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.
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.)
No Just-Miss This Time: Groves Breaks Through with 1st Finals Win
By
Greg Chrapek
Special for Second Half
October 16, 2021
HOLLAND – This year’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Boys Tennis Finals had a new look.
Along with the return to their traditional format after last year’s COVID-driven changes, the tournament featured a new champion, several new competing schools and some brand new names to the Division 2 tennis scene.
Birmingham Groves, a five-time Finals runner-up, broke through and claimed the first boys tennis team title in school history. Groves finished the two-day tournament Saturday with 27 points to edge a familiar name, two-time reigning Division 2 champion Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, by one point. Last year’s Division 1 champion, Okemos, had moved into Division 2 this season and tied for third place with Midland Dow as both teams totaled 20 points.
For Groves and coach Dave Farmer, the title meant the end of a chase lasting a decade.
“I’ve been coaching here since 2010 and we’ve had several second and third-place finishes,” Farmer said. “This one is very special because it’s the first high school title I’ve ever won. I won three titles at Eastern Michigan University, but this is my first in 12 years of coaching high school tennis.
“We have a veteran team this year, and that is a big reason why we won it. We had great senior leadership and a lot of good juniors as well.”
Groves came into the tournament with nine seniors on the team and seven in the starting lineup. The Falcons were paced by their singles lineup but received big efforts from doubles down the stretch.
“We have a good group of singles players that carried us for the bulk of the year,” Farmer said. “Our doubles teams really picked it up in the tournament and really helped solidify the team.”
The Falcons also had a talented freshman in the singles lineup, and he made his high school Finals debut in a big way. Groves freshman Michael Liss won the No. 3 singles title as he defeated Will Seymour of Detroit U-D Jesuit 6-4, 6-3.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Liss said. “I just tried to stay calm and not get upset at anything at all. I feel that as a team we were a cohesive unit, and we all pushed each other to get better. I’m just a freshman, but I know we’ve been really close to winning it as a team. We’ve finished second and third a lot so we really wanted to win it this year.”
Liss was not the only freshman to win an individual flight championship. Okemos freshman Suchir Nagisetty arrived on the Finals stage in a big way as well as he defeated Andrew Williams of Mattawan 7-5, 6-1, to clinch at No. 4 singles.
The win was especially meaningful for Nagisetty as he followed in the footsteps of his older brother Sid who won an individual flight title during his freshman season at Okemos in 2017. Sid was in attendance cheering and supporting his brother and has played his own role in Suchir’s development as a player.
“My brother coached me and trained me this summer,” Suchir said. “I wanted to follow in his footsteps and win a state title in my freshman year. It is something I’ve thought about for a long time. There is some pressure, but once you start playing the match your love of tennis takes over and you just concentrate on playing the game. Winning the title feels great, and it’s nice to have something in common I can share with my brother.”
A new name to Division 2 tennis but a familiar face on the state scene, Okemos sophomore Ethan Portnoy, came away with the No. 1 singles championship. Portnoy, who played doubles last season, moved up to No. 1 singles and defeated Connor Stafford of Grosse Pointe South 6-3, 6-4.
Like Nagisetty, Portnoy had a good example of what it takes to win an individual championship under his own roof as his older brother Josh Portnoy was a two-time Finals flight champion during his high school career at Okemos.
“It’s really cool to follow in my older brother’s footsteps,” Portnoy said. “I had a lot of confidence that I could do it. I played a lot of USTA (United States Tennis Association) tournaments in the summer and had a lot of tough matches, and I knew I could bring that experience to high school tennis.”
At No. 2 singles, senior Owen Goodrich of Forest Hills Northern wrapped up his career in a memorable way by outlasting Okemos senior George Fan in a grueling, three-set struggle 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
“I just took it one point at a time,” Goodrich said. “I’ve played him before, and I knew it was going to be a tough match. I knew he’s a great player, but he’s not invincible.”
Winning his final match as a senior was a fitting way to go out for Goodrich, who lost in the final at No. 4 singles as a freshman.
“I lost in the state finals to a player from Okemos as a freshman,” Goodrich said. “Now I win my final match in the state finals against a player from Okemos. I couldn’t ask for a better way to finish my senior year. It’s amazing.”
In doubles competition, winners came from four schools.
Grosse Pointe South, in Division 2 for the first time after having played in Division 1 for years, finished in a tie for sixth place and was led by seniors Blake Discher and Alex Prather. Discher and Prather teamed up to stop Thomas Ladwein and Aaron Li of Midland Dow 6-4, 6-3, at No. 1 doubles.
“We played really good,” Prather said. “It was one of our best days ever. This is the second year that we’ve played as partners, and we do a great job of supporting each other.”
The duo was determined to bring home a title for South, and even though they believed they could win, there was an element of awe when it was over.
“I thought we could take it with how much we put into it,” Discher said, “but in the end we were kind of shocked that we actually did it.”
The Jesuit No. 4 doubles team of Sam Owens and Stephen Cibulas won a tough struggle against Andrew Weitzman and Gabe Klein of Groves 7-5, 7-6 (2). The win was made even harder considering the duo had just spent plenty of energy getting past a tough Forest Hills Northern team in the semifinal round.
“We had a real tough match with Forest Hills Northern, and it drained a lot of our energy,” Owens said. “We had to be more mentally tough in this match. They were up 4-1 in the second half so we had to come back to win it.”
“We just played with more energy,” Cibulas added. “It was all about the energy. We also support each other really well.”
At No. 2 doubles, the Forest Hills Northern duo of Aaryan Singh and Anderson Halland were pushed to the limit before claiming a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, victory against Dylan Wolf and Alexandras Abarius of Groves.
Birmingham Seaholm, which tied for sixth with Grosse Pointe South, was paced by its No. 3 doubles team of Alex George and Alex Lewis. The Seaholm duo won the No. 3 doubles title by stopping Kyle Wang and Joey Lamberg of Forest Hills Northern 6-3, 6-3.
PHOTOS (Top) Birmingham Groves' Michael Liss returns a volley Saturday during his run to the No. 3 singles championship. (Middle) Okemos' Ethan Portnoy drives a shot during a No. 1 singles match. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)