Preview: Familiar Foes Ready to Rematch
October 13, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The second-longest MHSAA Finals championship streak is on the line this weekend as rivals could face off to determine the champions in all four divisions played across the Lower Peninsula.
Ann Arbor Greenhills has won eight straight titles in Division 4, but is ranked second to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett. Rivals Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood and Detroit Country Day are expected to clash again in Division 3, while Divisions 1 and 2 feature pairs of neighbors chasing the favorites – Ann Arbor Huron and Pioneer trying to catch Bloomfield Hills in Division 1, and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Forest Hills Northern seeking to match Midland Dow in Division 2.
Play both Friday and Saturday begins at 8 a.m. Click for full brackets for all four tournaments, plus Regional results, and come back to Second Half early Saturday evening for coverage from all four Finals.
LP Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills, 2. Ann Arbor Huron, 3. Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Bloomfield Hills tied with Novi for last season’s Division 1 title; the championship was Bloomfield Hills’ first MHSAA boys tennis championship since the merging of the former Lahser and Andover high schools earlier this decade, and the Black Hawks are favored to repeat this weekend. Novi has seven seeded flights, but the team expected to challenge most is Huron, which won three straight MHSAA titles from 2011-13 and finished fourth a year ago.
Bloomfield Hills: Every flight is seeded and all but one flight is seeded third or higher, led by top seeds Andrew Zhang at No. 2 singles and Constantine Hemmrich at No. 3. Like last season, singles should again lead the way – and with the same cast. Hemmrich won No. 3 last season, while Zhang finished runner-up at No. 2, Josh Mukherjee was runner-up at No. 1 and Brad Silverman was runner-up at No. 4. Mukherjee is seeded second at No. 1 and Silverman third at No. 4 this weekend.
Ann Arbor Huron: Doubles are Huron's strength, with all four pairs seeded second or first (two singles flights also are seeded). Chris Cho, the No. 4 singles champ last fall, teams with Brenden Chen for the top-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles, while Austin Choi and Eddie Wang are second at No. 2; Choi and Robert Dong won No. 2 last year. Alex Kotlyar and Justin Park are top-seeded at No. 3, and Henry Zhou and Matt Kelley are top-seeded at No. 4.
Ann Arbor Pioneer: The Pioneers came in third last season, only four points back, and are seeded at six flights as well. Nikhil Kalra and Grant McLean are seeded sixth at No. 2 doubles after winning No. 4 last season, and Gabe Kleer and Josh Lee are seeded third at No. 4 coming off the championship at No. 3. Jake Arvidson and Sayhaan Goraya are second-seeded at No. 1, as is Oliver Fuchs at No. 4 singles. Robert Dong is third-seeded at No. 3 singles.
Troy’s Steve Forman: A junior, Forman advanced to the semifinals last season at No. 1 singles as a four seed before losing to eventual champion Connor Johnston of Northville. This time, Forman enters with the top seed.
Birmingham Brother Rice’s Jack Winkler: The Warriors’ No. 1 singles player also fell to Johnston last season after reaching the quarterfinals unseeded; Winkler is the third seed this weekend.
Novi’s Alex Wen: Novi’s lone flight champion last season, at No. 2 singles, Wen moved up to No. 1 this fall and is seeded sixth. Wen also won No. 3 singles in 2014.
Birmingham Brother Rice’s Jarreau Campbell: After teaming with Sean Abelarde to win No. 1 doubles last season, Campbell moved to singles and is the fifth seed at No. 2.
LP Division 2 at Hope College
Top-ranked: 1. Midland Dow, 2. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 3. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Forest Hills Central has won the last two Division 2 championships, last season in a tie with Portage Central. But the Rangers will have to fend off Dow, the favorite again after winning five straight titles from 2009-13. The Chargers finished third the last two seasons and only three points back a year ago.
Midland Dow: Every flight is seeded first or second, with three top seeds in both singles and doubles. Varun Shanker won No. 3 singles as a freshman and will finish high school as the top seed at No. 1 heading into the weekend. Reigning No. 3 singles runner-up Tyler Conrad is the top seed at that flight again, and Saketh Kamaraju is top-seeded at No. 4. JJ Kirkman and Aditya Middha are top-seeded at No. 1 doubles, Sagar Kamaraju and Noah Nichols are top-seeded at No. 2, and Ryan Killmaster and Jeroen Uesbeck are top-seeded at No. 4. Kirkman and Nichols were the runner-up last year at No. 2 doubles, while Middha was runner-up at No. 4 singles.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central: The Rangers won their share of the overall title last year with four flight champions, including three at doubles, and five flights are seeded third or higher this time including three in doubles. Peyton Herbert and Mike Battiste are top-seeded at No. 3 doubles after winning No. 4 last year, while Jacob Wiltjer won No. 4 singles in both 2014 and 2015 and is seeded third at No. 2. Three other players are reigning flight champions: Justin James and Aidan Rynbrandt won No. 2 doubles last season and Jack Ziegler was part of the winning pair at No. 3; Rynbrandt and Ziegler are seeded second at No. 2 this time, and James and Reed Aleck are the third seed at No. 1.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: Six flights are seeded, including four doubles flights, and four flights are seeded third or second. The leading seed is at No. 4 doubles, where Justin Gendler and Jessie Oman are second to Dow’s pair.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Reed Crocker: A freshman, Crocker is quickly writing his high school legacy following older brother Davis Crocker, who won No. 1 singles three times from 2011-13 for Loy Norrix. Reed is seeded second at No. 1 singles this weekend.
Portage Central’s Lucas Guy: The No. 3 singles champion as a second seed last season, Guy moved up to No. 1 singles and is seeded third this weekend.
Birmingham Groves’ Gabe Vidinas: Unseeded at No. 1 singles last season, Vidinas made the second round. He’s the top-seeded player at No. 2 this weekend.
Portage Central’s Cameron Raedy: Part of last season’s champion at No. 1 doubles, Raedy is seeded fourth at No. 2 singles.
LP Division 3 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. East Grand Rapids.
Cranbrook Kingswood and Country Day have gone back and forth a good share this decade; the Cranes won the title last year with Country Day second after Country Day won over the Cranes in 2014. The Yellowjackets actually won four straight from 2011-14 – after finishing runner-up when Cranbrook Kingswood won in 2010. The Cranes won their Regional this fall by two points over Country Day after falling to their rival in a dual match the week before.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: All eight flights are seeded third or higher and four flights are top-seeded, beginning with No. 1 singles Benji Jacobson – last year’s champion at No. 2 and the runner-up at No. 1 in 2014. Only two players are back from the eight who swept the doubles championships for the Cranes last season, and they’re with new partners: Jacob Yellen is seeded second at No. 2 with Joe Croskey and Andrew Du is seeded first with Michael Bian at No. 1 after Yellen and Du paired to win No. 4 doubles a year ago and Bian finished runner-up at No. 3 singles. Cranbrook Kingswood’s other top seeds are Blake Fisher and Nikhil Deenadayalu at No. 3 doubles and Eshaan Kawlra and Jack Trees at No. 4. Reigning No. 4 singles champion Justin Luo is seeded second at No. 3.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets also are seeded third or better at all eight flights, but with only three top seeds: Nik Gruskin at No. 2 singles, Eric Wang at No. 4 and Milind Rao and Kavon Rahmani at No. 2 doubles. Michael Khaghany is the reigning champion at No. 3 singles and moved up to No. 1, where he’s seeded third. Rahmani was part of the runner-up at No. 3 doubles last season, and No. 2 doubles runner-up pair Ryan Murakawa and Rick Warnicke are the second seed at No. 1. Alex Mettler, the runner-up to Luo at No. 4 singles in 2015, is third-seeded at No. 3 this time.
East Grand Rapids: The Pioneers will look to break into the top two for the first time since finishing runner-up in 2013 with eight seeded flights including third seeds at all four doubles. Tommy Alkema and Finn Adams made the No. 1 doubles semifinals last season and are back as the third seed in that flight.
Holland Christian’s Ryan Rhoades: The second-seeded player at No. 1 singles, Rhoades made the semifinals as the third seed at No. 2 last year.
St. Joseph’s Ryan Okonski – The Bears’ top singles player is seeded fourth at No. 1 after making the quarterfinals while unseeded last season.
LP Division 4 at Holly & Fenton
Top-ranked: 1. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, 2. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
If rankings play out, Division 4 would have the story of the weekend. University Liggett has finished runner-up the last two seasons and is favored to end Greenhills’ eight-season hold on the championship. Liggett last won an MHSAA boys tennis title in 2002 but owns a record 34. Traverse City St. Francis also finished third last season and is seeking its first top-two finish.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett: The Knights can be optimistic with all eight flights seeded first or second this weekend and five players who were either champions or runners-up last fall. At No. 2 singles, Christian Illitch is the top seed after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Casey Scoggin is the second seed at No. 3 and Andrew Staricco is the top seed at No. 4 after Staricco was runner-up at No. 4 last season and Scoggin teamed with Alec Azar to win No. 3 doubles. Azar and new partner Davey Sekhon are the second seed at No. 3 doubles this time, and Craig Buhler is seeded second with Spencer Warezak at No. 3 doubles after finishing second with a different partner at No. 4 in 2015. Matthew Lesha and Victor Logan at No. 4 doubles also are top-seeded. T.J. Dulac is the second seed at No. 1 singles after reaching the quarterfinals last season, and Thomas Van Pelt and Maddie Fozo are the second seed at No. 1 doubles; Van Pelt made the semifinals with a different partner last year, and Fozo was a No. 1 singles semifinalist in the LP Division 4 Girls Final in 2015 and a quarterfinalist this past spring.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: The Gryphons aren’t used to playing from this spot but won all eight flights at their Regional and are seeded third or higher at all but one flight, where they are seeded fifth. Sam Talsma is the top seed at No. 3 singles after winning at No. 2 last year, and Jack Harris and Mitchell Gajar are seeded fifth at No. 1 doubles after winning championships with different partners a year ago, Harris at No. 1 and Gajar at No. 2. Matt Chatas and Andy Xie are seeded third at No. 2 doubles and are another decorated pair; Xie won No. 4 singles last season and Chatas was part of the No. 3 doubles runner-up with Trey Feldeisen, who is seeded first at No. 3 doubles with new partner Sushruta Shankar. Kaan Oral and Henry Branch are second seeds at Nos. 2 and 4 singles, respectively.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators had a flight runner-up last season in Tyler Spigarelli at No. 3 singles, and he’s back seeded fourth this weekend. Total, seven flights are seeded, including two top-seeded doubles pairs: Elliott Bandrowski and Jackson Richmond at No. 1 and Ryan Navin and Joe Primeau at No. 2. Bandrowski made the second round at No. 1 singles last year, and Navin and Primeau advanced to the semifinals at No. 2 doubles as the third seed.
Williamston’s Oliver Weaver – The top-seeded player at No. 1 singles, Weaver is trying to keep with a tradition that has seen players from his Capital Area Activities Conference White win four of the last six titles at the top flight in this division. Weaver finished runner-up last season to Otsego’s Luke Ford, losing in three sets after winning the first.
PHOTO: University Liggett’s Casey Scoggin (left) and Greenhills’ Matt Chatas shake hands after last season’s championship match at No. 3 doubles. Both will return to the Division 4 Finals this weekend. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Cranes' Team Effort Pays Off in Title Tie-Breaker
October 16, 2020
By Jarred Chrapek
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – To regain the Lower Peninsula Division 3 boys tennis title, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood knew every point would matter.
That laser-focused approach proved to be spot on as the Cranes outlasted reigning champion Ann Arbor Greenhills to capture this season’s championship at Holland Christian.
The two teams split the eight matches in the final 4-4, with the tie-breaker total sets won. Cranbrook Kingswood had one more set to its advantage.
And not just every set, but every game could've carried additional significance. Had the teams tied for number of sets won, the Cranes also would've won the next tie-breaker – most games won within those sets.
“We knew it was going to be close,” said Cranbrook Kingswood coach Steve Herdoiza. “We knew that every point mattered, especially with this format.”
Unlike previous years, where the team champion was determined by how many matches individual players won during bracketed flight play, this year’s format was a pure team, head-to-head dual as the COVID-19 virus changed the way not only the tennis season was run but the way the MHSAA Tournament was set up.
This year’s title came down to a rematch between the two powers in Division 3 the past several years. Cranbrook Kingswood had won four straight Finals titles before Ann Arbor Greenhills snapped the streak last year. The two teams met three times this fall, tying 4-4 each time with Cranbrook winning twice on tie-breakers and Greenhills winning by tie-breaker the other time.
“Both teams knew it was likely to come down to total games won, or maybe sets. Cranbrook was deeper and won the lower flights by decisive margins, while Greenhills was stronger at the top, winning those matches,” Greenhills coach Eric Gajar said. “In the new format, it still came down to a total team effort, and Cranbrook was better (Friday) – they deserved to win. We will learn from it, and be stronger for having come through it. I know it will motivate the players to work hard this offseason, and they will come back ready for another shot."
This time, Cranbrook Kingswood junior Patrick Tiwari helped provide the tie-breaking set as he pushed his No. 2 singles match to three despite falling 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Tiwari, however, did his part for the team as he won the middle set in what was the final match of the day that ended just as darkness was falling on the courts.
“(The same opponent) defeated me pretty good in two sets earlier this season,” Tiwari said. “It felt good to win that second set and help to clinch the title. Winning that set to clinch the title for us was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. The whole season was definitely weird, and to regain the state title was a great feeling.”
Just minutes before Tiwari’s match concluded, Cranbrook Kingswood senior Geoffrey Qin won his at No. 4 singles to give the Cranes their fourth victory of the dual. For the undefeated Qin, the victory was part of a total-team effort that started even before the season began.
“Winning this state title required so much effort by everyone,” Qin said. “It started back in August when we had COVID cases at our school. Not only did we have to work hard on our tennis and our conditioning, but we had to be diligent with the virus and practice good social distancing.”
The team also had to remain focused on preparing for every match, as lessons learned while coming up short at last year’s Final proved valuable this time around.
“We had some guys cramp up at last year’s state finals including myself,” Qin said. “We had to make sure that we kept hydrated and did proper stretching before matches this year to prevent cramping up. You learn lessons from defeat that you don’t learn by winning. That was an important lesson we learned last year, and I don’t think we would’ve won this year’s state title without learning those lessons.”
Qin and fellow team captains Dhilan Nagaraju and Enzo Martella provided Cranbrook Kingswood with strong leadership the entire season.
“We had four seniors this year and some very good leadership from our captains,” Herdoiza said. “We also had some freshmen step up along with some sophomores and juniors.
“We knew it was going to be a battle with Greenhills. We are two evenly-matched teams, and it came down to one set. Today we just took advantage of the opportunities given to us.”
Cranbrook Kingswood received some strong efforts from its doubles teams. The Cranes won three of the four doubles matches, led by the No. 2 pair Martella and Theo Taubman, who claimed a 7-5, 6-1 win.
“Our team goal was to peak for states,” Martella said. “This was a really difficult season with the COVID and everything, but we just kept getting better every week.”
The total team effort proved to be the key for Cranbrook Kingswood in the end.
“Everyone on the team played very well the entire tournament, especially at the end,” Nagaraju said. “Patrick at two singles exceeded expectations. We just kept on battling this year and overcoming numerous setbacks. We developed into a real team, and that was the difference. We just trusted the process.”
Cranbrook Kingswood claimed wins at No. 3 and No. 4 doubles. Sebs Taubman and Jacob Coburn picked up a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles, while Caden Che and Andrew Fink won at No. 4 by a score of 6-0, 6-0.
Greenhills claimed the No. 1 doubles match with Joey Formicola and Thomas Zeng winning 6-1, 6-3.
Greenhills also won three singles matches. Mert Oral claimed a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles. Sophomore Rishi Verma won at No. 3 by a score of 7-6(6), 6-1.
“I was particularly pleased with my top three singles players – all of whom won their matches in the final. Between them, they had only one loss all season long despite a brutal schedule against top competition,” Gajar said. “My one doubles team had a great tournament, including avenging a regular-season loss in the semifinal round, then played lights out in the finals, defeating a solid team.
“There are lots of teams that would have loved to be in our position and playing for a title in their last match. We did well to get there and came up just short. I am proud of how my guys competed and handled themselves. Of course, we were thrilled to have had a season at all; that wasn't always a sure thing. Hard to believe it's over.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Patrick Tiwari of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood returns a shot during his No. 2 singles match against Ann Arbor Greenhills. (Middle) Greenhills’ Mert Oral returns a volley at No. 1 singles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)