Greenhills Extends Title Streak to 7

October 18, 2014

By Butch Harmon
Special to Second Half 

HOLLAND – The Ann Arbor Greenhills boys tennis team made it seven MHSAA Finals titles in a row Saturday at Hope College when it captured the Lower Peninsula Division 4 state championship

And for Greenhills coach Eric Gajar, title number seven was just as exciting as the previous six.

“It’s a different group of guys and a different feeling every year,” Gajar said. “We’ve had a lot of pressure on us all year, and we take everybody’s best shot. We may have taken some of the drama out of it by clinching the title on Friday, but it was still exciting to win the state title.

“This never gets old. It’s always fun to win it.”

Greenhills clinched Friday as it saw all four of its doubles pairs qualify for Saturday’s play and three singles flights earn trips to the semifinals. The Gryphons then captured three doubles championships along with a pair of singles titles to finish with 33 points. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett placed second with 22, while Traverse City St. Francis rounded out the top three with 21 points.

“Some of the guys struggled earlier this season, but they kept working and persevered,” Gajar said. “It just took a while for everything to sort itself out.”

Setting the table for Greenhills was its doubles teams.

At No. 1 doubles, junior Brandon Johnson and sophomore Sam Talsma captured a title with a 6-2, 6-1 win against David Niewoonder and Dean VanElderen of Kalamazoo Christian. Johnson and Talsma were on winning doubles teams last season as Talsma also played No. 1 and Johnson was at No. 4.

“It’s the same feeling you have of winning but at a different level,” Johnson said. “It feels real good to win it at one doubles this year.”

Repeating at No. 1 was particularly special for the senior Talsma.

“It’s pretty nice to go out with another title,” Talsma said. “I had a new partner this year in Brandon. It was a nice season getting to know him, and winning the state title again feels great.”

A pair of sophomores hooked up for Greenhills to win No. 2 doubles. Andy Xie and Isak Akervall captured a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Alex Dow and Dave Sekhon of University Liggett.

“We’re real happy with the outcome,” Akervall said. “We had a pretty tough match in the semifinals yesterday. We had some nerves early, but then we settled down.”

The squad also felt some nerves en route to keeping the team title streak alive.

“You don’t want to be the team that breaks the streak,” Xie said. “The streak is like the elephant in the room.”    

Rounding out the doubles titles for Greenhills was the No. 4 team of freshman Zach Wu and senior David Groden, who faced a familiar foe in the final. Wu and Groden had split a pair of matches with Jackson Richmond and Ryan Navin of Traverse City St. Francis earlier this season.

Wu and Groden won the season series and the flight as they claimed a 6-3, 6-1 victory this time.

“Our whole season we have been working to this point,” Wu said. “We were really focused today and playing the way we were supposed to.”

The lone doubles title not won by the Gryphons featured a thrilling match at No. 3 that went three sets and featured the surprise squad of the tournament.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s No. 3 pair of junior Josh Sullivan and sophomore John Jakubowski came into the tournament seeded fifth. On Friday, Sullivan and Jakubowski defeated the No. 1 seed from University Liggett in the semifinal. They followed that up Saturday with a gritty 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win against Matt Chatas and Nick Wu of Greenhills, who entered the tournament seeded second.

“Tennis is such an up-and-down sport,” Jakubowski said. “There are so many highs and lows, I’m just so glad we ended it on a high.”

“We were just hoping to play our best and maybe make it to the semifinals,” Sullivan added. “This is just a great feeling. This is crazy.” 

In singles action, the feature match came at No. 1, where a pair of seniors met in a rematch of last year’s title match.

Lansing Catholic’s Matt Heeder defeated Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Nick Solarewicz in last year’s No. 1 singles final. This year the two seniors again put on a dazzling display of tennis with Solarewicz coming out with a 6-4, 6-3 win.

“It was the same exact final as last year,” Solarewicz said. “We are both seniors, and it both meant a lot to us. The first set I started slow and I had some nerves, but then they wore off and I played my game and played my best.”

The title was the first for Solarewicz, who reached the semifinals as a sophomore and the final as a junior.

“To do it in my senior year is special,” Solarewicz said. “I know Matt real well. We played together in juniors, and it was a real great match.”

At No. 2 singles Kalamazoo Hackett sophomore Henry Hedeman made it two MHSAA titles in two years. Hedeman, who won at No. 3 singles last season, captured the No. 2 title this time with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Sam Holmes of Traverse City St. Francis.

“The competition was definitely stiffer at No. 2 singles,” Hedeman said. “I felt I played great the whole tournament.”

The win put Hedeman halfway to his goal of four state titles.

“That has been my main goal since last year,” Hedeman said. “After I won it last year I made it a goal to win it all four years."

Ann Arbor Greenhills made its presence felt in singles action by winning at Nos. 3 and 4.

At No. 3 singles, junior Gage Feldeisen turned back Ian Worthington of Grand Rapids Catholic Central 6-2, 6-1. As a captain this year, the win was special for Feldeisen.

“There was a little extra pressure,” Feldeisen said. “As a captain you have to perform and show what it means to be a Greenhills tennis player. Being a Greenhills tennis player means playing your best and being respectful.”

At No. 4 singles, Greenhills freshman Sonaal Verma showed why he is ready to carry on the Greenhills winning tradition as he defeated Noah Katt of Kalamazoo Hackett 6-2, 6-0.

“It’s pretty special to come in as a freshman and win state,” Verma said. 

With number seven in the books, the question for the Gryphons is: Can they make it eight straight next year?

“We will have 10 of our 14 starters back next year and also our two alternates,” Gajar said. “We also have some players coming up from a strong junior varsity team. I know that University Liggett has a lot of players coming back next year also, so it should be fun.”  

Click for full results. 

PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Greenhills coach Eric Gajar (left), congratulates his No. 3 doubles pair of Andy Xie (center) and Isak Akervall (right) at Hope College. (Middle) Grand Rapids West Catholic's Nick Solarewicz returns a shot during his No. 1 singles match. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).

Doubles Deliver Ishpeming's 1st Boys Tennis Finals Title Since 1994

By Alexandria Bournonville
Special for MHSAA.com

May 31, 2023

ISHPEMING — Through a rousing fight on neutral tennis courts at Westwood High School, Ishpeming won the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Tuesday.

It capped off quite a rollercoaster of a season for these Hematites, who hadn’t won a U.P. title in the sport since 1994 when they competed in the Class C-D division. They hadn’t even been a U.P. runner-up since finishing second in Division 2 in 2004, just a couple of years after the U.P. split into numeric divisions for tennis.

On Tuesday, Ishpeming captured three flight championships, all in doubles, to score 12 points to 11 for runner-up Iron Mountain, which won only one flight but scored points in all but one of the rest.

Munising and West Iron County tied for third with nine points, while Menominee was a relatively close fifth with seven.

Each of the five schools present won at least one flight, with Munising – with two – the only other team to win multiple championships besides the Hematites.

But it proved to be Ishpeming’s day, though that came about almost completely through doubles.

“I feel amazing,” Ishpeming head coach Kaitlin Rich said. “I was watching the last match, and the kids came over with their arms pumped in the air and … I’m just really proud of them.

“This is something that really hasn’t happened in Ishpeming for the tennis program, and it just shows how dedicated these kids are to excellence.

“I have so many kids that are dual sporting. They play baseball and AAU (basketball), and to edge out Iron Mountain by one point? I’m just really proud of them.”

Rich had a relatively inexperienced team and thought it might’ve been too soon for her lineup to contend for the title.

“I have three seniors … one senior had never played before, and I’m really happy because our other two seniors are U.P. champions,” the coach said. “I’m really glad their last meet of the year they took the gold, and I’m really proud of them.

Munising’s Carson Kienitz returns a shot during a No. 1 doubles match.“We’ll have a very stocked team next year as well. … Hopefully, we can work a little bit in the summer and come back for another one next year.”

The Hematites scored 11 of their 12 points in doubles, winning championships at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 and finishing as runners-up at No. 1.

At No. 2, Logan Hurkmans and Ben Rubick scored a 6-1, 6-3 win in the championship match over Tanner Theurerkauf and Landon Daigneau of Menominee.

No. 3 proved to be one of the most competitive finals matches of the day, even though it went only two sets. Ishpeming’s Caden Luoma and Ryan Maki hung on for a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) win over Munising’s duo of Mike Robinson II and Logan Walsh.

And No. 4 appeared to be more typical only by that standard set at No. 3 as the Hematites’ Griffin Argall and Ethan Corp won 6-1, 6-4 in the final over West Iron’s Dominick Brunswick and Jackson Secord.

The only doubles flight not won by Ishpeming still proved important to its team title as the Hematites’ Hayden Hares and Hunter Smith picked up two points for reaching the finals as they lost in another close match to Munising’s Carson Kienitz and Kane Nebel, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3.

“Hayden Hares had a little accident (last) weekend,” Rich said. “He had a gash (over the whole) bottom of his foot … but he played it out.”

And also just as important to the Hematites’ success was No. 4 singles player Tramon Gauthier winning his first-round match 6-0, 6-0.

That win gave Ishpeming its one final point to push it over the top.

“We knew the numbers coming in (to the finals) were going to be really tight between us, Iron Mountain, Munising, West Iron,” Rich said. “I told my singles players we need one point somewhere, we need one point and Tramon Gauthier stepped it up and he won his first-round match.

“That sealed it for us, and I couldn’t be prouder of him specifically, too.”

Gauthier advanced to face eventual No. 4 singles champion Zander Birmingham of West Iron in the semifinals, where Birmingham prevailed 6-3, 6-2 before going on to defeat Iron Mountain’s Colin Schneider in the final, 6-4, 6-4, to give the Wykons their lone flight championship of the day.

Iron Mountain picked up its flight title at No. 2 singles, where Kaden Sheldon pulled off a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 comeback against Menominee’s Danny Birch in the final.

“It just wasn’t enough team-wise for us to come away (with the team title), but I’m really happy for Kaden, he was our one first-place finish for the whole day,” Mountaineers coach Marcus Celello said. “Overall, we finished second and I’m really proud of the guys for that.

Menominee’s Danny Birch chases down a shot at No. 2 singles.“We only won one dual match during the (regular) season, but we had a lot of tough opponents and we split with Ishpeming. We knew that we were going to be right there with them at the end of the day, and it came right down literally to the final match.

“We’ve come a long way. Our singles have been pretty strong all season, but our doubles teams really were a work in progress, and today they showed up and obviously we finished ... a little short, but all the guys improved so much from the beginning of the season.

“We lost to a really good Ishpeming team, and I’m really happy for them.”

Iron Mountain added a pair of runner-up finishes, and just as importantly, got through the first round at four other flights to ring up its 11 points.

Munising’s two titlists came at No. 1 doubles, with Kienitz and Nebel winning, and at No. 3 singles, where Ashton Wymer could make a case for the best championship match of the day when he defeated West Iron’s Drew Alexa 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.

“I’m happy with how our guys competed, and I think the program’s in good standing going forward,” said Mustangs head coach Noah Ackerman, himself a Munising tennis star not quite a full decade ago. “That was my goal, taking over, was hopefully we can get (our) foot in the door, get back into competing for U.P.s.”

West Iron’s champion was Birmingham as the Wykons had a pair of runner-up finishes and Munising had one as well.

For Menominee, No. 1 singles player Brock Murphy picked up the Maroons’ flight championship with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Iron Mountain’s Reece Kangas. In fact, Murphy never lost a game all day, as after receiving a bye in the first round, he also posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Munising’s Danny Goss in the semifinals.

Menominee also had a pair of runner-up finishes.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming's Hayden Hares returns a volley at No. 1 doubles during Tuesday’s UP Division 2 Finals at Westwood. (Middle) Munising’s Carson Kienitz returns a shot during a No. 1 doubles match. (Below) Menominee’s Danny Birch chases down a shot at No. 2 singles. (Photos by Alexandria Bournonville.)