Preview: Winning Streaks on the Line
October 14, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A pair of the state’s most impressive championship winning streaks came to an end during the 2014 MHSAA Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals. But two more streaks remain alive – and at least one is expected to continue.
Ann Arbor Greenhills is seeking its eighth straight Division 4 title, which would tie it for the third longest Finals winning streak in the sport’s history. And in Division 3, Detroit Country Day is playing for its fifth straight win. Greenhills is ranked No. 1 in in the latest statewide LPD4 coaches poll; Country Day is No. 2 in LPD3.
See below for a glance at the favorites at all four tournaments this weekend, plus individuals to watch as well. Click for qualifiers and Regional results from all four divisions and Finals results as they are reported, and check back after their completion for coverage of all four tournaments.
LP Division 1 at Greater Midland Tennis Center
Top ranked: 1. Novi, 2. Troy, 3. Bloomfield Hills.
Novi broke Ann Arbor Huron’s three-year winning streak a year ago with its first title, and now the Wildcats are expected to build a streak of their own. Troy also is seeking its first MHSAA boys tennis title, and Bloomfield Hills is seeking its first since the merger of the former Lahser and Andover high schools. The most recent title for either was Andover’s in LPD3 in 2005.
Novi – Six flights have top or second seeds, including all four doubles pairs. That doesn’t include Koushik Kondapi, last season’s champion at No 2 singles who is the sixth seed this time at No. 1. Alex Wen also moved up a flight after winning a title, from No. 3 last season to the second seed at No. 2. Maxx Anderson and Daniel Yu are the top seed again at No. 1 doubles after finishing runner-up last season, and Aditya Chitta and Robert Chen are second-seeded at No. 2 after making the semifinals at No. 4 in 2014. Sai Gotur and Abhishek Subash are the top seed at No. 3 after making the second round in that flight last season, and Aakash Ray and Nayan Makim are second at No. 4; Ray was part of a semifinalist at No. 2 last year.
Troy – The Colts are looking to improve on last season’s third-place finish with seven seeded flights, including three fourth seeds. Michael Faber is the fifth seed at No. 2 singles after making the quarterfinals at No. 1 in 2014, while Steve Forman is the fourth seed at No. 1 after making the No. 2 semifinals and Sandeep Raja moved up to No. 3 after making the No. 4 quarterfinals. Sai Kagithala was a quarterfinalist at No. 3 last season but moved to No. 1 doubles where he’s part of the fifth seed with Kevin Fietsam.
Bloomfield Hills – The Black Hawks will look to contend after finishing 10th a year ago on the strength of a singles lineup featuring two top seeds and all four flights seeded no lower than fourth. Constantine Hemmrich is the number one at No. 3 singles after playing No. 2 in 2014, and Brad Silverman comes in as top-seeded at No. 4 after making the semifinals last time. Josh Mukherjee is second-seeded at No. 1 after making the semifinals at that flight last season, and Andrew Zhang is fourth-seeded at No. 2.
Northville’s Connor Johnston – The top-seeded senior at No. 1 singles is looking to finish with another title to go with his championship at No. 2 as a freshman. He finished runner-up at No. 1 the last two seasons.
Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Ian Yi – He’s back as the third seed at No. 1 after making the semifinals last season and after winning No. 2 singles as a freshman in 2013.
Port Huron Northern’s Chris Adams – He’s the top seed at No. 2 singles after falling to Kondapi in three sets in the final last season.
Ann Arbor Huron’s Austin Choi and Robert Dong – Choi, a junior, won the No. 1 doubles title last season with Jason Chen and this time is top-seeded with Dong, a sophomore.
Other returning 2014 flight champions – Ann Arbor Huron’s Brenden Chen (No. 3 doubles last season, No. 1 doubles this season with Justin Park).
Division 2 at Holly
Top ranked: 1. Portage Central, 2. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 3. Midland Dow.
Forest Hills Central ended Dow’s five-year run atop LPD2 a year ago, but Portage Central is favored to win its first title since sharing the championship in spring 2007 – with an interesting side note that Central co-coach Erik Anderson led East Lansing to back-to-back titles in fall 2007 and 2008. Dow and Portage Central tied for third last season, six points behind the champ.
Portage Central – The Mustangs have either the first or second seed at every flight and reigning runners-up at the top two singles spots in top-seeded No. 1 Bill Duo and second-seeded No. 2 Ben Orwin. Lucas Guy and Camilo Bautista round out the singles lineup with two more second seeds at Nos. 3 and 4, and the Nos. 2-4 doubles pairs are all second seeded as well. Kento Hirakawa and Cameron Raedy are the top seed at No. 1; Raedy was part of a semifinalist at No. 1 last season with Sahil Tandon (now No. 2 doubles), and Hirakawa made the semifinals at No. 3 singles.
Forest Hills Central – The Rangers are seeded to win two flights after winning four on the way to the team title in 2014. Jacob Wiltjer is the reigning champion at No. 4 singles and seeded first, while Peyton Herbert and Mike Battiste are top-seeded at No. 4 doubles. Humzah Azeem teams with Reed Aleck at No. 1 doubles, and although they are unseeded, Azeem was part of the champion at No. 3 doubles last season. Sophomore Connor Genschaw is the second seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals last season after entering unseeded.
Dow – The singles lineup includes two top seeds and a pair of former individual champions. Michael Szabo owns two titles at No. 4 singles and a third at No. 3, plus the MHSAA career wins and career 6-0, 6-0, wins records, and is the top seed at No. 2 this weekend. Varun Shanker won No. 3 singles in 2013 and is the fourth seed at No. 1, and Tyler Conrad is the top seed at No. 3 this time.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern’s Jacob Dennen – He was upset in the second round at No. 1 singles as the fifth seed last season, but is back as the third seed this time.
Detroit U-D Jesuit’s Louis Wyre and Joey Wilson – They are the second seed at No. 1 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 2 in 2014 as a fourth seed.
LP Division 3 at Holland
Top ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. Holland Christian.
Country Day has won four straight LPD3 championships and beat runner-up Cranbrook Kingswood by seven points last season while scoring a near-perfect 39 – but Cranbrook Kingswood beat Country Day at last week’s MHSAA Regional. One of those two teams has won the last seven championships and they faced off in all eight flight finals in 2014. Holland Christian finished fourth last season and is seeking its first MHSAA title since 1965.
Cranbrook Kingswood – The Cranes are seeded first at seven flights and second at the eighth. Marc Sable was No. 2 runner-up last season and is the top seed at No. 1, switching spots with Benji Jacobson, the reigning No. 1 singles runner-up and this time the top seed at No. 2. Michael Bian is the top seed at No. 3 after finishing runner-up last season, and top-seeded No. 1 doubles pair Nolan Trepeck and Matthew Gerard were part of runners-up at Nos. 2 and 1, respectively. Brandon Kerr and Colin Petzold are top-seeded at No. 3 after finishing runner-up at No. 4.
Country Day – The Yellowjackets have the other top seed and seven second seeds, although three of those second seeds were flight champions last season and are seeded second after falling to Cranbrook Kingswood players at the Regional. Noah Karoub will be looking to repeat at No. 1, while Jakob Gahn moved from No. 2 after winning No. 3 and Michael Khaghany moved to No. 3 after winning No. 4. Damian Runkle and Adam Junn are teamed up as the second seed at No. 1 doubles after Runkle won with a different partner last year and Junn was part of the title-winning pair at No. 2. They, Karoub and Gahn are all seeking their third MHSAA flight championships. No. 4 singles Alex Mettler is the team’s lone top seed.
Holland Christian – The Maroons are seeded at every flight with third seeds at six flights. Ryan Rhoades made the semifinals at No. 3 last season and is second-seeded at No. 2, and Mark Glover and Johan Buurma were semifinalists at No. 3 doubles in 2014 and are part of seeded pairs at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
LP Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
Greenhills has won seven straight LPD4 titles and eight of the last nine, and cleared the field by 11 points a year ago. University Liggett was runner-up and St. Francis finished third at 22 and 21 points, respectively. Liggett last won a title in 2002, and St. Francis is seeking its first top-two finish.
Greenhills – The Gryphons' recent success has been based in doubles, with the team winning 11 of 12 flight championships over the last three seasons. Greenhills has a top seed and three second seeds at doubles this time, but also three top seeds in singles – No. 2 Sam Talsma, No. 3 Gage Feldeisen and No. 4 Andy Xie. Feldeisen was the champion at No. 3 in 2014, while Talsma was part of the champ at No. 1 doubles and Xie part of the No. 2 doubles winner. Brandon Johnson was Talsma’s partner and this season is part of the second-seeded No. 1 pair with Jack Harris.
University Liggett – The Knights are seeded at every flight, led by top seeds Casey Scoggin and Alec Azar at No. 3 doubles and Kester Stefani and Craig Buhler at No. 4. Alex Dow and Dave Sekhon were the runner-up last season at No. 2; Sekhon is teaming with Will Gersch to form the second-seeded pair at No. 2, and Dow and Thomas Van Pelt are third-seeded at No. 1. Second-seeded Christian Illitch at No. 2 has the team’s highest singles position.
St. Francis – Seven seeded flights will lead the Gladiators’ pursuit of its top finish ever, led by second seeds Tyler Spigarelli at No. 3 singles and Victor Casler at No. 4. Ryan Navin was part of the No. 4 doubles runner-up last season and teams with Joe Primeau as the third-seeded pair at No. 2.
Otsego’s Luke Ford – He’s the top seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals as the second seed last season.
Williamston’s Oliver Weaver – A quarterfinalist as an unseeded player last season, he was eliminated by Ford and enters as the second seed at No. 1.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Henry Hedeman – Last season’s champion at No. 2 singles moves up a flight and enters as the third seed.
Whitehall’s Eric Butzer and Alec Milliron – The top-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles is made up of a No. 2 singles player from last season in Butzer and a No. 2 doubles player in Milliron.
PHOTO: Northville’s Connor Johnston returns a volley during last season’s No. 1 singles championship match in Lower Peninsula Division 1. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Holland Courts Honor Program Builder
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 5, 2016
A few days after he stood in front of a group of admirers including friends, fellow coaches and former players – including some from his first Holland High School tennis team in 1972 – Dwayne “Tiger” Teusink drove past the courts that now bear his name.
It’s a welcoming sight honoring someone who has welcomed thousands though the sport over more than a half century as a coach and administrator.
Teusink, a 1954 graduate of Holland High and later Hope College, coached high school tennis at Jackson for seven years and then Holland for 35 while also lending a significant behind-the-scenes voice in the formation of high school tennis as it’s played in Michigan today.
He was recognized for those and many more contributions during the Dutch’s Homecoming weekend Sept. 24 as reportedly more than 200 attendees cheered the renaming of the 5-year-old Holland High facility as the “Tiger Teusink Courts” in honor of the longtime teacher, athletic director and coach.
“The whole experience was overwhelming,” Teusink said Tuesday. “Our facility is a first-rate facility. Holland has always had a great tennis program. The community supports tennis, and this facility obviously belongs to the community, but it makes me really proud that my name is associated with it.”
He’s been associated with most of the foundation-setting of the sport both locally and statewide over the last five decades.
After his time at Jackson High, Teusink returned home to Holland in 1972 and continued as a teacher until 1989 and coach until 1998. He led high school teams to a 453-176-4 record with 13 conference and 16 MHSAA Regional titles, and his Holland boys team was a runner-up at the 1976 Class A Final. He also coached at Hope College from 1994-2009.
At a statewide level, Teusink’s work has affected thousands more. He was on the committee that in 1976 introduced the flighted MHSAA tournament structure developed to promote a team format that remains the standard today. While at Holland, Teusink managed 63 Regional and 17 MHSAA Finals tournaments, and he served on the Finals seeding committee from 1980-2011.
He continues to serve on the MHSAA tennis committee that annually considers rules changes and other business that pertains to the sport. He also has played a major role in the development of the Michigan Interscholastic Tennis Coaches Association, and held offices of president, vice president and secretary/treasurer over a 32-year span.
“He was a mentor to me on how to not only to teach the game, but more importantly teach kids the right way to compete and to enjoy the sport,” said Grand Haven Lakeshore Middle School principal Kevin Polston, who coached tennis at DeWitt from 1999-2002 and then both Buccaneers varsities from 2003-08, and served with Teusink on the MHSTeCA board. “I respected that he always stood for what was right, even if it wasn't easy. You always knew where Tiger stood on something, and he could clearly explain why he came to the conclusions he did. Quite simply, when Tiger spoke, people listened.”
Kevin O’Keefe played four seasons for Teusink before graduating in 1986 and has heard from a number of other alums how their coach was ahead of his time.
As the current Dutch coach since 2008, O’Keefe inherited the “big binder bible” of Teusink’s lesson and practice plans that also contains his mentor’s thoughts on everything from conducting challenge matches to motivating players and working with parents.
“He’d come every day with a plan in mind and with an agenda,” O’Keefe said. “The logistics of how it works still work. A lot of it is still quite relevant.”
Other ways Teusink has become memorable and respected over the years are not known by many. His players always knew that being on time meant being five minutes early, and Teusink would have practices start at odd times like 3:14 or buses leave at 6:54 so his players wouldn’t forget. Polston received the mentor’s help one year running Grand Haven’s league tournament – and marveled at how Teusink allowed players to pick on which court they played, and then also kept track to make sure each school got to pick a court the same number of times.
A more significant philosophy surely benefited hundreds who have played for him. Teusink’s was a no-cut program; his teams regularly numbered 45-50 athletes. “That simply enhanced the things we did to teach teamwork, team discipline, belonging to a team and so on,” Teusink said.
Teusink earned induction into the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986, the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989 and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003. He was named National High School Coach of the Year by the United States Tennis Association in 2005, receiving his award at the U.S. Open.
Teusink captained the Hope College men’s basketball team during the 1957-58 season for Russ DeVette, who taught Teusink much about "simply coaching, how to deal with people." Teusink’s first mentor was Joe Moran, who preceded Teusink as Holland’s tennis coaching legend and is the namesake of one of the city’s public parks and tennis courts.
And just as Teusink drove by the sign bearing his name last week, he’ll surely visit more in the future as he remains a sounding board both for his former player and many tennis decision-makers in our state.
“He comes to probably 2-4 matches a year. We stay in touch. I still call him for things,” O’Keefe said. “He’s always there, always ready to answer a question, give advice.”
PHOTO: Tiger Teusink stands with the plaque presented to him Sept. 24, when the Holland High School tennis courts were renamed in his honor. (Photo courtesy of the Holland athletic department.)