Okemos, Genschaw Earn D2 Celebrations
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2017
KALAMAZOO — Okemos went home with the team trophy Saturday, but no one celebrated an individual medal with more exuberance than Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Connor Genschaw at No. 1 singles.
The Chiefs won their first Lower Peninsula Division 2 title in 10 years before the finals even started at Kalamazoo College.
No. 3 doubles clinched the championship in the semifinals when top seeds Deniz Kalfa and Druv Talluri defeated Midland Dow’s fifth seeds, Ryan Killmaster and Kevin Kraef, 6-3, 6-0, to seal the win.
Kalfa and Talluri were two of six Chiefs who ended the season without losing a match.
“I don’t take a lot of credit for that (state title),” Okemos coach Chris Silker said. “These kids have worked really, really hard.
“We have an incredibly vested community that is behind the kids 110 percent. I think that’s the key to our success.”
Okemos dominated with 36 points. Birmingham Groves and Midland Dow tied for second with 21 each and Forest Hills Central was fourth with 20. Birmingham Seaholm (18) rounded out the top five.
Genschaw, the second seed, was bolstered by the roar of the crowd cheering on every winner and carrying him to a 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 win over top seed Gabe Liss of Birmingham Groves in the final.
Genschaw was swamped by teammates on the court after the match.
“It’s a culmination of all four years going into this match,” Genschaw said. “I had to cap it off with this one. It means so much to me emotionally.
“Now I’m not going into my life saying, ‘Oh, I lost in the finals in my senior year.’ Now I can say I got a state championship my senior year, and it’s awesome.”
Genschaw breezed through the first set but by the second, “I think I exhausted myself playing so well in the first set. I was honestly on fire in the first set, and I got really tired in the second set.
“Then the last set, I was like, this is my senior year. I’ve got to push as hard as I could. I ended up winning the last set, 6-1. It was all mental at that point.”
“Expecting it would be more than I would say coming in, but I sure hoped he could do it,” Central coach Dan Bolhouse added. “He played well throughout the tournament.
“He plays a lot of tournaments out of season so he was mentally prepared to play some tough opponents.”
Liss said he knew the match would be a challenge.
“He’s a senior, and he was thriving in the atmosphere,” the Groves junior said. “He had the crowd firing him up. It was his last year, and he was playing the best he could.”
After dropping the first set at love, “I just tried taking it one game at a time,” Liss added. “I knew the score was 6-0, but the games were closer and I was still in the match and (I knew) that I could keep fighting back for every point.”
No. 2 and 3 singles also featured Groves players with second seed Gabe Vidinas defeating top seed Josh Portnoy of Okemos, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 2 and Jonah Liss losing to top seed Shrey Patel of Okemos, 6-2, 6-4.
Portnoy and Patel are both freshmen.
“Shrey and Josh have been a big part of our success,” Silker said. “They both went undefeated this season until Josh’s final loss today against Gabe Vidinas.
“Even though (Portnoy) had a win over him during the season, Gabe played much better today and I think a little bit of that was his veteran experience.”
Vidinas’ match featured such long points that his two-setter took as long as the first flight’s three.
After streaking to a 4-0 lead to start the match, Vidinas won 6-1 but then had to fight for the second set.
“I played him twice before and he grinds; he’s very tough to play,” Vidinas said of Portnoy. “Every time I always have to be playing my best to beat him. It was a tough match.
“I could tell he wasn’t playing his best in the first set. I did my best to play my game.”
Vidinas, a junior, called for a trainer at 6-5 of the second set.
“I was cramping quite a bit,” he said. “Luckily I aced him to get to the changeover. I just held it in and toughed it out (to win).”
With teammates playing next to him, “The energy of my teammates makes me play better and I can be shouting and hollering all the time and my teammates can support me,” Vidinas said. “It’s always nice.”
Portnoy a freshman, said he knew what happened in the first set and tried to change it for the second.
“I was playing too offensive,” he said. “I kept missing deep. I think I should have played safer.”
By the second set, “I just decided his forehand is really strong,” Liss said. “His backhand wasn’t as good, but it was still pretty good.
“I’m like, I’ll just keep it to his backhand and he won’t be able to attack as much. It worked.”
The Patel match featured two freshmen in the third-flight final.
“I had to stay calm, be confident and move (Jonah Liss) around,” Patel said. “He played a lot better in the second set.”
Liss said playing on one of the front courts was “cool.”
“I’ve watched a few (USTA) national tournaments here,” he said. “It felt really cool. I’ve seen a lot of great players play here.”
Portage Central senior Vishu Ghantasala, the second seed at No. 4 singles, expected a tough opponent and he got it, losing to Okemos top-seeded junior Daniel Gorelik, 6-0, 6-1.
Ghantasala got a look at Gorelik during the semis.
“I saw Daniel playing next to me and he was done a good hour, hour and a half before me, so I knew it was going to be really tough when I had to play just a half hour after I was done,” Ghantasala said.
“A couple of my teammates have played him and they gave me some tips, but in the end it was really hard.”
Although his team already had the team trophy, Gorelik, who lost just three games the entire tournament, said that did not affect his play.
“The mindset was still just go out there and do your job, not let up,” he said. “You’ve got to get to the ultimate goal.”
Gorelik, who finished the season undefeated, said his teammates pushed each other all year.
“We have a lot of talent on the team this year and it makes it much better when you have a lot of good people to hit with,” he said.
Okemos’ No. 3 doubles team featured a senior (Kalfa) and a freshman (Talluri) who went undefeated all season.
Playing in his first state tournament, “It feels crazy,” Talluri said. “It’s just a crazy time. Everything just happened so fast. It was so much fun with the team.”
Kalfa felt a bit of pressure.
“This match was a lot different than any other match I’ve played knowing it’s my last high school match,” he said.
Partnering all season, “Mentally we became more than friends, more than partners, like brothers almost,” Kalfa said of Talluri.
“We always brought each other up, even today when we were both down mentally, the other one was trying their best to bring us up. He’s the best partner I could ask for.”
The duo defeated Seaholm’s second seeds, Aidan O’Neill and Max Levitsky, 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, in the final.
Okemos swept the doubles flights.
Other winners were second seeds Dinakar Talluri and Zal Chinoy at No. 1, top seeds Rohan Shah and Siddharth Agisetty, who did not lose a match all season, at No. 2; and second seeds Karthik Kolisetty and Aditya Kandula at No. 4.
PHOTOS: (Top) Okemos celebrates its Division 2 championship Saturday at Kalamazoo College. (Middle) Forest Hills Central's Connor Genschaw returns a volley during his No. 1 singles match. (Top photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com; bottom photo by Pam Shebest.)
Performance: Dow's Varun Shanker
October 20, 2016
Varun Shanker
Midland Dow senior - Tennis
Shanker finished an incredibly successful and in ways unprecedented career Saturday by winning the No. 1 singles championship at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final while leading the Chargers to their first team championship since 2013. Shanker became the first No. 1 singles champion for his school's prestigious program since 1999 and finished 32-1 this season in earning the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
This was Shanker’s third season at No. 1 singles; he also won No. 3 singles as a freshman as Dow earned a fifth straight Division 2 team title. The next fall, Shanker became the first sophomore captain in Chargers history, and as a sophomore and junior he made the Division 2 semifinals at the top flight. But this fall was special; Shanker’s only loss was to Birmingham Groves’ Gabe Liss, who Shanker came back to beat two weeks later, and total his season sheet included victories over four of the top-six seeded players in Division 2 and three of the top five at the Division 1 Final including eventual champion Steven Forman of Troy. Shanker had 11 wins over players considered among the top 100 in their age groups in the Midwest, including a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (8) nail-biter over Kalamazoo Loy Norrix freshman Reed Crocker in Saturday’s championship match. Shanker finished 115-19 over his four varsity seasons.
Shanker followed into the program his brother Vikram, a 2014 graduate who remains tied for second in MHSAA history with 132 career doubles wins and who was named an MHSAA/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete Award winner as a senior. Similarly, Varun has a 4.0 grade-point average (4.79 weighted) and is a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. He’s been part of teams that have won three first-place A.H. Nickless Innovation Awards and a total of $135,000 in scholarship and grant money for work in water purification by electrodialysis, piezoelectric devices and microbial fuel cells. He’s contemplating studying biomedical engineering as he considers opportunities for academics and tennis at the next level.
Coach Terry Schwartzkopf said: “As Dow’s only three-year captain in history, Varun demonstrated the character, drive, determination, and dedication needed in order to claim a championship. In terms of community, he has organized beautification projects within Midland and participated providing free tennis clinics in the tri-cities. He has handled grant applications for team income, ordered inventory including uniforms and warm-ups, and handled media relations. As for athletics, we have had talented teams who won championships based on the depth of talent. This year, it was based upon work and improvement. Varun spent the offseason corralling kids, encouraging them to train, and even offering rides when needed. During season, he would work daily with players individually, deconstructing and rebuilding pieces of their game. He ... worked more as an assistant coach than a player. Varun unified, inspired, and took players to task when needed. He had no issue calling out players due to lack of effort and praising those who worked hard. In 17 seasons as a coach, Varun is without a doubt the strongest captain I have ever had. There was never a single time in four years where I questioned his loyalty to the program, his drive to succeed, or his willingness to give all he had to help his team succeed. In fact, I have never wanted a player to win a championship more than him because that was never his focus. From the beginning, his focus was team. He was content that if he played his best he would be satisfied with his outcome, provided the team was successful."
Performance Point: “Coming into the tournament as the one seed, there’s always a little pressure,” Shanker said. “For me, this year was different. This year, I knew, was my chance, that I could do something special. That I could fulfill my dream of always winning the one singles position. I knew I’d have tough opponents to play in the tournament, but I definitely came in with a focused mindset, and obviously it’s tough to not reflect on that last match, those last few points. … I was down two match points, and he literally needed one point to win twice. I want to say my back was against the wall; that’s as close as it’s going to be. To me, it was about believing. I saw my teammates cheering for me; I saw my coach. I saw it was (about) way more than one match, but all the support, and I was able to find it in myself to get a little bit tougher and mentally to be able to pull it out. The support was unbelievable.”
Dow dynasty: “It’s been unbelievable. We had a tradition of excellence here when I came in as a freshman; we had won four consecutive state titles. When I finally joined the team freshman year, I was finally able to understand why it’s like that. Coach instills hard work and preparation, and that was the reason we were able to achieve that. As my career progressed, I was able to learn what some of the things are that are able to make us successful, what some of the things lead to. During my four years, we had a lot of ups and downs – that’s definitely fair to say. My sophomore year, actually, we were supposed to win the state title (Dow finished third). It was a little bit of a letdown to walk away, but that definitely fueled the next few years. We learned how to get back up and dust ourselves off.”
Vikram’s lead: “My brother has had the biggest impact on my life, sports, academics – pretty much every facet of my life, and I do credit him for a lot of this. Growing up, the first reason I picked up a tennis racket was him. I was always big into swimming, but ever since he picked up a racket, I followed suit. He’s a great supporter and has always been a great coach for me.”
Name on the shirt: “High school tennis always has been one of my most favorite parts of the year. Being able to combine the team element to (tennis), it’s hard to describe, but it really enhances it being able to share the process with a group of teammates, both practice and competition. It truly does become a team sport. Representing my school and the community has been a favorite part of high school, rather than just playing as an individual on the USTA circuit. The community in Midland has helped us a lot in becoming great athletes, especially the Midland Tennis Center. Being able to represent playing for my school, it allows me in a certain way to represent the great things they’ve helped us (accomplish).”
Dr. Shanker: “I’m not sure whether I want to go into biotechnology; I definitely always have aspired to be a doctor. I just love that being a doctor, you’re able to help people, but you’re also on the cutting edge of science. That always has been really intriguing to me.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Midland Dow's Varun Shanker follows through on a return during his No. 1 singles championship match Saturday. (Middle) Shanker shakes hands with Loy Norrix's Reed Crocker after securing the title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)