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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.)
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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.)