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Final Match Decides UP D2 Champions
May 28, 2015
By Craig Remsburg
Special for Second Half
NEGAUNEE — It came down to the last match of the day.
Iron Mountain needed a win at No. 1 doubles to forge a tie with Westwood for the Upper Peninsula Division 2 boys tennis title.
Coach Greg Stegall’s Mountaineers got what they wanted.
Iron Mountain’s Danny Willman and Jordan Wadge outlasted Munising’s Joel Werner and Nick Cercone in a grueling match, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to compile 13 team points for a share of the division crown with defending champion Westwood.
“I’m really happy,” Stegall said. “We didn’t come in here as the favorite to win, but everything went well for us and other teams had some upsets.
“My No. 1 doubles had to win that match, my No. 4 doubles (Mark Koeschner and Jake LeFebre) winning was the biggest surprise and my No. 3 singles (Tyson Wadge) winning was huge for him. He had lost to his opponent (Brett Fredrickson of Westwood) twice this season and wasn’t looking forward to meeting him.”
The Mountaineers’ Willman said he and Wadge were “very consistent” in their match, save for the first set.
“(Munising) was returning everything and we knew we had to work harder,” Willman said.
Added Wadge: “Coach (Stegall) told us to take it slower, keep the ball in play and let them make mistakes.”
Like Iron Mountain, Westwood placed four flights in the finals. The Patriots won two of them.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” said Westwood coach Chris Jackson. “I didn’t know how things would pan out going in, but overall, the team did well.
“This was the most balanced division since I’ve been here (six years). Every flight had a definite favorite with no trend(s).
“Depth led us,” he added. “There was only one flight where we took a zero.”
Westwood has now won three of the last four division titles, two outright.
Jake Kerkela of Westwood captured the No. 4 singles crown, 6-1, 6-1, over Munising’s Jared Immel. It was the sophomore Kerkela’s first title in this, his first season, on the varsity.
“My serve was good today,” he said. “I tried to keep the ball alive and not get too crazy.”
Brandon Benda and Hunter Roose — who won last year’s No. 4 doubles championship — gave the Patriots their other triumph, at No. 3 doubles over West Iron County’s Kevin Ballinger and Tyler McCarthy, 6-3, 6-0.
“(West Iron) played the alleys well,” Roose said, “so we adjusted by moving toward the alleys more.”
Added Benda: “We took control in the second set. We placed our shots well, got to the net and spiked the ball.”
Claiming the No. 1 singles championship was Micah Heath of Gwinn. He beat Munising’s Joel Schramm, 6-3, 6-3; Schramm was trying to become the Mustangs’ third straight winner in the flight. Noah Ackerman had won two straight.
“From Day 1 (this season), my goal was to win the U.P.’s” Heath said Thursday. “I’ve been trying since my freshman year and now, I’ve reached my goal. This is icing on the cake.”
Heath said his strategy was to “be consistent and keep my head in the zone.”
“I get frustrated when things don’t go my way,” he said.
That wasn’t the case Thursday, as Heath overcame an early bout of nerves to largely control his match.
“I was a little nervous early, but then I hit a couple of points and some confidence set in,” he said.
“At the beginning of the second set, I won two straight games to go up 2-1, and the momentum started going my way.”
Gwinn coach Dan Turecky said Heath’s “control of the play” was the difference in the match.
“Micah was mentally tough and confident,” the coach said. “That was the difference in the match. I’m so proud of him.”
Said Munising coach Rod Gendron: “Micah’s the best player in the U.P. He played great today.”
Munising’s lone win came at No. 2 doubles, where Mikey Graves and Ian McInnis knocked off Jake Kierzek and Nathen Nelson of Westwood, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“We were down many times, but we stayed together,” Graves said. “We started playing with each other and not as individuals.
Added McInnis: “We weren’t really focused in the first set, but the last two sets, we were ready."
Munising placed four flights in the finals, but won just the one.
“I’m extremely happy with four flights in the finals,” Gendron commented. “My guys left it all on the court.”
Ishpeming picked up a win at No. 2 singles, where Cody Johnson beat Iron Mountain’s Luke Truscott, 6-2, 6-1.
“I was really nervous coming in,” Johnson said. “I started off slow, but took control the beginning of the second set. My serve has always been good.
“It’s crazy. (Winning a U.P. individual title) is not done very often at Ishpeming. It has been an exciting year.”
Said Ishpeming coach Erl Langness: “Cody has been consistent all year. Whether he wins or loses, he puts forth the same effort.”
Johnson has the distinction of participating in MHSAA Finals play in football, wrestling and tennis this school year.
"I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he said.
PHOTOS: (Top) Iron Mountain's Tyson Wadge returns the ball to Westwood's Brett Fredrickson during the championship match at No. 3 singles at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Final held at Negaunee High School on Thursday. Wadge prevailed, 6-0, 6-0. (Middle) Gwinn's Micah Heath earned the No. 1 singles flight championship at the U.P. Division 2 Final. (Photos by Elizabeth Bailey.)
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Okemos, Genschaw Earn D2 Celebrations
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2017
KALAMAZOO — Okemos went home with the team trophy Saturday, but no one celebrated an individual medal with more exuberance than Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Connor Genschaw at No. 1 singles.
The Chiefs won their first Lower Peninsula Division 2 title in 10 years before the finals even started at Kalamazoo College.
No. 3 doubles clinched the championship in the semifinals when top seeds Deniz Kalfa and Druv Talluri defeated Midland Dow’s fifth seeds, Ryan Killmaster and Kevin Kraef, 6-3, 6-0, to seal the win.
Kalfa and Talluri were two of six Chiefs who ended the season without losing a match.
“I don’t take a lot of credit for that (state title),” Okemos coach Chris Silker said. “These kids have worked really, really hard.
“We have an incredibly vested community that is behind the kids 110 percent. I think that’s the key to our success.”
Okemos dominated with 36 points. Birmingham Groves and Midland Dow tied for second with 21 each and Forest Hills Central was fourth with 20. Birmingham Seaholm (18) rounded out the top five.
Genschaw, the second seed, was bolstered by the roar of the crowd cheering on every winner and carrying him to a 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 win over top seed Gabe Liss of Birmingham Groves in the final.
Genschaw was swamped by teammates on the court after the match.
“It’s a culmination of all four years going into this match,” Genschaw said. “I had to cap it off with this one. It means so much to me emotionally.
“Now I’m not going into my life saying, ‘Oh, I lost in the finals in my senior year.’ Now I can say I got a state championship my senior year, and it’s awesome.”
Genschaw breezed through the first set but by the second, “I think I exhausted myself playing so well in the first set. I was honestly on fire in the first set, and I got really tired in the second set.
“Then the last set, I was like, this is my senior year. I’ve got to push as hard as I could. I ended up winning the last set, 6-1. It was all mental at that point.”
“Expecting it would be more than I would say coming in, but I sure hoped he could do it,” Central coach Dan Bolhouse added. “He played well throughout the tournament.
“He plays a lot of tournaments out of season so he was mentally prepared to play some tough opponents.”
Liss said he knew the match would be a challenge.
“He’s a senior, and he was thriving in the atmosphere,” the Groves junior said. “He had the crowd firing him up. It was his last year, and he was playing the best he could.”
After dropping the first set at love, “I just tried taking it one game at a time,” Liss added. “I knew the score was 6-0, but the games were closer and I was still in the match and (I knew) that I could keep fighting back for every point.”
No. 2 and 3 singles also featured Groves players with second seed Gabe Vidinas defeating top seed Josh Portnoy of Okemos, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 2 and Jonah Liss losing to top seed Shrey Patel of Okemos, 6-2, 6-4.
Portnoy and Patel are both freshmen.
“Shrey and Josh have been a big part of our success,” Silker said. “They both went undefeated this season until Josh’s final loss today against Gabe Vidinas.
“Even though (Portnoy) had a win over him during the season, Gabe played much better today and I think a little bit of that was his veteran experience.”
Vidinas’ match featured such long points that his two-setter took as long as the first flight’s three.
After streaking to a 4-0 lead to start the match, Vidinas won 6-1 but then had to fight for the second set.
“I played him twice before and he grinds; he’s very tough to play,” Vidinas said of Portnoy. “Every time I always have to be playing my best to beat him. It was a tough match.
“I could tell he wasn’t playing his best in the first set. I did my best to play my game.”
Vidinas, a junior, called for a trainer at 6-5 of the second set.
“I was cramping quite a bit,” he said. “Luckily I aced him to get to the changeover. I just held it in and toughed it out (to win).”
With teammates playing next to him, “The energy of my teammates makes me play better and I can be shouting and hollering all the time and my teammates can support me,” Vidinas said. “It’s always nice.”
Portnoy a freshman, said he knew what happened in the first set and tried to change it for the second.
“I was playing too offensive,” he said. “I kept missing deep. I think I should have played safer.”
By the second set, “I just decided his forehand is really strong,” Liss said. “His backhand wasn’t as good, but it was still pretty good.
“I’m like, I’ll just keep it to his backhand and he won’t be able to attack as much. It worked.”
The Patel match featured two freshmen in the third-flight final.
“I had to stay calm, be confident and move (Jonah Liss) around,” Patel said. “He played a lot better in the second set.”
Liss said playing on one of the front courts was “cool.”
“I’ve watched a few (USTA) national tournaments here,” he said. “It felt really cool. I’ve seen a lot of great players play here.”
Portage Central senior Vishu Ghantasala, the second seed at No. 4 singles, expected a tough opponent and he got it, losing to Okemos top-seeded junior Daniel Gorelik, 6-0, 6-1.
Ghantasala got a look at Gorelik during the semis.
“I saw Daniel playing next to me and he was done a good hour, hour and a half before me, so I knew it was going to be really tough when I had to play just a half hour after I was done,” Ghantasala said.
“A couple of my teammates have played him and they gave me some tips, but in the end it was really hard.”
Although his team already had the team trophy, Gorelik, who lost just three games the entire tournament, said that did not affect his play.
“The mindset was still just go out there and do your job, not let up,” he said. “You’ve got to get to the ultimate goal.”
Gorelik, who finished the season undefeated, said his teammates pushed each other all year.
“We have a lot of talent on the team this year and it makes it much better when you have a lot of good people to hit with,” he said.
Okemos’ No. 3 doubles team featured a senior (Kalfa) and a freshman (Talluri) who went undefeated all season.
Playing in his first state tournament, “It feels crazy,” Talluri said. “It’s just a crazy time. Everything just happened so fast. It was so much fun with the team.”
Kalfa felt a bit of pressure.
“This match was a lot different than any other match I’ve played knowing it’s my last high school match,” he said.
Partnering all season, “Mentally we became more than friends, more than partners, like brothers almost,” Kalfa said of Talluri.
“We always brought each other up, even today when we were both down mentally, the other one was trying their best to bring us up. He’s the best partner I could ask for.”
The duo defeated Seaholm’s second seeds, Aidan O’Neill and Max Levitsky, 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, in the final.
Okemos swept the doubles flights.
Other winners were second seeds Dinakar Talluri and Zal Chinoy at No. 1, top seeds Rohan Shah and Siddharth Agisetty, who did not lose a match all season, at No. 2; and second seeds Karthik Kolisetty and Aditya Kandula at No. 4.
PHOTOS: (Top) Okemos celebrates its Division 2 championship Saturday at Kalamazoo College. (Middle) Forest Hills Central's Connor Genschaw returns a volley during his No. 1 singles match. (Top photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com; bottom photo by Pam Shebest.)