Westwood Back on Top of UP D2 Tennis
May 28, 2014
By Craig Remsburg
Special to Second Half
ISHPEMING — They’re b-a-a-a-a-c-k.
After a year’s absence, the Ishpeming Westwood boys tennis Patriots can again call themselves MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 champions.
Winning all three flights they placed in championship matches, the Patriots came away with 13 points to beat runner-up and defending champion Iron River West Iron County by two on Wednesday.
Gwinn and Munising tied for third with 10 points, followed by Iron Mountain (8), Ishpeming (2) and Norway (0) in action held at Westwood High School.
“We definitely thought it was possible for us to win,” Patriots coach Chris Jackson said, “but it didn’t play out as we thought. We thought we’d need more points to win.
“We had some help. It was more than a two-horse race, and there were four teams with at least 10 points each.”
Jackson said consistency and a non-champion, Westwood No. 1 singles player Quinn LeRoy, were keys to Wednesday’s title win — the Patriots’ second in three years.
“Everyone held their serve — their flight,” he said. “All three of our No. 1 seeds won. The fact we could hold our flights was big.
“LeRoy was a No. 2 seed and faced a good player in West Iron County’s Ryan Rogers. Quinn was able to go out there and get that point.”
Westwood got wins from Brett Fredrickson at No. 4 singles, Mitch Messing and Tristan Vitale at No. 3 doubles and Brandon Benda and Hunter Roose at No. 4 doubles.
Fredrickson said he was shaky in his first set of a 6-3, 6-0 win over West Iron’s Erick Upperstrom.
“But Coach (Jackson) told me there were some things I needed to focus on, like hitting off my front foot and not my back, and not getting my hips into the shot,” Fredrickson said. “I also let the other guy make some mistakes.”
Benda and Roose knocked off West Iron’s Ryan Peterson and Tristan Nelson, 6-2, 6-0.
“We were nervous at the start, but as time went on, we got better,” Roose said. “Our ball placement was really good.”
Added Benda: “After the fourth game (of the first set), we played with more confidence. We also tried to keep the ball in play.”
Munising’s Noah Ackerman capped an undefeated season with a win at No. 1 singles over Gwinn’s Inigo Cepeda, 6-3, 6-0.
“I was shaky at the start and started slow,” Ackerman said. “(Cepeda) started approaching the net, and I knew I couldn’t outhit him because he’s a great player and hits good strokes.
“So I tipped (the ball) up and when he approached the net, I started to pass him down the line.”
It worked as Ackerman overcame a 2-2 start to win going away for his second straight Upper Peninsula Division 2 individual title.
A senior, Ackerman said Cepeda — an exchange student from Madrid, Spain — started losing confidence midway through the first set, enabling the Mustangs netter to “focus on what I was doing.”
Cepeda might have been unsettled on the court. He broke the strings on his racket in the first set and had to use that of No. 2 singles teammate Micah Heat the rest of the match.
“Inigo is more of a clay player, too,” Gwinn coach Dan Turecky said. “He plays a European style with more power. But (Ackerman’s) control won today.”
West Iron got wins from Andrew Peterson at No. 2 singles and Adam Newby at No. 3.
“We both rallied well in the first set,” Peterson said of his 7-5, 6-3 win over Micah Heath of Gwinn. “We both had good ground strokes.
“In the second set, he was up 2-1. Then I just tried to hit the ball as hard as I could.”
West Iron coach Joe Serbentas, whose Wykons have won a U.P. title six times in the last 10 years, said he and his netters were “disappointed” in their runner-up finish.
“A couple of our flights in doubles didn’t perform as well as we wanted,” he said. “My No. 1 and No. 2 were top seeds, but didn’t get any points. We struggled there.”
Gwinn placed four flights in the finals, but managed to win just one — a 6-2, 6-4 triumph at No. 2 doubles by Mason Bruce and Erik Asplund over Munising’s Joel Werner and Nick Cerone.
“Our serving was good today. We had a lot of aces,” said Bruce, who left the courts immediately afterward to play baseball Wednesday evening for the Channing American Legion baseball team. “Our net play was good, too.”
Turecky said he was “very pleased” with having four Gwinn flights in the finals.
“But we only won one. We didn’t pull through those points, ” he lamented. “We went up against some good players. ”
Iron Mountain picked up a win at No. 1 doubles as Sawyer Kujala and Danny Willman outlasted Gwinn’s Jesse Mottes and Nick Bjork, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2.
Click for championship match results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Munising's Noah Ackerman returns the ball to his Gwinn No. 1 singles opponent during the Division 2 U.P. Finals on Wednesday at Westwood High School. (Middle) Iron Mountain's Sawyer Kujala hits the ball back to his Gwinn No. 1 doubles opponents on the way to winning the flight. (Photos by Adelle Whitefoot).
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.)