Greenhills Succeeds in Drive for 5
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2012
KALAMAZOO – Coach Eric Gajar knew his Ann Arbor Greenhills team needed just one win on the second day of competition to clinch its fifth consecutive MHSAA Lower Peninsula title, but that was one fact he tried to keep from his players.
“We didn’t tell those guys that, but they’re smart guys, so they’re starting to figure it out,” Gajar said during Saturday’s semifinals that were played inside because of inclement weather.
“We didn’t really give them the full story, but they started counting and knew we only needed a couple points.”
On a team loaded with experience, it was the only freshman, Juan Martin-Dyer, who won the team’s first match of the second day to clinch the championship.
Martin-Dyer, the top seed, defeated fourth seed Jake Johnson of Lansing Catholic, 6-0, 6-2, in the No. 3 singles semifinal before losing to Kalamazoo Christian’s second seed, Brad Plaiser, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the championship match.
“I had no idea, actually. I had no idea at all,” Martin-Dyer said of the clincher. “It feels good. It’s not just me, though. All the guys won (Friday). It’s all about the team. I only won a few points.”
No. 1 singles was the only flight without a Greenhills finalist.
Top-seeded Michael Sienko, of Williamston, was a player on a mission, defeating second seed Chance Conley, of Portland, 6-1, 6-0.
The two faced off in last year’s No. 1 singles final, with Conley coming out the winner. They also play in the same league, the Capital Area Activities Conference White.
“I was really disappointed last year at the result, and I thought I should have won the match,” Sienko said. “But he won it, so I was really working hard to win the final match this year, and I did.
“I think I played well. Maybe I rose to the occasion. I just focused a lot, stuck to my game plan, and it worked.”
Sienko won a MHSAA title at No. 2 singles as a freshman, but “this means a lot more to me.”
Conley said he figured Sienko would be out for revenge.
“He had an urge,” Conley said. “He wanted to get me back. He had something I didn’t have, and he wanted it badly.
“Mikey was on top of his game. My coach said he only made four unforced errors the entire match. There’s nothing you can really do to compete with that.”
Kalamazoo Christian’s Plaiser said losing at No. 3 singles was not an option, since it’s his senior year.
He played at No. 1 singles last year, but he’s in the Army reserve and during the summer was at basic training. He joined the team halfway through the season.
“I didn’t play tennis for 11 weeks, so they put me at No. 3,” he said.
“This is my last tennis match of high school, and I couldn’t lose it. I couldn’t lose it.”
Dropping the first set, “I don’t know if I was nervous,” he said. “I don’t know what it was. I wall-balled like every other ball so bad. After that, I just pulled it together.”
K-Christian coach Bryan Keeley said he knew Plaiser could pull out the win.
“He wasn’t hitting shots that he usually was hitting,” Keeley said. “His opponent had him on his toes, and he started missing a lot of his volleys that he usually would hit.”
Keeley said he talked to his player after the first set, and Plaiser said he knew what he had to do to turn the match around.
“That’s what you see in maturity out of your seniors and expect of your captain,” Keeley said.
Greenhills won the other six flights for 36 points, double the 18 of second place Comstock Park.
“The key was I got almost everybody back,” Gajar said. “We had a big target on our backs.
“I have a very experienced roster. I have a freshman (Martin-Dyer) who went right to No. 3 singles and a guy (Paul Reed) who transferred in last year (from St. Mary Catholic Central) and sat out a year, then went to No. 1 singles. It really allowed me to bulk up the doubles guys. We were deep. This is as good a team as I’ve had.”
Gajar said in spite of clinching the championship with the first semifinals win, the players were still very motivated, as evidenced by their exuberant cheers for their teammates during the last two doubles matches on court.
“There are some guys who have been playing for a while that are looking at trying to get their first individual titles,” he said. “The other thing that’s got them a little bit motivated is they’ve looked back at some of the past teams we’ve had and looked at their point totals and wanted to lay claim to out-distancing them.
“We told them to get through the semis for the team and go to the finals for yourself.”
Comstock Park’s No. 2 doubles team of Wil Douma and Ryan Schall won their semifinals match, 6-1, 6-4, over Ludington’s Sam Nellis and Justin Markham to earn the point needed for their team’s second-place finish.
They lost to Greenhills’ top seeds, Adhi Rajaprabhakaran and Nick Sandhu, 6-3, 6-1, in the final.
“We had no idea,” Douma said of the importance of his point. “We just went out there and played. Freshman year, I broke my neck when I was in eighth grade playing football, so I just walked on to play tennis. (Schall) picked it up his sophomore year.
“When we walked off the court, our two coaches were standing right there. They were like, ‘You guys just clinched it for us.’ We were pumped. No one ever thought we’d be there today.”
Schall said he wasn’t very happy to play inside because “I’ve never played indoor tennis. But once, we started, I started liking it a lot. No wind, no weather. Everyone’s on fair ground.”
Comstock Park coach Pete Luczyk said the program has turned around, making it to the MHSAA Finals for the first time.
“Honestly, four years ago, we had five returning JV players and that’s all we had,” he said. “Over the past four years, it’s been just a culmination of everything and the kids just going nuts.
“One of the best stories of our team are the twins, Dylan and Tyler Fink. They’ve played No. 1 doubles all four years and have amassed probably 70 first doubles wins over those four years. For them to be in the semifinals and lose to Ann Arbor Greenhills, 6-4, 6-3, is simply incredible.”
Talking about comparisons to the pro doubles specialists Mike and Bob Bryan, “We’ve heard that comparison for four years now, so we’ve gotten used to it,” Dylan Fink said.
“When we started as freshmen, a lot of us didn’t have a lot of experience. Now there are (eight) seniors who started as freshmen, and it’s been great to see how we’ve all grown as a team.”
For the twins personally, “For our first time at states, to make it to the semifinals is great,” Tyler Fink said. “We’re really glad our team made it this far. We really couldn’t have done it without every member of our team pitching in for this win."
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.”
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).