Cranbrook 4-Peats with Near Perfection

October 20, 2018

By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half

NOVI/WEST BLOOMFIELD – Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood boys tennis coach Steve Herdoiza said his team had conquered challenges all season. But Saturday’s MHSAA Finals was a different one. 

The main opponent was time, as weather forced the event to be played much longer than anticipated. 

Teams waited out a delay in the morning so the outdoor courts at Novi High School could dry, and by the time the semifinals got into full swing just before noon, more bad weather had arrived.

That forced everyone to pack up and drive to an indoor court roughly 30 minutes away, The Sports Club of West Bloomfield, to finish out the day.

The result was an event that didn’t end until just after 7:30 p.m., but the wait was well worth it for Cranbrook. 

For the fourth straight year, the Cranes captured the Lower Peninsula Division 3 title, doing so in dominating fashion by winning seven flights and earning 39 points. 

“They’ve responded that way all year,” Herdoiza said. “Whatever challenge has been put in front of them, they’ve handled it beautifully with the same approach. Obviously, (Saturday’s weather) threw some things off.”

Detroit Country Day was runner-up with 28 points, while East Grand Rapids netted 25 points to take third.

Cranbrook was led by junior Lucas Bosch, who captured the No. 1 singles title with a three-set win over rival Nikolas Gruskin of Country Day. 

It was the third victory of the season for Bosch over Gruskin, but by far the hardest to achieve. 

Gruskin won the first set, 6-3, before Bosch rallied to win the second, 6-1. 

Bosch then pulled out a 6-4 win in the third set to win his second straight individual title after he won the crown at No. 2 singles last year.

Bosch said Gruskin made adjustments from the previous two matches, and playing indoors without any elements made it more intense.

“There was a lot more running this match,” Bosch said. “Going to my backhand, he was serving it a lot better. He had out-wide serves slicing away.”

Bosch had plenty of help though.

Justin Luo (No. 2), Nolan Sherwood (No. 3) and Joe Croskey (No. 4) each backed up their No. 1 seed in their respective flights by winning titles to help Cranbrook sweep the singles portion of the event. 

Cranbrook won three of the four doubles flights, with the team of Patrick Tiwari/Sohum Acharya at No. 2 doubles, the team of Hayes Bradley/David Hermelin at No. 3 and the tandem of Geoffrey Qin/Isaiah Croskey at No. 4 doubles all finishing first. 

Tiwari/Sohum and Qin/Croskey were seeded No. 1 going into the tournament, but the title won by Bradley/Hermelin was more of a surprise since that team entered seeded No. 3. 

The only flight won by a team not named Cranbrook came at No. 1 doubles, where the East Grand Rapids pair of Ryan Poste and Kole Butterer won despite entering as the No. 3 seed. 

“Even though we won by a wide margin, there were a lot of close matches that went our way,” Herdoiza said. “I attribute that to the guys and how they handle pressure moments. They are poised, and their competitiveness was off-the-charts good.”

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PHOTO: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood's Lucas Bosch sends back a volley during Saturday's Division 3 Finals. (Middle) Detroit Country Day's Nikolas Gruskin returns a shot, also at No. 1 singles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

West Catholic Youth is Served, and so is Liggett's Experience

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

October 15, 2022

KALAMAZOO – Simon Caldwell was the top seed at No. 1 singles at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Boys Tennis Finals, but he had to survive a three-set semifinal nailbiter before clinching the title with a two-set championship match victory.

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, sparked by three individual winners, went home with the team championship trophy earning 30 points, Hudsonville Unity Christian was second with 27 points, Traverse City St. Francis third with 22, Big Rapids fourth with 18 and Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep fifth with 17. It was Liggett's fourth team title since 2016.

The singles semifinals were played indoors while several family members and fans from Unity Christian helped dry the outdoor courts.

Caldwell, who is just a freshman at Grand Rapids West Catholic, qualified individually for this weekend. In a semifinal match that lasted 2½ hours with numerous long rallies, he defeated junior Daniel Pero, the fourth seed from Brooklyn Columbia Central, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

In the final, Caldwell bested the second seed, Liggett junior Sebastian Courtright, 6-3, 6-0.

“Both of those guys are great players, and I played really well in both (matches),” Caldwell said.

Leading 4-1 in the third semifinal set, Caldwell started cramping. He lost two match points at 5-3, then started serving underhand.

Once he won the match, fans – crammed in the stands – gave him a standing ovation.

“It happens to the best of us,” the freshman said of cramping. “Daniel is a great player and started to come back on me. Anyone could have won that match.

“I just happened to pull through at the end.”

Courtright, who also played at No. 1 singles last year, said his rival played a good match: “I think he was ultimately more consistent and more experienced.”

Top seed Owen Jackson, a St. Francis sophomore, defeated sixth-seeded Grand Rapids South Christian junior Levi Yaffey, 6-0, 6-0, in the No. 2 final.

Jackson lost just four games during the entire tournament.

“It’s a lot of keeping yourself pumped up and keeping yourself moving and going and always supporting your teammates,” he said. “The work we put in this season really helped, and playing the big schools really helped, like (Midland) Dow, Forest Hill Northern, Forest Hills Central. All those matches help you to push forward and to always grow as a player and as a person.”

At No 3 singles, third seed Micah Riddering, a Unity Christian senior, defeated top seed Chris Bobrowski, a junior from St. Francis, 6-3, 6-1.

Traverse City St. Francis tennisRiddering lost in the first round of No. 3 singles last year and credits his grandfather, Click Groot, with helping him go from worst to first.

“It’s overall consistency,” Riddering said. “I just kept the ball in and waited for him to miss, kept it deep.”

Bobrowski said both played their hardest but “he just had a good day today and a great mindset. He was able to push past me a little bit further.”

Learning from the experience, “It teaches me I might need a little bit stronger mindset during the matches and that it only comes down to one match at the end when you make it to the Finals, so you’ve got to play your best and your hardest.”

After dropping the first set at No. 4 singles, Liggett sophomore Charlie Cooksey, the third seed, defeated Allegan junior Jackson Morrie, the top seed, 2-6, 6-1 6-2.

In the first set, “I was hitting the ball too hard and not putting it in,” Cooksey said. “In the second set, I told myself to reset, brought myself together and pulled it through.”

Jackson went from playing No. 4 doubles his freshman year to No. 2 doubles last year, making it to the quarterfinals both times.

This season, “I put in some hard work and some effort,” he said, noting that his strength is his quickness on the court.

While Liggett’s No. 3 doubles team, top seeds Steve Wheatley and Griffin Marchal, won their Finals match, 6-0, 6-3, against third seeds Carson Poole and David Ansley of St. Francis, their semifinals victory clinched the team championship for Liggett.

“Ever since the start of the year, we started off 18-0 and just clicked right away,” Wheatley said. “We knew coming into this it was our tournament to win.”

Liggett coach Mark Sobieralski said the pair had some great wins over teams in higher divisions.

“They’re both hockey players as their first sport; they’re just athletes,” Sobieralski said. “Stevie (a senior) is the guy at the net. He’s all over. He’s got incredible hands.

“Griffin, the freshman, we had him back, keep the ball in play, set up Stevie. They were like a match made in heaven.”

Sobieralski was especially proud of his No. 1 doubles team of senior Campbell Marchal and junior Tommy Ugval.

“They struggled so much during the beginning of the year,” he said. “They had a hard time and weren’t really together. They were the No. 4 seed and had a below .500 record on the season

“We play a really difficult schedule, but they were so together all weekend and pulled the whole thing out from being the fourth seed.”

The pair defeated top seeds Charlie King and Derek Berta of St. Francis, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3, in the semifinal before besting second seeds Jacob Lanning and Will Anama, from Unity Christian, 7-5, 6-1, in the final.

Unity Christian coach Bradley Miedema figured his team was headed for third place but was thrilled with the second -place trophy.

“I told the guys if we all just take care of what we can do seed-wise and pull some upsets, there’s a chance we can win it,” he said.

Seniors Andrew Miller and Dominic Hop listened to their coach.

“They were the No. 5 seeds (at No. 2 doubles) and now they (won) their Final,” Miedema said. “That’s one I’m most proud of this year.”

Unity Christian loses eight seniors from his varsity, but Miedema said with 24 junior varsity players, “I think we’ll be able to slot in some good players next year.”

At No. 4 doubles, second seeds Elijah Haynes and Ari Ziska of Big Rapids defeated top seeds Ryan King and Niko Cooksey from Liggett, 6-3, 6-4.

St. Francis coach Dane Fosgard said this year’s team included six players who had never been to the Finals.

“It was definitely a new experience for them,” he said. “They did great, but a couple of our flights lost in the first round, so I think they’re going to be hungry for some wins next year.

“Third place isn’t all that bad, even though we expected first or second.”

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PHOTOS by High School Sports Scene.