West Iron Caps Undefeated Spring Surge
May 31, 2018
By Ryan Stieg
Special for Second Half
ISHPEMING – It had been a while since the Iron River West Iron County boys tennis team stood at the top of the Upper Peninsula.
But Wednesday afternoon, the Wykons finished the climb again.
After ending runner-up to Ishpeming Westwood the past two seasons, West Iron edged the Patriots 20-18 to take the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 title, its first since 2013.
“We looked good today,” WIC head coach Joe Serbentas said. “Sometimes when you have multiple teams, some teams can play a role in what is going on and it just happened that it was us and Westwood in the finals. They were in all eight and we were in seven of the eight. These guys have a lot of confidence, and we have a lot of seniors on the team and they’ve been looking forward to today. We’re coming off a Great Northern Conference championship, so there’s a lot of confidence in the guys.”
Even though his team had won the last four Division 2 titles, Patriots head coach Chris Jackson knew going into the meet that it was going to be hard to win a fifth straight against a WIC squad that hadn’t lost all season.
“The day kind of went as it was set up,” he said. “I think West Iron had six of the eight number one seeds. I think we had seven of the eight two seeds. We got everyone to the finals, which was important. The kids performed really well today. It was just a little short.”
The Wykons won three of the four doubles championship matches to help lift them over the Patriots. It wasn’t easy though as Brandon Henschel and Kevin Ballinger dropped the first set to Westwood’s Dylan Willey and Jared LeRoy at No. 1 doubles, but came back to take the next two. On the other end of the court at No. 3 doubles, Steven Nelson and Caden Pellizzer took the first set from the Patriots’ Connor Traver and Hudson Uren but had to fight off the Westwood tandem in the third to win the match.
Jackson was impressed with how Willey and LeRoy performed, battling Henschel and Ballinger to a hard-fought third set.
“They were a three seed so they had to play the extra match,” he said. “Munising beat them earlier in the year, and they came out and played really well. Now they played against one of the best No. 1 doubles teams in the U.P. and they took them to the third set. It’s fitting that they’re a group of seniors too.”
Westwood’s lone doubles win came at No. 4 where Nathan Ostlund and Jack Mattias topped WIC’s Nolan Anderson and Drew Hebert.
Over on the singles side, the Wykons’ Holden Ross and Neil Tomasoski easily took their matches at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, and Serbentas praised Ross for the strong effort he put in against Westwood’s Adam Hyttinen.
“Holden was hitting well early in the season, but then he got into a little funk where he was guiding a little too much and being a little too patient and not attacking some of the balls that he could’ve attacked like he did earlier in the year,” Serbentas said. “Today, he just let it go. He wasn’t holding any punches. He gave him everything he had. Adam is a good player, so you’re going to have to move him around and hit it hard by him. Holden did a lot of good things today to get himself in good positions against a quality player.”
Westwood’s Matt Paavo won the No. 4 final, and Munising earned its only title of the day at No. 3 singles when Mitchell Coyne earned a two-set victory.
“Mitch is having a good year,” Mustangs head coach Rod Gendron said. “He’s coming off the GNC Championship in straight sets, and coming here on (the Patriots') home courts he played a nice first set. He’s got good control, he thinks about things while he plays now and uses some good tactics to mix it up.”
The Mustangs finished third overall followed by Ishpeming, Iron Mountain and Gwinn. Gendron said that that his team needed to have a lot go its way to win the meet and even though it didn’t happen, he was happy with the result.
“We finished third, where we should have this year,” he said. “Coming in, we had to have some major upsets and we came close in a few matches. I was happy though. They played their best today, and that’s what we always hope to do. Just play to the last point, and don’t give up. That’s all you need to do.”
That’s what the Wykons did as well and with that strong effort, they're now bringing a championship home to Iron River.
“This could be probably one of our finest seasons,” Serbentas said. “We’re undefeated, we were GNC champs and a U.P. championship. I don’t know how you could have a better season than that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Munising’s Mason Schnieding keeps his eye on the ball during a No. 1 singles match against Westwood’s Adam Hyttinen at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Wednesday at Westwood High School. (Middle) Hyttinen returns the ball against Schnieding (Photos by Rachel Oakley.)
Black Hawks Soar Again in Division 1, while Kumar Repeats with Top-Flight Title
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2022
HOLLAND – While Bloomfield Hills boys tennis coach Greg Burks was being interviewed late Saturday afternoon at Hope College’s Etheridge Tennis Complex, the Black Hawks’ team canopy lifted in a gust of wind and toppled onto the court.
That was about the only thing that went wrong for Bloomfield Hills this weekend. The Black Hawks used their supreme depth to run away with the MHSAA Division 1 boys tennis championship, the program’s third in six years and fourth in eight seasons – and also their first since 2018.
Bloomfield Hills capped the chilly, two-day tournament by capturing titles in five of eight flights and finishing runner-up in two others. The top-ranked Black Hawks tallied 35 points to win going away.
Northville was runner-up with 25 points, followed by Troy with 24. Novi was fourth with 17 points.
Each of the top four teams was ranked in the top four of the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association poll.
“We had a lot of depth. We had a couple kids come in – a couple freshman, Jonah Chernett and Connor Shaya – and they kind of extended that lineup even further to where we were just very, very deep,” said Burks, who also guided the Black Hawks to Division 1 titles in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
“To be honest, everybody just worked very hard in the offseason. They knew that we were getting those couple of guys and we only graduated one from last year, so they just knew – these are the stakes, and we knew that Troy and Northville and Novi were going to be tough. Yeah, it was great.”
Bloomfield Hills settled for a Finals runner-up finish last season behind Troy. This time, championships at two of the four singles flights and three of the four doubles flights helped push the Black Hawks over the top.
Bloomfield Hills senior Daniel Stojanov repeated at No. 2 singles with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice’s Patrick Cretu. At No. 4 singles, the spunky Shaya defeated Troy’s Dhruv Gupta in the Finals match, 6-2, 6-3.
The doubles teams of Pierce Shaya-Merrick Chernett (No. 1), Michael Dillon-Ryan Rose (No. 2) and Kierth Lingam-Dominic Pascarella (No. 4) earned big points for Bloomfield Hills with flight championships.
Bloomfield Hills’ Aaron Rose was runner-up to Detroit Catholic Central’s Alec Maynard at No. 3 singles (6-2, 6-4). The Black Hawks’ Drew Davis and Toni Vasile finished second at No. 3 doubles, falling to Ann Arbor Huron’s Warren Gunnar and Hassan Hejazi in the final.
Northville junior Sachiv Kumar repeated at No. 1 singles winning a championship rematch against Rochester junior Clayton Anderson, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1. Kumar defeated Anderson in last year’s title match, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5). Kumar finished 34-1 this season with his lone loss coming against Anderson during a dual meet.
It was a different Finals experience for Kumar this time around. Last year’s Division 1 Finals in Kalamazoo was moved indoors because of rain.
“The conditions – just way too cold outside, and (too) windy to play tennis, but somehow I didn’t cramp and the conditions didn’t get to me,” the even-keel Kumar said with a smile, alluding to temperatures hovering at or just below 50 degrees.
“It’s really, really nice, especially to say I won it once and I won it again – won it twice in a row.”
Stojanov knows the pressure of attempting to repeat as well.
It wasn’t easy for him Saturday, but the reward was well worth it, especially since his teammates also can call themselves state champions.
“It was great to get it done as a team. Fell short last year, so getting it done as a team was great this year,” Stojanov said.
“Down a set, I had to raise my level, I had to raise my game. I played a great player, so everything had to align for me to get the win. I want to give credit to my coaches and my teammates for cheering me on. It was great overall.”
Burks recalled how the 2018 Division 1 title team also displayed superior depth and won six of eight flights.
He considers that a “fantastic year,” but said what differentiates this group is that every single person on the team held his own and played an important role.
This Black Hawks squad is relatively young, so the future looks bright, too.
“It felt amazing because, like, I was really nervous because early in the season. I barely beat (Gupta) in the third set, but I really felt in that third set (Saturday), I knew his game. When I came here to play him today, I felt great,” said Shaya, who goes by the nickname “Cosmo.”
“It’s amazing (to win the team title) because we all just feel like champions. It was the perfect season.”
PHOTOS (Top) Bloomfield Hills senior Daniel Stojanov sends a volley on the way to repeating at No. 2 singles. (Middle) Northville junior Sachiv Kumar fires a backhand during his No. 1 singles final. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)