Greenhills Pursues '9' with Proven Formula
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
August 26, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
ANN ARBOR – Ann Arbor Greenhills boys tennis coach Eric Gajar was quick with a response when asked about his team's secret to its current eight-year run as the MHSAA Division 4 champion.
“The secret is having good players,” he said with a smile.
Gajar, in his 22nd season as Greenhills coach, probably should have said, “The secret is having a lot of good players.” And that is the reason why Greenhills, which lost five key players from last year's championship team, is primed to make a run at a ninth consecutive title.
Gajar was in a similar position in 2011, having lost six players from the team that captured title No. 4 in its current streak.
“That was a year when I thought we were going to rebuild, hold our own and see how we could do,” he said. “A couple of teams beat us in the regular season, and even leading right up to the state tournament we were not seeded to win it. But we were certainly a contender, and we ended up winning that one.
“This is similar situation with missing five guys out of 12.”
While the roster is nearly half empty of regulars from last year, the players who are back and the continued reloading of the program still make the optimism much more than half full.
Gajar will certainly miss Gage Feldheisen, who won an individual Finals title at No. 4 doubles as a freshman and then won three consecutive singles titles – and he did it without losing a match to a Division 4 opponent during his career. Brandon Johnson, a three-time Finals champion in doubles, including the past two at No. 1 doubles, also has graduated, as has Connor Todd, who won at No. 2 doubles last year.
In addition to the losses of Feldheisen, Johnson and Todd, Greenhills will be without Amar Nigam and Kris Gulvezan, who teamed to win No. 4 doubles last year.
Having five MHSAA champions who won't be around to defend their titles certainly is a hit to Greenhills, but nobody is feeling sorry for the Gryphons, who have some excellent returning players and two potentially impactful freshmen.
Depth is the key
For a team to win eight consecutive titles, it takes more than a few good players. To put it in perspective, the seniors on this year's team were in the third grade the last time Greenhills failed to win an MHSAA team championship.
“Ann Arbor is a great tennis community,” Gajar said. “These guys grow up playing, and the clubs here do a great job grooming these guys from the time they were 5 of 6 years old. Then they play with all the kids from Pioneer, Huron, Skyline, and all these local guys they grew up playing against were very good players from big schools, so that's part of it.”
The true sign of a tennis team with depth is how it performs at the lower singles and doubles matches. In that category, Greenhills shines.
During its recent streak of championships, Greenhills has won flight titles at No. 4 singles and No. 4 doubles seven years in a row. Greenhills has won 37 combined singles and doubles Finals titles over the past eight seasons, and 21 came in doubles.
That's depth.
That also is Gajar's background. As a player at Ann Arbor Pioneer, Gajar played doubles and twice made it to the MHSAA championship match only to lose. So he is not bashful when he talks of the pride he takes in working with the doubles teams.
“Doubles certainly is a key part to our success, and that's because of our depth,” he said. “We compete against bigger schools all year long, and they have very good, strong deep rosters, so our doubles guys see high levels of players. We have more depth than teams that are our size.
“I'm such a doubles player – I don't have the patience or the stamina to play singles – so I've always played doubles and loved doubles. Two-thirds of the team is doubles, so we tell these guys when they step into the program from the JV, 'You're probably going to be a doubles player, unless you play your way into a singles spot.' I don't sell it as a demotion.
“Certainly they come to us having played quite a bit, and the middle-school coaches have done a good job of coaching sixth through eighth graders, and then Bob Newton our JV guy gets them ready and works on their stuff for doubles because they usually move up to our program from that.
Experience and youth
One could say that Greenhills is still loaded and is reloading this year.
Junior Sonaal Verma is back at No. 1 singles after advancing to the Division 4 semifinals last year before losing to the top-seeded player.
“He certainly is a key, and he is looking as good as ever to us,” Gajar said.
All three of the senior captains – Matt Chatas, Andy Xie and Sam Talsma – are former MHSAA Finals champions. Xie and Chatas teamed to win the No. 3 doubles title as freshmen, and Xie added the title at No. 2 doubles as a sophomore and the No. 4 singles crown last year.
This year, with a pair of talented freshmen slated to singles duty, Xie will return to doubles.
“I have no problem playing doubles,” he said. “It's a lot of fun. It's a completely different game because the chemistry between teammates is very important.
“You can both be really good individual players but not mesh well together, and that's something a lot of people miss, that chemistry between partners.”
With Chatas also likely pegged to play doubles, there is a chance they could become partners again like they were as freshmen. Chatas said that sort of bond between teammates has been a key to the championship success.
“I think what makes this special is just how interconnected the teammates are, including the alumni,” Chatas said. “Over the summer, we have hits that just the players organize, and we'll have alumni show up out of the blue who heard that it was going on.”
Talsma is a three-time MHSAA champion who won at No. 1 doubles as a freshman and a sophomore and then claimed the No. 2 singles crown as a junior. He likely will play No. 2 singles again this season, and he isn't consumed with a shot at a fourth individual title or a ninth consecutive team championship.
“I don't feel any pressure because I not only feel confident in this year's ability but also our development,” Talsma said. “Of course, I don't want to say that we'll win states because there is always a chance we won't, but I'm fairly confident that this team and the teams the coaches will develop in the future will be capable of winning state championships.”
The two freshmen are slated for singles action.
Kaan Oral might challenge Talsma for the spot at No. 2 singles, and Henry Branch will likely fill in at No. 4 singles.
“Kaan played on our middle school team, and we knew about him,” Gajar said. “He's a tournament player, so he's played a bunch and has a lot of experience already competing at a pretty high level for a freshman.
“Henry has looked good out of the box, and for now, he will probably play our 4 singles.”
With all that talent, there remain two players who return as defending MHSAA champions. Jack Harris, who lost his partner at No. 1 doubles, and Mitchell Gajar, who lost his partner at No. 2 doubles, might not have to look far for new ones.
“They will probably team up and play No. 1 doubles, which is a tough position,” said Coach Gajar, also Mitchell’s father. “Guys hit the ball a lot harder and they serve harder at that spot.”
Tactics and strategy
Gajar's roots are deep at Greenhills. He is a former math teacher and director of athletics who now works in the admissions office. Teaching the game of tennis comes naturally, and he credits the youth programs and middle-school program as key ingredients to getting the players ready for junior varsity and varsity.
But when they arrive, there is still much work to be done.
“A lot of it in high school tennis is strategy and tactics, learning to be successful and to be in the right position on the court,” he said. “A lot of these guys have never played doubles, and two-thirds of the lineup is doubles. I was exclusively a doubles player, so I take pride in turning out guys who know to move to the net and know where to be and position on the court and be aggressive.”
Talsma explained how Gajar is able to help the players fine-tune their games.
“Every coach has a different way of teaching you something or helping you learn something, and definitely with Mr. Gajar and (junior varsity coach) Mr. (Mark) Randolph, it's like a start-simple attitude.
“Everybody is a good player who comes up in the program from middle school or as a new player, and they focus on the simple stuff. They see how we hit a forehand, how we hit a backhand, and then they put your game together. It's mostly basics, but the majority of it is mental and the type of attitude you are supposed to have.”
It should not come as a surprise that Talsma mentioned Coach Randolph. Gajar said he is “more like a co-coach” than an assistant coach.
“There is nobody better that I've run into who can look at someone and fix a serve or something like that,” Gajar said. “We can tweak things, so when they come in, we can correct some things, and we run them through a series of drills where we work on a specific skill set each day or a particular strategy, and we pound that.”
And there is little mention of eight consecutive MHSAA championships. Or of a possible ninth. They don't talk about breaking an Ann Arbor tie with Pioneer, which also won eight titles in a row from 2001 to the fall of 2007 (boys tennis previously was played during spring instead of fall). And looking ahead to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett's record 13 Finals titles in a row from 1972-84 is too far off.
“There is definitely a bit of pressure, but the coaches do a great job of not making us incredibly nervous, and they do a good job of not letting any of us get too big in our heads about having to win,” Chatas said. “It is tough every year, and there are always new schools that are coming up and getting better.
“We always have to work for it, and it's never really a given, and we have to make sure that we know that so we don't go into states thinking that and blow it all.”
Gajar would love hearing that from his players.
“I don't talk to the guys about trying to equal a record or break another one; we're just taking it one step at a time,” he said.
And, throughout all the aces and double faults, forehands and backhands, there is a larger, much more important lesson being taught.
“As much as we're teaching them tennis and want them to be successful, we're also know these are young men who a have a lot to learn in life, and we want them to be responsible and take care of each other and be good citizens,” Gajar said. “We want them to be a good sport, win or lose, so that's as important to us.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Greenhills No. 1 singles player Sonaal Verma returns a shot during his semifinal match at the 2015 Finals. (Middle) Mitchell Gajar (right) hugs his coach and dad Eric Gajar after his doubles championship match at Kalamazoo College. (Below) Clockwise from top left: Matt Chatas, Andy Xie, Sam Talsma, coach Eric Gajar, assistant coach Mark Randolph. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: Big Moves = Big Opportunities
October 16, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Familiar faces in new places could lead to some substantial shaking up at this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals.
Two-time reigning Division 2 champion Okemos is playing in Division 1, and reigning Division 4 champion Ann Arbor Greenhills will take a run at Division 3 this time. That means new champions for sure in their former divisions – among a lot of other opportunities all over the brackets for teams and individuals hoping to make history.
Play both Friday and Saturday begins at 8 a.m. Click for full brackets for all four tournaments, plus Regional results, and come back to Second Half early Saturday evening for coverage from all four Finals.
Lower Peninsula Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Huron, 2. Troy, 3. Northville.
Huron tied with Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice for a distant second behind reigning two-time champion Bloomfield Hills a year ago, but is expected to emerge for what would be its fifth championship this decade (after most recently winning in 2016). Northville was fourth and Troy fifth a year ago, and both are seeking their first MHSAA Finals championship in this sport. Another team of note might be Okemos, ranked sixth but coming off two straight Division 2 championships.
Ann Arbor Huron: The River Rats are seeded at six flights, and all six are seeded third or higher. Doubles will be the key; Nos. 2-4 are top-seeded and No. 1 is seeded second. The No. 2 pair of Nick Grosh and TJ Bai made the semifinals at that flight as the top seed last year, and Sammy Clyde and Jacob Hejazi are seeded first at No. 3 with Clyde last season’s champion at that flight with a different partner. Nikhil Gandikota and Vincent Tremonti are the top seed at No. 4, and Max Brodkey and Anvit Rao are the second seed at No. 1 after making the semifinals at that flight last season. Owen Kelley is unseeded at No. 1 singles but made the semifinals at that flight in 2018.
Troy: The Colts are seeded at five flights, with serious power at the top of the lineup with Brennan Cimpeanu the top seed at No. 1 singles and Jagen Nallani the top seed at No. 2. Cimpeanu made the quarterfinals and Nallani the semifinals at the same flights a year ago. Additionally, three doubles flights earned third seeds.
Northville: Five flights are seeded, led by second-seeded Rachit Jain and Rohith Kesamneni at No. 4 doubles. Other veterans could play big roles. Matthew Freeman is seeded sixth at No. 1 singles and won No. 4 last year. Daniel Dong is part of the an unseeded No. 1 doubles and Justin Yang is part of the fifth seed at No. 3 after they combined to finish runner-up at No. 2 doubles in 2018.
Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice’s J.J. Etterbeek: He came back after losing the first set of the final to win No. 2 singles last year as a freshman, and this time he’s the fourth seed at No. 1.
Clarkston’s Luke Baylis: The Wolves senior will attempt to cap an accomplished high school career with his first championship. He’s seeded second at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals the last two seasons and finishing runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman.
Troy Athens’ Gabe Brown: He made the No. 1 singles quarterfinals last year as a sophomore and enters this weekend as the third seed in the top flight.
Okemos’ Druv Talluri and Siddharth Nagisetty: With different partners they’ve won a combined three flight championships over the last two seasons. Talluri was part of the Division 2 No. 2 champ last year when Nagisetty was part of the runner-up at No. 3, and together they are seeded first at No. 1 this weekend.
Lower Peninsula Division 2 at University of Michigan
Top-ranked: 1. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 2. Detroit U-D Jesuit, 3. Birmingham Seaholm.
With Okemos moving to Division 1, there is guaranteed to be a new champion for the first time in three years – and it would be a special celebration if any of the top three-ranked teams finished first. Forest Hills Northern is seeking its first title since 1998, while U-D Jesuit and Seaholm have never won an MHSAA Finals in this sport. All three have finished Division 2 runner-up at least once, however, over the last six years.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: The Huskies are seeded at every flight as they play for their first top-two finish since coming in second in 2014. They finished fourth a year ago with Owen Goodrich placing second at No. 4 singles, and he’s the second seed at that flight this weekend. Three other flights are seeded as high or higher, with top-seeded Cole Rynbrandt and Justin Lee leading the way at No. 2 doubles.
Detroit U-D Jesuit: Seven seeded flights are a great start for the Cubs, with top seeds at No. 1 doubles in Kagan Shetterly and Theodore Yaldoo and No. 3 doubles in Teodore Melnyczuk-Gould and Nathan Comerford. Yaldoo and Comerford played singles at the Finals last season as U-D Jesuit tied for seventh as a team.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples tied Birmingham Groves for second last season, their highest Finals finish since also coming in second back-to-back in Fall 2007 and 2008. Six flights are seeded this time, all fourth or higher for their respective flights. Cameron Lee was a champion at No. 3 doubles last season and Jonny Cross was part of the runner-up at No. 2, and they make up the third seed this time at No. 1. Fred Kassab was part of the No. 4 doubles winner last year and is part of the fourth seed at No. 2, while his former championship partner Nolan Werner is part of the second seed at No. 3 doubles.
Mattawan’s Nathaniel Webster: Last season’s runner-up at No. 1 singles has moved up one spot to the top seed as a junior for his third run at the title as a seeded player at this flight.
Portage Northern Alex Wootton: Also a junior, Wootton moved up to the second seed at this flight after winning a match a year ago while unseeded. He made the quarterfinals while unseeded as a freshman in 2017.
Midland Dow’s Anish Middha: He’ll try to cap his career as a No. 1 singles champion, entering with the third seed after finishing runner-up at No. 2 last season and as a freshman in 2016.
Lower Peninsula Division 3 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Detroit Country Day.
Cranbrook Kingswood has won four straight Division 3 championships, with Country Day the runner-up all four seasons. Country Day won the previous four titles from 2011-14. No other team has won in Division 3 since Fall 2007, in fact. However, Greenhills is the reigning champion in Division 4 and has won that division nine of the last 11 seasons, finishing runner-up the other two. Greenhills won every flight at its Regional last week, with Country Day the runner-up at seven of those flights.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: All eight flights are seeded. Seven are top seeds, and the eighth is a second seed. Three flights were Division 4 champions a year ago – Mert Oral is the top seed at No. 1 singles after winning No. 3 in D4, Kaan Oral is the top seed at No. 2 singles after winning No. 2 in D4 the last two years, and Nathan Rosenberg and Finn Feldeisen are the top seeds at No. 3 doubles after winning No. 3 in D4 in 2018. Rounding out the lineup are No. 3 singles top seed Rishi Verma, No. 4 singles second seed Chakor Rajendra, No. 1 doubles top seed Henry Branch and Sahil Deenadayalu, No. 2 doubles top seed Joey Formicola and Daniel Stojanov and No. 4 doubles top seed Alex Schwendeman and Thomas Zeng. Deenadayalu, Formicola and Branch are past Finals flight runners-up.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: All eight flights are seeded, led by two second seeds – Hayes Bradley and David Hermelin at No. 2 doubles and Calvi Teste and Ben Conti at No. 4. Bradley and Hermelin were champs last year at No. 3 doubles and runners-up in 2017 at No. 4. The Cranes won all four singles flights last season and only one of those players returns – Nolan Sherwood is the fourth seed at No. 2 after winning No. 3 in 2018 – but fourth-seeded No. 4 Patrick Tiwari and third-seeded No. 3 Geoffrey Qin were part of champions at Nos. 2 and 4 doubles, respectively, a year ago.
Detroit Country Day: As noted, Country Day was right behind Greenhills in seven flights at the Regional, and a pair of second seeds highlight the fully-seeded lineup. Nikolas Gruskin is the second seed at No. 1 singles and a two-time Finals runner-up, at No. 1 last season and No. 2 in 2016. No. 3 doubles Clay Hartje and Aidan Khaghany also are a second seed. Fourth-seeded No. 3 singles Christian Grozev was the runner-up at that flight last year, and Zain Rodger is part of the fourth-seeded No. 1 doubles after finishing No. 4 singles runner-up in 2018.
St. Clair’s Eli Pinnoo: Last season’s No. 2 singles runner-up as a junior is the second seed at that flight this weekend as he takes one more swing at a high school title.
East Grand Rapids’ Ryan Post and Jack Schultze: Post and Kole Butterer won No. 1 doubles last season as a third seed, and Post and Schultze enter in the same spot this time. Schultze was part of the No. 2 doubles runner-up last season.
Lower Peninsula Division 4 at Hope College
Top-ranked: 1. Allegan, 2. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, 3. Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard.
With Greenhills playing in Division 3, this tournament will have a different look and perhaps some interesting opportunities. Liggett was the Division 4 champion in 2016 and 2017 and runner-up in 2014 and 2015. Allegan has a long history of success but is working for its first top-two Finals finish, as is Gabriel Richard. In fact, the rest of the top 10 after Liggett – including two teams tied for the 10th spot – have won a combined three MHSAA Finals.
Allegan: The Tigers finished third a year ago, just three points out of second, after three doubles flights finished runners-up. The strength is in doubles again, as all four flights are seeded led by David Roark and Chase Williams in the top spot at No. 4. Noah Festerling and Ben Groth are the second seed at No. 3 after Groth was part of the No. 4 runner-up last season, and Owen Clearwater and Walker Michaels are the fifth seed at No. 2 after coming in second at No. 3 in 2018. Two singles flights are seeded as well; Eli Festerling is the top seed at No. 4.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett: The Knights are expected to climb substantially after tying for eighth a year ago. Liggett is seeded at six flights, with two-time reigning No. 1 singles champion William Cooksey leading off as the top seed at that flight. Gerry Sherer adds a second seed at No. 4 singles, and all four doubles are seeded with three in the third slot.
Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard: The Irish tied for fifth last season and could ride a strong singles lineup into contention. Senior Ian Sood is seeded second at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals last season and finishing No. 2 runner-up as both a freshman and sophomore. Tommy Heegan adds a second seed at No. 2, and Rafid Farjo is the third seed at No. 3.
Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Andrew Solarewicz: The sophomore singles standout will play in the No. 1 bracket for the second time, this weekend as the third seed after winning a match last season.
Traverse City St. Francis’ Brendan Chouinard and Ben Schmude: The top seed at No. 1 doubles is made up of Chouinard, part of last year’s No. 2 champion, and Schmude coming off the quarterfinals at No. 3 a year ago.
Traverse City St. Francis’ Charlie Schmude and Cody Richards: They are seeded first at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, after finishing runners-up at Nos. 3 and 4 a year ago.
PHOTO: Kaan Oral will attempt to lead Ann Arbor Greenhills to a Division 3 championship this weekend as he also plays for a third individual flight Finals title. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)