 when the president of the Standing Committee contacted the presiding bishop’s office. According to the Mission Leadership Review, “There had been no previous meaningful discussion of the Standing Committee’s concerns with the bishop, and this intervention happened without her knowledge and before she was fully aware of the issues at hand.”

The then-president and another member of the Standing Committee reportedly refused to take part in a reconciliation process, insisting instead that the bishop should resign.

The report is vague about the specific nature of the conflict, and the principals don’t want to discuss it. The Rev. Lisa Ransom, the former president of the Standing Committee, said by email: “Out of respect for my bishop, I will not be speaking to the press.” MacVean-Brown said: “I’ll leave that for others to talk about, you know, the details of that.”

Four of the eight members of the Standing Committee have been replaced since the conflict erupted. The four continuing members wrote in a May 23 letter to the diocese: “It has been brought to our attention that many, if not all, of the individuals named by the former president of the Standing Committee as having formal complaints about Bishop Shannon were not corroborated by those individuals in follow-up conversations.”

Deacon Stannard Baker, one of the continuing members of the Standing Committee, said the conflict stemmed from a confluence of small problems, rather than a single major cause. For example, he noted that the pandemic began about seven months after the bishop’s consecration, complicating relationship-building efforts.

“She had to hold the line quite, quite strongly on not having in-person services, not having communion, that sort of thing. And before it was safe to leave that, there were small congregations, particularly saying, Oh, we want to go back, we want to go back. And the bishop had to say ‘no, you may not,’” Baker remembered.

The leadership review provides hints of a conflict over governance. “Congregationalism is the dominant polity throughout much of New England’s religious life,” the document states. “The town hall culture of Vermont means people expect to have a say on anything and expect to be involved in all decision-making.”

Congregationalism is a system in which individual churches are largely self-governing, and as the report dryly states: “some aspects of congregationalism are in tension with some aspects of the polity of the Episcopal Church.”

MacVean-Brown is from Detroit, which she identified as “the Blackest city in the nation.” She said, “I’m used to a really diverse form of leadership, with a lot of Black people in leadership. … So it takes practice doing this, what we’ve done.”

The bishop started a new congregation online during the pandemic, the Green Mountain Online Abbey, which continues to worship as a community today, led by a vicar. When online worship started, “it was funny because we didn’t have enough room in the ‘church,’ because our Zoom account wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone. So we had a new church ‘building’ by the next day.”

Financial concerns have added to the tension. In 2021, an assessment by an accountant “revealed that a financial cliff is on the horizon,” necessitating austerity measures. She reached an agreement with Bishop of New Hampshire Robert Hirschfeld and Bishop of Maine Thomas Brown to share resources for ministry and administration, and each of the bishops now serves as an assisting bishop in the other two dioceses.

“We’ve been chipping away at it for the last few years,” working to get clear accounting practices and efficiencies in place, and hiring a new interim chief financial officer. “We’re going to be OK,” she said.

Under her leadership the diocese also has created “constellations” of affiliated congregations, creating more full-time opportunities for clergy. Five of the 42 parishes currently have full-time priests, and three additional full-time priests serve constellations. In December, the diocese (along with the Diocese of Massachusetts) received a Lilly grant of $1.168 million for “an initiative that will provide lay leaders in lay-led congregations with opportunities for spiritual growth.”

The diocese recently invited Kaleidoscope Institute to facilitate a day of conversation and reconciliation. “Executive Council and the Standing Committee have a mixed assessment of the March 16 Truth and Reconciliation Day,” the two groups said in a May 23 letter. Some attendees had not been aware of the conflict, and “the day was not managed in a way that enabled attendees to hear or discuss details of the 2023 conflict, still less to begin a process of reconciliation. As a result, the work of the day was far from complete, and many attendees left wondering, ‘What’s the next step?’”

Still, “The lay and clergy members of both groups agree unanimously that we support Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown and look forward to her having a long tenure as our bishop.” She is 57, and thus has 15 years until mandatory retirement.

“We’ve really gathered around her and and begun this process of really understanding some of those currents of racism and misogyny, and how we move forward in a stronger, more thoughtful way,” Baker said.

The 2024 Vermont high school spring season has begun. See below for scores, schedules and game details (statistical leaders, game notes) from baseball, softball, lacrosse, track and field, tennis and Ultimate.

To report scores: Coaches or team representatives are asked to report results ASAP after games by emailing sports@burlingtonfreepress.com. Please submit with a name/contact number.

►Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @aabrami5

WEDNESDAY’S H.S. GAMES

Girls lacrosse

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Spaulding at Mount Abraham/Vergennes, 4 p.m.

Colchester at Green Mountain Valley

St. Johnsbury at Lamoille

Rice at Milton

Boys lacrosse

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Colchester at Lyndon

Milton at BFA-Fairfax

Lamoille at St. Johnsbury

Harwood at Montpelier

Burlington at Hartford, 6:30 p.m.

BFA-St. Albans at South Burlington, 7 p.m.

Softball

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Essex at St. Johnsbury

Spaulding at Harwood

Baseball

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Essex at St. Johnsbury

Missisquoi at Burlington

Spaulding at Harwood

Girls tennis

Matches at 3:30 p.m. unless noted

U-32 at Woodstock

BFA-St. Alban at Spaulding

South Burlington at Stowe

Champlain Valley at Essex

Harwood at North Country

Mount Mansfield at Burlington

St. Johnsbury at Rice

Middlebury at Colchester

Boys tennis

Matches at 3:30 p.m. unless noted

South Burlington at Stowe

Burlington at Mount Mansfield

U-32 at Woodstock

Essex at Champlain Valley

Girls Ultimate

Games at 4 p.m. unless noted

South Burlington at Mount Mansfield

Burr and Burton at Montpelier, 6 p.m.

Boys Ultimate

Games at 4 p.m. unless noted

Rice at Colchester

St. Johnsbury at Middlebury

Vermont Commons at Milton

Montpelier at Essex, 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY’S H.S. GAMES

Girls lacrosse

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

U-32 at Spaulding

Green Mountain Valley at Harwood

Rice at Colchester

Essex at Champlain Valley

Lyndon at Burlington, 5:30 p.m.

South Burlington at Burr and Burton, 7 p.m.

Boys lacrosse

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Rice at Middlebury

Mount Mansfield at Essex

Randolph at Green Mountain Valley

Lyndon at Stowe

Softball

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Paine Mountain at Blue Mountain

Missisquoi at Essex

Lamoille at Harwood

Enosburg at Rice

Vergennes at Mount Abraham

Champlain Valley at Colchester

South Burlington at Mount Mansfield

Milton at Middlebury

Thetford at North Country

BFA-St. Albans at Rutland, 5 p.m.

Oxbow at Randolph

Baseball

Games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted

Paine Mountain at Blue Mountain

BFA-Fairfax at Peoples/Stowe

South Burlington at Mount Mansfield

Rice at Essex

Montpelier at U-32

Lamoille at Harwood

Vergennes at Mount Abraham

Missisquoi at Enosburg

Champlain Valley at Colchester

Essex at Mount Mansfield

Randolph at Oxbow

Milton at Middlebury

Hazen at Lake Region

North Country at Thetford

Girls, boys tennis

Individual state tournament (singles, doubles), Day 1

Girls Ultimate

Games at 4 p.m. unless noted

South Burlington at St. Johnsbury

Milton at Champlain Valley, 6 p.m.

Mount Mansfield at Burlington, 7 p.m.

Track and field

Division III state championships at Fair Haven

Division IV state championships at Manchester

(Subject to change)