![Troy's Dhruv Gupta returns a volley during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals.](/sites/default/files/2023-10/231020_tennis_2H.jpg)
Preview: Favorites Set, but Challengers Aim to Prevent Repeat Results
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 19, 2023
Three 2022 Lower Peninsula boys tennis champions are ranked No. 1 heading into this weekend's Finals, but at least one new champion is guaranteed.
Bloomfield Hills in Division 1 and Midland Dow in Division 2 are considered favorites to repeat in those respective divisions. But reigning Divison 3 champion Ann Arbor Greenhills is playing again in Division 4, opening up the Division 3 bracket to other contenders – although of course hopefuls will be aspiring to prove the rankings wrong in all four.
Play begins between 8-8:30 a.m. Friday at the various sites for opening rounds, and between 8-9 a.m. Saturday for anticipated semifinals and championship matches. Visit the Boys Tennis page to find out which flights will be played at each location and to track results as they are received.
Below is a glance at several contenders in all four divisions.
LP Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center & Midland High School
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills, 2. Troy, 3. Northville
Bloomfield Hills moved up from runner-up in 2021 to champion last fall, winning by 10 points and with that title the program’s third over the last six seasons. Troy was the 2021 champion and finished third a year ago, one point behind runner-up Northville as the Mustangs earned their first top-two Finals finish in program history.
Bloomfield Hills: The Black Hawks won three doubles and two singles flight championships during their dominating 2022 run, and they’re seeded to win six this time. Junior Pierce Shaya (21-0), part of last season’s No. 1 doubles champion, is seeded first at No. 2 singles, and sophomore Connor Shaya (24-0) was last year’s No. 4 singles champion and is seeded first at No. 3 this time. Senior Merrick Chernett was the other half of that No. 1 doubles champion, and he and senior Aaron Rose are seeded first at that flight. Seniors Ryan Rose and Michael Dillon are seeded first at No. 2 doubles and won that flight last year. Senior Kierth Lingam and junior Dominic Pascarella are seeded first at No. 3 after winning No. 4 last year, and senior Ethan Endelman and junior Asher Langwell are seeded first at No. 4 this time. Sophomore Jonah Chernett is the third seed at No. 3 singles.
Troy: The Colts are seeded fourth or better at all eight flights, with the second seeds at all four doubles. Senior Haresh Anand (26-1) has the team’s lone top seed, at No. 4 singles, but junior Dhruv Gupta is seeded third at No. 3 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 a year ago. Senior Nish Palepu and sophomore Derrick Kim were the runners-up at No. 2 doubles last season and are the second seeds at No. 1 this weekend. Senior Derek Blackwell is the fourth seed at No. 1 singles.
Northville: All eight flights are seeded fifth or higher, with the singles lineup including two second seeds after top-seeded senior and two-time reigning champion Sachiv Kumar (24-0) at No. 1 singles. Junior Brian Zhang was part of the runner-up at No. 4 doubles last season and is teaming with senior Nathan Waller for the third-seeded pair at No. 2.
Clayton Anderson, Rochester senior: The No. 1 singles runner-up the last two seasons, he’s 21-1 this fall with his only loss to Kumar in August. He’s second-seeded at the top flight.
Chad Anderson, Rochester sophomore: He’s also second-seeded, at No. 2 singles, and 17-3 with two of those losses to Pierce Shaya.
LP Division 2 at Byron Center West Sports Complex, East Kentwood & Grand Rapids South Christian
Top-ranked: 1. Midland Dow, 2. Mattawan, 3. Birmingham Seaholm
Dow is the reigning champion, coming off its first Finals title since 2016 and seventh under coach Terry Schwartzkopf since 2009. Mattawan is seeking its first title and finished fourth last season and second in 2020. Seaholm also is seeking a first Finals team championship in this sport and has finished runner-up three times, most recently tying for second in 2018. The Maples placed third last year.
Midland Dow: The Chargers are undefeated this fall, and their seeding reflects that dominance as six flights are top-seeded. The entire singles lineup is back from last season, with senior Aaron Li (24-1) the reigning champion at No. 2 and the top seed at that flight, junior Nimai Patel (28-1) the reigning champion and top seed at No. 4, senior Logan Yu (27-0) the reigning No. 3 runner-up and top-seeded, and No. 1 singles junior Austin King (33-0) also a top seed after making the semifinals last season. Seniors Roofy Elsaadany and Vishagen Karthikeyan are the top seed at No. 1 doubles after Elsaadany was part of last year’s No. 2 champion and Karthikeyan part of the No. 3 runner-up, and senior Andrew Frickey and sophomore Matthew McGaugh are the top seed at No. 4.
Mattawan: The Wildcats will be playing for their best finish with six seeded flights, including all four at singles. Senior Garrett Cheng and freshman Dylan Hodgman lead the way as the second seeds at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples graduated two doubles champions from last season but are seeded at seven flights, led by No. 3 doubles top-seeded seniors Mohan Badhwar and Sammy Abdo. Junior Carson Wright and senior Sean Joyce are the second seed at No. 3, and senior Blake Smith is the second seed at No. 2 singles.
Karan Deol, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern junior: He’s seeded third at No. 1 singles after taking Dow’s Li to three sets in last season’s No. 2 singles championship match. He’s 24-3 this fall with his only losses twice to Drew Hackney (below) and once to Dow’s King.
Drew Hackney, Muskegon Mona Shores senior: He’s 28-0 and the second seed at No. 1 singles. He reached the quarterfinals last season, giving King a tough match there after entering as the sixth seed.
LP Division 3 at Kalamazoo College & Western Michigan University
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. East Grand Rapids
Reigning champion Ann Arbor Greenhills is back in Division 4, and Cranbrook is back as the favorite in Division 3. The Cranes have won six of the last eight Division 3 titles, with Greenhills winning the other two during that time. Cranbrook followed its 2021 championship with a runner-up finish last fall, finishing only two points off the lead. Country Day finished third and is seeking its first title since 2014, and East Grand Rapids tied for fourth last season and is seeking its first title since the spring 2007 season.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: Saturday should be busy as four Cranes flights are top seeds, and the other four are second seeds. Junior Amaan Khan (20-0) was the champion at No. 4 singles last season and is top-seeded at that flight, and sophomore Jace Bernard (17-3) is the top seed at No. 3. Cranbrook won No. 1 doubles last season and finished runner-up at the other three doubles flights, with Bernard and senior Andrew Fink that champion at No. 1; Fink is second-seeded at that flight this weekend with junior Aryan Tiwari, part of last year’s No. 2 runner-up. Freshman Ryan VanDyke and senior Ben Stevenson are the top seeds at No. 3 doubles, and seniors Ketan Swami and Kevin Guo are the top seeds at No. 4 after Guo was part of the runner-up at that flight last season and Swami was part of the runner-up at No. 3. Junior Ryan Michaels (10-10) is the second seed at No. 1 singles after reaching the semifinals at No. 2 last year.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets are set up well to make a push. Country Day is seeded third or higher at every flight, with two top seeds and a second seed in singles. Junior Saahitth Reddy is the top seed at No. 1 after receiving the seventh seed at that flight last season; he’s 10-9, but has won nine of his last 10 matches with all of his defeats to Division 1 opponents. Junior Dan Marin (19-4) is the top seed at No. 2 singles after reaching the semifinals at that flight last season.
East Grand Rapids: The Pioneers are seeded at seven flights and could make their move based on the success of some highly-regarded doubles pairs. Seniors Charlie Lentz and Luke Lentz are top-seeded at No. 2, seniors Ben Ruppert and Walter Zimdar are second-seeded at No. 3 and senior Joe Mulder and junior Tommy Rosmarin are second-seeded at No. 4.
Bhavesh Burramukku, St. Joseph junior: The third seed at No. 1 singles is 26-2 with his only losses to Division 1 opponents.
LP Division 4 at Hope College & Holland Christian
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Traverse City St. Francis, 3. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett
As noted above, Greenhills was last season’s Division 3 champion but is back in Division 4, where St. Francis and Liggett have combined to win the last three titles. Liggett won last year and in 2020 and was runner-up in 2021, edging Hudsonville Unity Christian by three points to claim last season’s championship.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: The Gryphons are seeded second at No. 1 singles and first at the other seven flights as they seek to win this division for the first time since 2018 after playing in Division 3 the last four seasons. Junior Kabir Rajendra (12-8) is that second seed at No. 1 after he was runner-up at Division 3 No. 3 last year. He’s followed in the singles lineup by top-seeded junior Teddy Staebler (23-7) at No. 2, sophomore Charlie Rich (22-7) at No. 3 and freshman Murli Pandey (21-9) at No. 4. Seniors Lucas Nor and Alex Ye are top-seeded at No. 1 doubles after Ye was part of last year’s runner-up at No. 1 in Division 3 and Nor was part of the champion at No. 2. Senior Charles Branch and sophomore Ajay Purohit are the top seed at No. 2; they teamed up to win No. 4 in Division 3 last fall. Sophomore Richard Wu and freshman William Pearce are the top seed at No. 3, and senior Shyam Pandey and freshman Maksim Rakic-Denis are the top seed at No. 4.
Traverse City St. Francis: The Gladiators are seeded fifth or higher at all eight flights, led by strength in doubles. Juniors Eli Schmude and David Ansley are the second seed at No. 1, and freshman Casey Jackson and sophomore Brady Thelen are the second seed at No. 4. Ansley was part of the No. 3 runner-up last season. Junior Owen Jackson (26-9) is the third seed at No. 1 singles after winning No. 2 last season and No. 3 in 2021, and senior Chris Bobrowski is the fourth seed at No. 2 after finishing No. 3 runner-up in 2022.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett: The Knights are seeking their fifth Division 4 championship over the last eight seasons, and they’ll enter with six seeded flights and a singles lineup that will be especially key. Senior Sebastian Courtright (22-8) is the top seed at No. 1 after finishing runner-up at that flight the last two seasons, and junior Charlie Cooksey is the second seed at No. 2 after winning No. 4 last season.
PHOTO Troy's Dhruv Gupta returns a volley during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
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Preview: Powers Could Prevail Again
October 18, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This year’s Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals will again feature a number of contenders we’re used to seeing raise trophies during the season’s closing weekend.
Reigning champions Okemos in Division 2 and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in Division 3 are loaded with top seeds, as is Ann Arbor Greenhills in Division 4 as it looks to build off two straight runner-up finishes. The closest competition might come in Division 1, where reigning champion Bloomfield Hills must fend off the usual cast of contenders including Ann Arbor Huron and Birmingham Brother Rice – but will take them on with a lineup topped by victorious veterans.
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.
Lower Peninsula Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills, 2. Ann Arbor Huron, 3. Birmingham Brother Rice.
Bloomfield Hills has won two of the last three Division 1 titles, last year by two points ahead of Troy and eight ahead of third-place Ann Arbor Huron. Huron claimed the championship in 2016, by two points ahead of the Black Hawks. Brother Rice has finished runner-up three times this decade and as recently as 2014, and will play for its first title since 2009. The Warriors came in fourth last season.
Bloomfield Hills: Seven of eight flights are seeded first or second, led by top-seeded Andrew Zhang at No. 1 singles. He’s finishing a career that’s seen him win No. 2 singles as a sophomore and finish runner-up at No. 2 in 2015 and No. 1 a year ago. Sebastian Burman is the top seed at No. 3 singles after being part of last season’s No. 1 doubles champion with brother Cade, the second seed this weekend at No. 4 singles. Noah Rosin and Adrian Wilen are top-seeded at No. 1 doubles – Wilen was part of the No. 3 runner-up a year ago.
Ann Arbor Huron: The River Rats have won four of seven team titles this decade. They also are seeded at seven flights and pack the most power with three top-seeded doubles pairs – Nick Grosh and T.J. Bai at No. 2, Sammy Clyde and Pranav Sharma at No. 3 and Nikhil Girish and Vincent Tremonti at No. 4. Grosh and Bai were runners-up at No. 4 a year ago.
Birmingham Brother Rice: The Warriors are seeded at six flights and should stack up some singles points led by second-seeded Jarreau Campbell at No. 1 and top-seeded JJ Etterbeek at No. 2. Campbell made the No. 1 singles semifinals a year ago and was part of the No. 1 doubles champion in 2015. Second-seeded No. 1 doubles pair Josh Anschuetz and Niko Mamatas have enjoyed previous Finals success as well, Mamatas as part of the runner-up at No. 2 doubles last season and Anschuetz as part of the runner-up at No. 1 in 2016.
Clarkston’s Luke Baylis: The Wolves junior is the third seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals last season and finishing runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman.
Lower Peninsula Division 2 at Holland Christian/Hope College
Top-ranked: 1. Okemos, 2. Birmingham Groves, 3. Birmingham Seaholm.
The Chiefs swept their Regional flights and are looking to repeat as a Finals champion for the first time since winning four straight titles from 2004-07. They finished 15 points ahead of runners-up Groves and Midland Dow a year ago, while Seaholm finished fifth. The runner-up finish was Groves’ fourth, and the Falcons are seeking their first championship. Seaholm owns two runner-up finishes and also is seeking its first title.
Okemos: The Chiefs won six flight championships a year ago, and they’re seeded first in all eight heading into this weekend. Shrey Patel was the No. 3 singles champion in 2017 and is seeded first at No. 2 doubles with Druv Talluri – part of last season’s No. 3 doubles champion. Daniel Gorelik is the reigning No. 4 singles champ and part of the top seed at No. 1 doubles with Zal Chinoy, part of last season’s champion at that flight. Josh Portnoy was the runner-up at No. 2 singles last season and is seeded first at that flight, with freshman Ozan Colak the top seed at No. 1, Benjamin Letzer the top at No. 3 and Rohan Shah the top at No. 4; Shah was part of the No. 2 doubles champ a year ago. Siddharth Nagisetty and Aditya Kandula at No. 3 doubles and Abhi Shukul and Diego Casagrande at No. 4 round out the top seeds; Nagisetty teamed with Shah for that No. 2 title last season and Kandula was part of the winning No. 4 flight.
Birmingham Groves: All eight flights are seeded, and five third or higher. Gabe Liss is the third seed at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Gabe Vidinas is the second seed as the reigning champion at No. 2 and Jonah Liss is seeded third at No. 3 after finishing runner-up at that flight last season. Aerik Joe is part of the sixth-seeded No. 1 doubles pair and was part of the No. 4 champion in 2016.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples are seeded at five flights with three second-seeded doubles pairs. Ben Adams and Aidan O’Neill are teamed up for the second seed at No. 1 – Adams was part of the runner-up last season at No. 4 and O’Neill was part of the No. 3 runner-up. Max Levitsky teamed with Adams at No. 4 last season and this weekend is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 3.
Mattawan’s Nathaniel Webster: After making the second round as the fifth seed at No. 1 singles as a freshman last year, Webster enters this weekend third-seeded at the top flight.
Midland Dow’s Tyler Conrad: The Chargers’ senior is seeded fourth at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 3 as a freshman, champion at No. 3 as a sophomore and making the semifinals at No. 2 last fall.
Lower Peninsula Division 3 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. East Grand Rapids.
Cranbrook Kingswood and Detroit Country Day have finished as the top two in this division the last four seasons, with the Cranes winning the last three titles after Country Day won four straight from 2011-14. In fact, they’ve combined to win the last 10 championships, and last year Cranbrook cleared the field by eight points. East Grand Rapids has finished runner-up twice over the last 11 seasons and is seeking its first title since spring 2007. The Pioneers tied for third last season with Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes are seeded at every flight and carry six top seeds into the weekend, with three returning 2017 champions. Lucas Bosch is the top seed at No. 1 singles after winning No. 2 a year ago, and similarly Justin Luo is the top seed at No. 2 coming off the No. 3 singles titles. (Luo also was No. 4 champion as a freshman and No. 3 runner-up as a sophomore.) Joe Croskey was part of the No. 2 doubles champion in 2017 and is seeded first at No. 4 singles. Nolan Sherwood played No. 1 singles for Forest Hills Eastern last season and is seeded first at No. 3 for the Cranes. Patrick Tiwari and Sohum Acharya are the top seed at No. 2 doubles – Acharya was the runner-up at No. 4 singles last season – and Geoffrey Qin and Isaiah Croskey are top-seeded at No. 4. Nikhil Deenadaylu teamed with Croskey to win No. 2 last season and is part of the fourth-seeded No. 1 pair this time with Jack Trees, a runner-up at No. 3 in 2017. Hayes Bradley and David Hermelin are seeded third at No. 3 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 a year ago.
Detroit Country Day: All eight flights are seeded second or third at their respective flights. Nikolas Gruskin is the second seed at No. 1 singles and Ricky Warnicke is the third seed at No. 2 – they finished back-to-back runners-up at No. 2 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Nick Sicilia was part of the No. 4 doubles champion last season and is part of the second-seeded No. 2 pair. Alex Mettler and Alex Pollak are the second seed at No. 1.
East Grand Rapids: The Pioneers are seeded at seven flights including with one of the top seeds that didn’t go to Cranbrook. Nick Lambert and Graham Haslem earned it at No. 3 doubles after making the semifinals for that flight together last season. Kole Butterer was part of the No. 2 doubles runner-up last season and is part of the third-seeded pair at No. 1. Ben Collins made the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles last season as a sixth seed and returns in the third spot in that flight.
St. Clair’s Derek Distelrath: The Saints freshman enters his first MHSAA Finals as the fourth seed at No. 1 singles.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s Anish Premkumar and Anish Kokkula: They’re the top seed at No. 1 doubles after Kokkula made the semifinals last season at No. 3 singles and Premkumar was part of the champion at this flight.
Lower Peninsula Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Traverse City St. Francis, 3. Allegan.
Greenhills won eight straight Division 4 titles from 2008-15 before Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett won the last two with the Gryphons finishing second both times. Liggett is ranked No. 7 entering this weekend, and Greenhills is poised to take back the title after coming up two points short a year ago. St. Francis was third last season, six points off the lead, and it is seeking its first top-two finish. So too is Allegan, which tied for fifth in LPD3 last season.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: The Gryphons have six top seeds and two second seeds. Kann Oral is the reigning champion at No. 2 singles and seeded first at that flight, and Taha Zirapury is the top seed at No. 4 after pairing for the No. 3 doubles championship last fall. Trey Feldeisen is back at No. 1 doubles as the reigning champion but with new partner Henry Branch, a No. 3 singles semifinalist last season. Nathan Rosenberg and Finn Feldeisen at No. 3 doubles, Harrison Li and Alex Schwendeman at No. 4 and Mert Oral at No. 3 singles also carry top seeds into the weekend. Drake Rosenberg and Joey Formicola are the second-seeded pair at No. 2 doubles after Rosenberg teamed with Zirapury for the No. 3 title last season and Formicola was part of the runner-up at No. 2. Sahil Deenadayalu is the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Traverse City St. Francis: Seven flights are seeded, with one top seed and four second at their respective flights. Tyler Tafelsky is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles after combining to win No. 4 last season, and Sean Navin and Brendan Chouinard own that top seed at No. 2 doubles. Andrew Gerling is the fourth seed at No. 1 singles, topping a lineup with the second seeds at the other three flights.
Allegan: Five flights are seeded, all third or higher, and with four seeds coming in doubles. In singles, Kody Harrington is the third seed at No. 2 after finishing No. 3 runner-up in Division 3 a year ago. Zach Sisson made the semifinals at No. 1 doubles in last season and is part of the third seed at that flight with Zach Lang, who made the quarterfinals at No. 2 doubles in Division 3 a year ago.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s William Cooksey: Last season’s No. 1 singles champ as a freshman returns as the top seed at that flight as a sophomore.
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard’s Ian Sood: A junior, Sood finished runner-up at No. 2 singles both of his first two seasons and this weekend is seeded third at No. 1.
PHOTO: Okemos’ Druv Talluri returns a volley during a No. 3 doubles match at last season's Finals; he returns this weekend as part of the top-seeded pair at No. 2. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)