Duo Share D2 Title, Duo Finishes Perfect Run

October 17, 2015

By Keith Dunlap

Special for Second Half

GRAND BLANC – It might have seemed like a bold proclamation when the boys tennis season started in August, but Portage Central sophomore Bill Duo had a lofty expectation for what he wanted his season to be like. 

“I think I was expecting to not drop a set,” Duo said. “If it happened, it happened. But I wasn’t expecting to drop a set. I was playing well.”

Duo’s expectation turned into reality, as he finished off the season by achieving his ambition on the final day of the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final on Saturday. 

Duo capped off his perfect season by not losing a set all year, with the final victory being a 6-4, 6-3 win over Connor Genschaw of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.

It was the third time this season that Duo defeated Genschaw, this time in a match that started outdoors at Holly High School but was suspended and moved indoors to Genesys Athletic Club when sleet arrived in the middle of the first set. 

Duo also played in the No. 1 singles championship match in 2014, but finished runner-up.

“The first time is definitely new territory,” Duo said. “The second time it’s like ‘yeah, I remember this.’ It was different places, but you kind of have to learn from that experience. I had to come out here and play. He played a great match. I was excited. I was pumped for the finals.” 

While Duo was the one who celebrated the individual title at the expense of Genschaw, both got to celebrate team success.

Portage Central and Forest Hills Central shared the team MHSAA title with 30 points apiece, three points ahead of third-place Midland Dow. 

Birmingham Groves, Birmingham Seaholm and Detroit U-D Jesuit all shared fourth place with 17 points.

Forest Hills Central also was champion in 2014, while Portage Central’s title was its first since 2001. 

A big storyline of the tournament was weather, which wreaked a lot of havoc on both days of the event.

Participants had to pack up right in the middle of the action both days and head to Genesys Athletic Club, where they had to warm up again and refocus. 

Granted, at the end people might not have minded the move indoors with everyone bundled up in sweatshirts, hats and blankets as they watched the action.

“You don’t (prepare for it),” Portage Central co-coach Erik Anderson said. “You really don’t. We stay focused and talk about getting our mindset. It doesn’t matter where we play; it’s how we play. Just focus on the ball and not the surroundings. It’s everything inside the lines. It doesn’t matter about the fans, spectators or environment. We prefer to play outdoors because there is more elements to the game, but if you come indoors it’s basically skill vs. skill.” 

At No. 2 singles, Michael Szabo of Midland Dow defeated Ben Orwin of Portage Central in another match that was in progress outside before being moved indoors, as was the No. 1 doubles match between Portage Central’s Kento Hirakawa and Cameron Raedy and Detroit U-D Jesuit’s tandem of Louis Wyre and Joey Wilson.

That might have been the most entertaining match of the day, with Hirakawa and Raedy finally prevailing, 6-4, 4-6 and 7-5. 

Lucas Guy of Portage Central took the title at No. 3 singles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over top-seeded Tyler Conrad of Midland Dow, while Jacob Wiltjer of Forest Hills Central topped Aditya Middha of Midand Dow at No. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-3.

The Forest Hills Central team of Justin James and Aidan Rynbrandt won the title at No. 2 doubles with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over J.J. Kirkman and Noah Nichols of Midland Dow, while Tim Spurlin and Jack Ziegler of Forest Hills Central won the No. 3 doubles crown with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 win over Brian McHale and Josh Belfer of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.

Finally, Peyton Herbert and Mike Battiste of Forest Hills Central won the No. 4 doubles title with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Andrew Dicks and Scott Anthony of Forest Hills Northern.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Portage Central and Forest Hills Central players pose together with the MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Portage Central's Bill Duo prepares to serve during his No. 1 singles final. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Performance of the Week: Northville's Sachiv Kumar

October 21, 2021

Northville tennisSachiv Kumar ♦ Northville
Sophomore ♦ Tennis

The Lower Peninsula Division 1 No. 1 singles bracket always is considered a showcase of premier players in Michigan, with seven of the last 10 Mr. Tennis Award winners emerging from that flight. Top seeds tend to dominate – over the last decade, LPD1 No. 1 singles has been won by the top seed six times and the second seed the other four seasons. Similarly, at the four 2021 LP Boys Tennis Finals last weekend, 11 flights were won by top seeds and four were won by second seeds. And all of that made what Kumar accomplished Friday at Kalamazoo College even more phenomenal.

Just a sophomore, Kumar entered the LPD1 No. 1 singles bracket as the fifth seed and defeated the fourth and top seeds before downing unseeded Clayton Anderson of Rochester in the championship match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5). The 6-7 (6), 6-0, 7-5, semifinal win over top seed Noah Roslin of Bloomfield Hills avenged a loss from earlier this fall, and Kumar wrapped up his season with a 24-7 record.

His Finals success wasn’t entirely a first for his family, however. Older sister Shanoli Kumar won No. 2 singles in LPD1 as a freshman in 2015, was runner-up at the same flight in 2016 and runner-up at No. 1 in 2018 on her way to winning that year’s Miss Tennis Award. Oldest sister Reeshma Kumar was part of the No. 2 doubles runner-up in LPD1 in 2016 and part of the No. 1 doubles runner-up in 2015.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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2021-22 Honorees

Oct. 14: Kate Brody, Grand Blanc golf - Report
Oct. 7:
Lilly Nelson, Negaunee tennis - Report
Sept. 30:
Stella Chapman, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Sept. 23:
Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16:
Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report

PHOTOS courtesy of the Northville tennis program.