Greenhills Near-Perfect in New Division

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

October 19, 2019

KALAMAZOO — Saturday was a perfect day for tennis and almost perfect for Ann Arbor Greenhills.

The Gryphons grabbed 39 of 40 points to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Boys Tennis Finals at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood and Detroit Country Day tied for second with 24 points each, while East Grand Rapids and St. Clair tied for fourth with 22.

This is the first year in Division 3 for Greenhills, the D-4 reigning champ who had won that division nine of the last 11 years.

“We were looking forward to coming in to see what it’s like (in D-3),” Greenhills coach Eric Gajar said. 

“It lived up to expectations. There are a lot of very good teams here on the second day of the tournament. We did well (Friday), but the kids felt it was a step up.”

Greenhills, which clinched the team title in the semifinal round, had the top seed in every flight except No. 4 singles.

That was a motivator for Gryphons freshman Chakor Rajendra, the second seed at that flight.

“He had a little chip on his shoulder because he had such a good year and was undefeated,” Gajar said.

“But then in three doubles, we were the one seed and lost to some guys seeded lower. That’s why you go out and play. Anything can happen.”

Rajendra defeated the top seed, St. Clair freshman Ian Pinnoo, 6-3, 6-3, and lost just two games heading into the final.

“I never knew that high school tennis could be this fun,” he said. “I’m part of a great team with so many amazing people.

“I learned a lot from this experience. I play USTA tournaments, and this is going to definitely transfer some of these things I’ve learned and help me become a better player and a better person overall.”

As for being seeded second, “I wanted to prove that I had what it took to be a state champion,” he said. 

“I just wanted to do the best I could. Seeding is great, but in the end it doesn’t matter.”

Playing on adjacent courts, a pair of brothers, Kaan and Mert Oral, also took home championship medals.

At No. 1 singles, Mert, a sophomore, defeated St. Clair’s third seed, Derek Distelrath, 6-4, 6-2.

At No. 2, Kaan, a senior, beat St. Clair’s second seed, Eli Pinnoo, in a 6-2, 7-6(11) barn-burner.

Playing behind his younger brother is not a problem for the senior.

“Last year he played No. 3 singles, and I played No. 2,” Kaan Oral said. “He grew a lot and got a lot better. I’m happy for him.”

The No. 1 singles match finished first and “I didn’t want him to one-up me,” the senior said. 

“There were intervals in my match when I was somewhat distracted with his match a little bit because I wanted him to win so badly, especially since he was down in his first set and had to claw back.”

Oral was up 2-0 in the second set, but then the momentum changed.

“(Pinnoo) hit some good shots, attacked more and was more aggressive,” he said. “I had like 10 set points.”

Pinnoo said the cheers from teammates helped motivate him.

“I kept fighting, keeping him in the point, making him move, tiring him out,” Pinnoo said.

“I just don’t give up and keep fighting for every point. I was trying to win for the team.”

Mert Oral admitted that being a top seed leads to a bit of extra pressure.

“I just tried not to focus on the seed (Friday) and play my way into the tournament and get a feel for everything. 

“(Saturday), I was really able to find my A game.”

In the semifinal, “The guy (No. 4 seed Ben Collins of East Grand Rapids) brought the best out of me, and in the finals that was a great match. I was able to just get by.

“I mean, I had to come back in the first. It was just trusting my game.”

Distelrath upset No. 2 seed Nikolas Gruskin of Detroit Country Day, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinal.

“It felt good because I lost to him in a full third during the regular season, and I was glad I got to play him again and get a chance to get some revenge,” he said.

Facing Oral, “He’s very good,” Distelrath said. “I went in with the mentality that I’ll give my best and work my hardest until I’m out of gas.”

At No. 3 singles, another freshman, Rishi Verma, defeated St. Clair’s Michael Mascarin, the second seed, 6-3, 6-2.

Verma was broken twice to start the match down 0-3, but “it feels nice to bring it back and then bring it home.

“I generally don’t like to be the top seed, actually, because of the pressure. But I guess it worked out this time.”

Verma said he was inspired by his teammates.

“I looked at my teammates, and they were all fighting, too,” he said. “I was like, we came all this way.

“You’ve just gotta push, gotta put in that effort and find that extra gear, and I did.”

Detroit Country Day’s second seeds at No. 3 doubles, Clay Hartje and Aidan Khaghany, spoiled Greenhills’ team sweep attempt with a 6-4, 6-3 win over top seeds Nathan Rosenberg and Finn Feldeisen.

Both teams advanced to the finals with three-set wins in their semifinals.

At No. 1 doubles, Henry Branch and Sahil Deenadayalu defeated Grant Moorhead and Tanner Warners, the second seeds from Grand Rapids Christian, 6-1, 6-1.

At No. 2, Joey Formicola and Daniel Stojanov beat Cranbrook’s second seeds, Hayes Bradley and David Hermelin, 6-3, 6-2.

At No. 4, Alex Schwendeman and Thomas Zeng defeated Cranbrook’s second seeds, Calvi Teste and Ben Conti, 6-2, 6-3.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Greenhills’ Kaan Oran reacts after winning a 13-11 second-set tie-break at No. 2 singles. (Middle) Greenhills’ Chakor Rajendra. (Below) St. Clair's Michael Mascarin serves at No. 3 singles. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)

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.

Okemos tennis“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.

Click for full results.

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.)