Bloomfield Hills Returns to Top of D1
October 21, 2017
By Chris Stevens
Special for Second Half
MIDLAND – All season long, the Bloomfield Hills Black Hawks have had a target on their collective backs as the state’s top-ranked tennis team in Division 1.
They handled the pressure well during the fall’s regular season, but there was one big hurdle left to clear at this weekend’s MHSAA Finals at the Greater Midland Tennis Center.
Black Hawks coach Greg Burks kept the message to his team simple and clear: Don’t focus on the rankings; do your best and everything will take care of itself.
And that’s exactly what happened Saturday, as the Black Hawks won the school’s second Lower Peninsula Division 1 title in the past three years, edging Troy 30-28 in the two-day tournament. Ann Arbor Huron placed third with 22 points, Birmingham Brother Rice had 21 points and Ann Arbor Pioneer had 19 to round out the top-five scoring.
The Black Hawks, who finished second in LPD1 a year ago and tied for the title two years ago, started the season ranked No. 1 and finished the season that way, as well.
“I tried to not have the guys look at (the rankings) because there is a target on your back and you have to play completely different,” Burks said. “When you play somebody, they don’t have anything to lose. … It makes it a little tougher because they come out swinging.
“(My team) did a very good job of just working to get better.”
Burks said his team was motivated after falling short a year ago at the Finals.
“Everybody worked extremely hard in the offseason,” he said. “Every practice was intense and had a lot of energy. All the kids wanted it, and it showed. They worked really hard. I give my guys all the credit. They played unreal.”
Bloomfield Hills won fight titles at No. 3 singles, No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles. The No. 2 doubles team of Vik Chakrabortty and Chaz Blamo, seeded second in the flight, locked up the team title with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over top-seeded Niko Mamatas and Riley McNulty of Birmingham Brother Rice.
When that long match ended, Bloomfield Hills team members poured onto the court to celebrate.
Meanwhile, at No. 3 singles, Constantin Hemmrich of Bloomfield Hills posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Clarkston’s Jacob Burkett in the finals. At No. 1 doubles, Cade Burman and Sebastian Burman secured another title for the Black Hawks with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 victory against Sam Schwartz and Jack Brockhaus of Brother Rice.
At No. 1 singles, Troy senior Steve Forman was dominant as he captured a second straight championship. He lost only five games the entire tournament and did not lose a set.
Forman, who’s headed to the University of Michigan to play his college tennis, defeated Andrew Zhang of Bloomfield Hills 6-1, 6-1 in the finals. Both are hard-hitting left-handers.
“I really served well and hit my spots. That’s really what I was trying to do … and do what I could in (returning the ball),” Forman said of his keys to victory.
Even though he was defending his title, Forman said that was not a huge motivating factor for him. He wrapped up his senior season with a 13-0 record.
“It’s a new year and new people,” he said. “I definitely felt like I was the top player and I wanted to go out and win.”
Forman, who lost in the semifinals as a sophomore, enjoyed the success he had in high school.
“I really played my best tennis in high school,” Forman said. “I had some tough matches, but overall, I played well in a lot of big matches. I’m satisfied with what I was able to do here.”
At No. 2 singles, Troy’s Brennan Cimpeanu swept Ann Arbor Huron’s Kobie Mueller 7-6, 7-6 in their championship match. At No. 4 singles, Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Stanley Rhodes recorded a 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 win over Northville’s Samir Rajani, who was the flight’s top seed. Rhodes was seeded second.
At No. 3 doubles, Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Connor Streeter and Brendan Karsch swept Bloomfield Hills’ Adrian Wilen and Chris Sauer, 6-0, 6-4. Finally, at No. 4 doubles, Troy’s Marvin Jiang and Charlie Peng won in convincing fashion, topping T.J. Bai and Nick Grosh of Ann Arbor Huron, 6-2, 6-1.
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills players rush the court to celebrate their Division 1 championship. (Middle) Troy's Steve Forman readies for a volley during his No. 1 singles match. (Top photo from HighSchoolSportsScene.com; middle photo by Chris Stevens.)
FH Northern Finishes Long Climb Back to #1
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
October 19, 2019
ANN ARBOR – Cole Rynbrandt had been there before. He’d seen his older brothers capture individual MHSAA Finals championships.
On Saturday, he wanted to experience that achievement for himself.
The Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern junior and his doubles partner, Justin Lee, finished off a barn-burner of a tie-breaker, defeating Detroit U-D Jesuit’s Charlie Young and John Dahmer, 6-2, 7-6 (6), in the No. 2 doubles championship match, helping seal not only a flight title for Rynbrandt himself, but clinching the school’s first team Finals title since 1998.
“Knowing that (our win) clinched the team title makes it all that much sweeter,” Rynbrandt said. “The team hasn’t won a title in about 20 years and two of my older brothers had won state titles, so it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
What made it even more special is that Rynbrandt’s older brothers – Quentin and Aidan – both won their titles at No. 2 doubles as well. Oh, and to top it off, Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals were played at the University of Michigan.
“I’ve been a die-hard Michigan fan my whole life, so to play on these courts has been so incredible,” Cole Rynbrandt said. “I’ve always dreamed of going to school here and to play on these courts.”
The Huskies’ 1998 title came when they competed in Division 3.
“It feels good that we could go out and win it,” said longtime Northern head coach Dave Sukup, who also was the head coach of that 1998 team. “We’ve come close a lot of times, some seconds and thirds and fourths. It feels good to fight back. Earlier this year we were (ranked) fourth or fifth, but we’ve come back and worked for this.”
The Huskies finished with 28 team points and had seven of eight flights reach Saturday’s semifinals, with four making it to the championship round. Along with Rynbrandt and Lee, two other doubles teams won titles for the Huskies. The No. 1 team of Nav Dalmia and Jeff Consolla defeated Jesuit’s Kagan Shetterly and Theodore Yaldoo, 6-3, 6-4, in their championship final. And Northern’s Jack Sparhawk and Ty Ulchman defeated Jesuit’s Teodore Melnyczuk and Nathan Comerford in the No. 3 doubles championship match, 6-4, 7-5.
Jesuit, which along with Birmingham Seaholm shared the lead with Northern after the first day, sent all four of its doubles teams into Saturday’s finals. But the Cubs came up empty from there, finishing with 25 team points – good for second overall.
“They definitely were the favorite (coming in), but we had every opportunity to take it from them,” Jesuit head coach Jim Slaughter said. “They were the ones who had to play tense, and we could have come in and snatched it. But it didn’t happen today. We didn’t do the things that we normally do. We didn’t play our game. That happens.”
At No. 1 singles, Mattawan’s Nathaniel Webster defeated Berkley junior Adnan Alousi in the final, 6-1, 6-2. It was redemption for Webster, who lost in last year’s championship match.
“I wanted to win a state championship so bad,” said Webster, who did not drop a set and lost just seven games over his four matches on the weekend. “My team, we were so excited to compete at the state championships. I’m glad I could win this for myself and for them.”
Birmingham Groves finished third overall thanks to a pair of individual championships Saturday. Senior Brett Kovan defeated Northern’s Owen Goodrich in three sets in the No. 4 singles final, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. The No. 1 seed entered the tournament with just two losses and entered the match against Goodrich having lost just a single game over his previous three matches.
The Falcons were also the top seed at No. 4 doubles, where the team of Will Hess and Will Kostello breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jesuit’s Jake Kuredjian and Alex Mackillop in their final.
The final two individual flight championships were both won by Midland Dow – which finished fifth overall with 19 team points. Freshman Colson Wells – the second seed – defeated top-seeded Nolan Kovan of Groves, 6-3, 6-2, in the championship match at No. 2 singles. And senior Saketh Kamaraju needed three sets to defeat Portage Northern’s Graham Holley, 7-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, in the No. 3 singles final.
The team title was the third overall for Sukup and his program, and it may not take 20 years to get to number four. The Huskies are young. They graduate just three starters and should return all four of their singles players in 2020.
“We’re really young,” Sukup said. “We’ll have all of our singles back and a good chunk of our doubles, so we’re excited about that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Forest Hills Northern's Nav Dalmia (front) and Jeff Consolla celebrate their No. 1 doubles title that contributed to the Huskies' first team championship since 1998. (Middle) Mattawan's Nathaniel Webster won the No. 1 singles flight title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)