Preview: Champions Hope to Reign On
October 17, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All four reigning champions at this weekend’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals are playing to continue incredible strings of success atop their respective divisions in the sport.
Ann Arbor Greenhills in Division 4 is playing for its sixth straight title, while Midland Dow in Division 2 is hoping for its fifth consecutive. Ann Arbor Huron in Division 1 and Detroit Country Day in Division 3 are going for their third straight titles – and all four are ranked No.1 in their respective divisions entering Friday’s first rounds of play.
Below is a brief look at top contenders at all four tournaments. Play begins Friday morning and finishes Saturday. Click for more including brackets and seeds for all 32 flights.
DIVISION 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top ranked: No. 1 Ann Arbor Huron, No. 2 Birmingham Brother Rice, No. 3 Novi.
Huron has won the last two LP Division 1 championships, by six points last season and four in 2011. Both times Brother Rice finished second, tying with Novi last fall. Novi has never won an MHSAA team championship, but brings back experienced players from last year’s run.
Huron: The River Rats are lined up with two top seeds and four second seeds – and all four doubles pairs among those six. Reigning No. 3 singles champion Colin Williams is back as the top seed in that flight, and reigning No. 1 doubles champions Akihiro Ota and Aaron Brodkey also are back to attempt a repeat. They top a veteran doubles group: Michael Bondin was half of last season’s MHSAA runner-up at No. 3 and teams with Danny Friedman for the second seed at that flight, and Austin Luker and Will Brenner were No. 4 runners-up last season and are back with new partners – Luker with Jason Chen as the second seed at No. 2 and Brenner with Orion Sang as the second seed at No. 4.
Brother Rice: The Warriors are seeded at seven flights with four top seeds including three and a second in doubles. Connor Parks and George Hamaty made the semifinals at No. 2 doubles last season and are the second seed at No. 1, while reigning champions Joey Hildebrand (No. 3) and David Weatherford (No. 4) have teamed up for the top seed at No. 2. Brendan Dillon, Weatherford’s partner last season, is part of the top seed at No. 3 doubles with Joe Paradiso.
Novi: The Wildcats are seeded at every flight, led by top-seeded Tim Wang at No. 1 singles – he made the quarterfinals last season. Koushik Kondapi is back as the second seed at No. 3 singles after finishing runner-up at that flight in 2012, and Andrew Ying is back at No. 1 doubles with new partner Michael Chang after finishing runner-up in the top doubles flight last season. Chang was half of the runner-up at No. 2 doubles.
Northville’s Connor Johnston: He’s the second seed at No. 1 singles after winning the No. 2 championship in straight sets in 2012. He lost to Novi’s Wang at the Regional.
Detroit Catholic Central’s Michael Dube’: He’s the third seed at No. 1 singles after making the second round while the fifth seed last season. He also fell to Novi’s Wang during the Regional.
Troy Athens’ Richard Zhang: He made the quarterfinals at No. 1 last season after entering the tournament unseeded.
DIVISION 2 at Hope College/Holland Christian
Top ranked: No. 1 Midland Dow, No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, No. 3 Detroit U-D Jesuit.
Reigning No. 1 individual champion: Davis Crocker, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix.
Dow has owned this division the last four seasons, beating runner-up Forest Hills Central by 12 points last season and 14 in 2011. U-D Jesuit finished seventh last season and could make a substantial jump.
Dow: All eight flights are seeded first or second. Julian Guerra is the top seed at No. 2 singles after winning No. 3 last season, and Michael Szabo is the top seed at No. 4 as he plays for a repeat title. Jason Chang and Vikram Shanker also are back as reigning champions, at No. 1 doubles, and Patrick Eschbach and Colin Angell are the top seed at No. 2 doubles after Eschbach was part of last season’s No. 3 champion and Angell was part of the No. 2 runner-up.
Forest Hills Central: Another run could be keyed by the doubles pairs; all four are seeded third or better. Nico Finelli and Joey McClure are the third seed at No. 2 after Finelli was part of the runner-up last season and McClure was half of the No. 4 champion pair. Carson Schmidt and Andrew Fox are the top seed at No. 3, and two singles flights also are seeded.
U-D Jesuit: The Cubs bring back an identical singles lineup from last season’s Finals, plus No. 1 doubles pair Timmy Hoffman and Marty Nagle, who made the semifinals at No. 2 last season. Jesuit never has finished among the top two at a Finals, but does have seeds at every flight this weekend.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Davis Crocker: The reigning No. 1 singles champion won last season as the second seed, but enters with top billing this time.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern’s Justin Minzlaff: He’ll try to claim the No. 2 singles title after finishing runner-up at No. 4 in 2012; he enters as the fifth seed.
Birmingham Seaholm’s Griffin Neel and Kenji Johnston: They’re seeded second at No. 1 doubles with Neel coming off the No. 2 doubles championship last season – when Johnston played No. 2 singles.
DIVISION 3 at Kalamazoo College
Top ranked: No. 1 Detroit County Day, No. 2 St. Joseph, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood.
Country Day and St. Joseph have a rivalry growing atop Division 3 as the Yellowjackets have won the last two Division 3 titles, with St. Joseph second both times. Players from the two met in six of the eight flight championship matches last fall. Watch for East Grand Rapids, which is seeded fourth or higher at every flight.
Country Day: Some of the names at the top of the lineup have changed, but not the level of play. Country Day enters with six top seeds – including at all four doubles flights – and led by two-time No. 3 singles champion Rishi Patel, who is the third seed at No. 1 this weekend. Rishabh Nayak and Adam Dunn are the top seed at No. 2 doubles with Nayak coming off last season’s No. 3 championship, and Matt Stebbins and D.J. Bailey hope to add a title at No. 3 after winning No. 4 doubles in 2012.
St. Joseph: The Bears also return some veterans after finishing eight points behind Country Day a year ago. Thomas Bellio was the No. 2 singles runner-up and returns as the second seed at No. 1 (he also won No. 3 singles as a freshman), and Kenny Garstecki is the top seed at No. 3 after winning No. 4 last season. Matt VanWinkle and Ed Nieh hope they are a championship combination as the third seed at No. 1 doubles after VanWinkle was part of last season’s runner-up and Nieh was part of the runner-up at No. 3. Nick Stants and Peter Kim are the third seed at No. 2, with Stants formerly part of last season’s No. 4 doubles runner-up.
Cranbrook-Kingswood: The Cranes are the only team aside from Country Day to win a Division 3 title over the last five seasons; Cranbrook-Kingswood won in both 2010 and 2008. The Cranes enter this weekend with seven seeds, including three seconds in doubles. Marc Sable is the sixth seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals at No. 2 in 2012.
East Grand Rapids' Garrett Goldman: The top seed at No. 1 singles entered 2012’s Finals as the third seed and fell in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Jan Krakora from Plainwell. Goldman did win No. 2 singles as a sophomore.
DIVISION 4 at Gland Blanc/Holly
Top ranked: No. 1 Ann Arbor Greenhills, No. 2 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, No. 3 Lansing Catholic.
Greenhills is looking to continue its MHSAA-best current streak of five straight boys tennis titles and last season won six flights including all four in doubles. Lansing Catholic has finished runner-up twice during that five-year run and University Liggett tied for third a year ago.
Greenhills: Many of the Gryphons’ top players this season succeeded at lower flights during last fall’s run. Zach Martell is the fifth seed at No. 1 singles after winning as part of the No. 1 doubles pair in 2012 (and at No. 4 singles in 2011), second-seeded No. 2 singles player Nick Sandhu was part of last season’s No. 2 doubles champ, and second-seeded Zach Tsai at No. 3 singles is coming off winning the No. 4 title. Adhi Rajaprabhakaran (No. 1 doubles) and Neil Sykes (No. 2) both were part of championship pairs at lower flights last season, and Gage Feldeisen is the second seed at No. 4 singles after teaming with Sykes to win No. 4 doubles.
University Liggett: A pair of top-seeded doubles teams anchor a lineup with six seeds total. Alan Jurcak and August Bonacci made the No. 2 doubles quarterfinals last season and are the top seed at that flight, and Jackson Benning and Davey Sekhon are the top-seeded pair at No. 4.
Lansing Catholic: The top three seeds at No. 1 singles last season all were from the Capital Area Activities Conference White, and with both finalists graduated Lansing Catholic’s Matt Heeder moves up from the third to first seed. No. 2 singles player Anthony Davis also returns to his 2012 flight, this time as the fifth seed, and three other flights carry seeds into the tournament.
Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central’s Danny Moyer: He made it to the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles last season as the fourth seed and enters Friday as the second.
Kalamazoo Christian’s Andrew Klein: Last season’s runner-up at No. 2 singles is the sixth seed at No. 1.
PHOTO: Ann Arbor Greenhills’ Zach Tsai returns a volley during his Division 4 championship match at No. 4 singles against Comstock Park’s Zac Rossman last fall. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
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).