It's Huron Again at Division 1 Tennis Final
October 20, 2012
By Fred Kelly
Special to Second Half
MIDLAND — For Ann Arbor Huron, some of the faces were new. But the end result was the same at Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Tennis Final.
The River Rats reached finals in six of eight flights and won three flight championships en route to compiling 33 points and claiming their second straight team championship at the Midland Community Tennis Center.
Birmingham Brother Rice, last year’s runner-up, and Novi tied for second with 27 points apiece. Both the Warriors and Wildcats finished Friday’s opening day of competition with 22 points, only two behind Huron.
“Brother Rice and Novi did a good job getting 22 points yesterday, so we knew they were right on our heels, and we still had a lot of work to do coming into today,” River Rats’ coach Stefan Welch said. “(Our players) came out and executed. I’m just really happy for them.
“... It means a lot, obviously,” Welch added of winning back-to-back titles. “It’s hard to do it once, let alone twice. For the seniors, it’s nice to send them out on top. I’m really pleasantly surprised by how we performed this year. We had eight seniors leave last year’s lineup, so a lot of new faces stepped right in and performed.”
Huron junior Colin Williams said he felt his team had something to prove heading into the tournament.
“At the beginning of the year, we had a big target on our back, being defending champions,” said Williams, who won the No. 3 singles championship Saturday. “And then we played a dual match with Novi, and they beat us 6-2. They were in the spotlight then, but we felt like we didn’t play our best tennis that day, and we felt we were better than them.
“Today, we proved it,” he added. “We came out, we beat them, and we’re state champs now.”
Troy and Northville tied for fourth with 17 points each, while Traverse City Central was sixth with 14 points.
One of the individual highlights of the day was second-seeded Ed Covalschi of Utica Eisenhower upsetting top-seeded Tyler Gardiner of Northville 6-2, 7-5 in a hard-fought No. 1 singles final.
“It was definitely tough. I was a little tired from my semifinal, but it’s great to pull it off,” said Covalschi, who had to rally to beat sixth-seeded Brett Forman of Troy in three sets in the semifinals.
“He’s a great player,” Covalschi added of University of Michigan-bound Gardiner. “It was a great win. ... I picked up my serve a ton, and my returns were pretty good. Staying in long points really helped me; being patient (was the key).”
Covalschi, a senior who is headed to Notre Dame, said capping off an undefeated season with a No. 1 singles title was memorable.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s great to celebrate with my team,” he said. “My family supported me, and our fans supported me. I really appreciate it.”
Northville’s third-seeded freshman Connor Johnston finished his first Finals with a 6-1, 6-2 upset of top-seeded Jack Hamaty of Brother Rice in the No. 2 singles title match after rallying from a one-set deficit to beat second-seeded Kevin Mei of Huron in the semis.
“I was just being really aggressive, and I kept going at it the whole time. I never stopped,” said Johnston, adding of winning the match, “... I was speechless when it happened. I just dropped my racquet and screamed. I didn’t know what to do, honestly.”
Williams, who was seeded second at No. 3 singles, notched a straight-set victory over Brother Rice’s Chase Peery in the semifinals, and then swept Novi’s top-seeded Koushik Kondapi 6-3, 6-3 in the final. It was Williams’s first individual championship after two years of finishing as a runner-up.
“It feels great. ... To finally get the individual title after two years of losing in the finals is great. It’s really special,” said Williams, a runner-up at No. 3 doubles last year and at No. 4 doubles as a freshman.
At No. 4 singles, Novi’s top-seeded Pavan Rao breezed past Troy’s fifth-seeded Tarun Kalyanaraman in the semifinals, then swept Huron’s second-seeded Jon Seyhun 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
At No. 1 doubles, Huron’s third-seeded Akihiro Ota/Aaron Bradkey rallied to beat second-seeded Andrew Cansfield/Connor Johnston of Port Huron Northern in a three-set semifinal, then swept top-seeded Jason Carless/Andrew Ying of Novi in the final. At No. 2 doubles, second-seeded Max Teener/Ryan Stark of Huron beat third-seeded George Hamaty/Connor Parks of Brother Rice in the semifinals, then defeated top-seeded Nishant Kakar/Michael Chang of Novi 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the final.
At No. 3 doubles, top-seeded Joey Hildebrand/Johnny Cameron of Brother Rice defeated fourth-seeded Max Knoblock/Nick Yergens of Traverse City Central in the semifinals, then rallied to beat second-seeded George Lu/Michael Bondin of Huron 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. And at No. 4 doubles, top-seeded David Weatherford/Brendan Dillon of Brother Rice ousted fifth-seeded Trey Pezzetti/Yani Beeker of Traverse City Central in the semifinals, then swept third-seeded Austin Luker/Will Brenner of Huron 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Ota, a junior at Huron who claimed his first flight championship, said it was satisfying to defend the team title.
“We have a big tradition to hold up, so we just practice hard every day, and we come up big at the right moments,” he said.
Asked if an individual or team title is more rewarding, Ota replied without hesitation, “The team (title), definitely. ... It’s high school tennis. It’s all about the team.”
PHOTO: (Top) Ann Arbor Huron celebrates its MHSAA team championship Saturday at the Midland Community Tennis Center. (Middle) Utica Eisenhower's Ed Covalschi won the individual No. 1 singles championship and finished this fall undefeated. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Greenhills, Cranbrook Singles Ace Finish Championship Climbs
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2022
MASON — Just like he had the last two years, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood senior Owen DeMuth advanced to the No. 1 singles championship match Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals, where on the opposite side was the top seed from Ann Arbor Greenhills.
The only difference is that this time it was a different top seed.
Instead of current University of Michigan player and last year’s Mr. Tennis Award winner Mert Oral, this time the opponent was Greenhills senior Chakor Rajendra.
DeMuth had lost to Oral the last two years, but didn’t want to think about those defeats against Rajendra as he tried to make the third time the charm.
“I wanted to stay in the moment and enjoy it,” DeMuth said. “This being my last high school tennis match ever, I just try to stay in the moment and not think about that.”
Not only did DeMuth stay in the moment during the match, but he got to celebrate a championship moment when it was over after beating Rajendra 6-1, 6-4.
DeMuth was seeded second after losing two of three matches to Rajendra during the regular season, which created a bit of motivation.
“Just played with an underdog mentality,” said DeMuth, who will play in college at Georgia Tech. “Knowing I was going to have to work for it, and it wasn’t going to be handed to me.”
Cranbrook coach Steve Herdoiza said DeMuth did a good job of making suggested adjustments for what was the fourth meeting of the season with Rajendra, but he didn’t want to get too much into specifics as to what those adjustments were.
“I can’t give away all the secrets,” Herdoiza said. “But I think he just got very clear and decisive on the strategy he wanted to use.”
While DeMuth celebrated the individual title at No. 1 singles, Rajendra and the rest of Greenhills did get the final laugh in the team portion.
Greenhills won its first Finals championship since 2019 by scoring 35 points, finishing two points ahead of runner-up Cranbrook. Detroit Country Day was third with 23 points.
After winning it all in 2019, Greenhills was second in 2020 and third last year, and those experiences helped beyond measure for a team with seven seniors.
“This felt good,” Greenhills coach Eric Gajar said. “We’ve been there in that situation, so this time when they got in a similar situation, they were icy and ready to go. They pulled through and got it done.”
Greenhills showcased its depth in winning the title, having finalists in seven of the eight flights.
Rishi Verma at No. 2 singles, the team of Ismael Metwally and Lucas Nor at No. 1 doubles, the tandem of Arjun Prabhakar and Dylan Carvette at No. 3 doubles, and the team of Charles Branch and Ajay Purohit at No. 4 doubles all won flight championships for the Gryphons.
“That’s what it takes to beat good teams,” Gajar said. “It’s to have a complete lineup. We did, and they all delivered. Every point mattered, and we got what we needed from them.”
The other flight winners were Clay Hartje of Detroit Country Day at No. 3 singles, Amaan Khan of Cranbrook at No. 4 singles, and Cranbrook’s team of Andrew Fink and Jace Bernard at No. 1 doubles.
PHOTOS by High School Sports Scene.