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BOYS TENNIS FINALS: Novi, FH Central, Country Day, Greenhills win state titles
Novi wins Division 1 State Championship
After taking a commanding lead on the rest of the completion on day one, Novi held on to its lead to secure the Division 1 Boys Tennis State Championship, unseating three-time defending state champion Ann Arbor Huron. Novi finished with 31 team points to run away with the Division 1 title, while Brother Rice finished in second place with 23 points and Troy and Ann Arbor Huron finished in a tie for third place with 20 points.
Novi’s Tim Wang topped Northville’s Connor Johnston to win the No. 1 singles flight, winning the match 6-4, 7-6(5). The Wildcats also won the state title in the No. 2 singles flight as Koushik Kondapi needed three sets to top Port Huron Northern’s Chris Adams, 6-4, 2-6 and 6-3. Jack Allen took the state title in No. 3 singles as he topped Brother Rice’s Jack Winkler in straight sets, 7-5 and 6-4, while Andre Liu made it a sweep in singles play for Novi, winning the No. 4 singles title over Ann Arbor Skyline’s Timothy Kao, 6-0, 6-2.
Huron’s doubles team of Jason Chen and Austin Choi won the No. 1 doubles flight, topping Novi’s Maxx Anderson and Daniel Yu, 6-1 and 7-6(5). Brother Rice’s Brendan Dillon and Christian Abelarde won the No. 2 doubles flight, besting Huron’s team of Will Brenner and Orion Sang. Huron would then take the No. 3 doubles as Alex Cardigan and Brenden Chen topped Brother Rice’s Dan Lunghamer and Sean Abelarde, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Troy’s Aneesh Rastogi and Brandon Guo won the No. 4 doubles flight as they edge Brother Rice’s Travis Tucker and Sam Schwartz in three sets, 4-6, 6-4 and 7-6(3).
On the first day, Novi accumulated 22 team points, leading second place Brother Rice and seven of its eight flights advanced into Saturday’s semifinal matches.
Forest Hills Central wins Division 2 State Championship
After finishing runner up to Midland Dow in two out of the past three Divison 2 state finals, Forest Hills Central won its first state championship since 2003 over the weekend. Forest Hills Central finished with 27 team points, while Forest Hills Northern came in second place with 22 points and Midland Dow, which had won each of the previous five Division 2 state titles, tied for third place with Portage Northern with 21 points.
Portage Northern’s Stewart Sell won the No. 1 singles title as he picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Portage Central’s Bill Duo. In the No. 2 singles, Dow’s Collin Angell topped Portage Central’s Ben Orwin in the championship match, 6-3 and 6-4. Dow’s Michael Szabo won the No. 3 singles title, besting Forest Hill’s Northern’s Justin Minzlaff 6-4 and 6-1 in the championship match, while Forest Hills Central’s Jacob Wiljer won the No. 4 singles title as he topped Birmingham Groves’ Josh Olmstead in the title match, 6-4 and 6-3.
The No. 6 seeded doubles team of Nico Finelli and Joey McClure from Forest Hills Central won the No. 1 doubles title as they topped Dow’s pairing of Daniel Magno and Cole Williamson, 6-0, 6-2. Central would go on to win the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles flights as the team of Andrew Fox and Carson Schmidt topped U-D Jesuit’s Louis Wyre and Joey Wilson (6-3, 6-0) to win No. 2 doubles and Huzmah Azeem and Ryan Conner came out with a win over Groves’ team of Jalen Zeman and Jack Dolan (6-3, 7-6(3)). In the No. 4 doubles, Forest Hills Northern’s Clark Shawver and Hunter Hall topped U-D Jesuit’s Lincoln Yaldoo and John Jennotte, 7-5 and 6-3 to take home the title in the flight.
Country Day wins fourth straight Division 3 tennis state championship
Country Day locked up its fourth straight Division 3 tennis title as the Yellowjackets totaled 39 team points as they topped second place Cranbrook (32) and third place East Grand Rapids (21). Country Day won seven of the eight flights, as Cranbrook won the only flight that the Yellowjackets did not win.
Noah Karoub won the No. 1 singles, beating Cranbrook’s Benji Jacobson in the championship match, 7-5, 6-3 and the Yellowjackets’ Davis Wong won the No. 2 doubles as he topped Cranbrook’s Marc Sable, 6-1, 6-4 in the championship match. In No. 3 singles, Jacob Gahn (Country Day) took home the title as he cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win in the championship match over Cranbrook’s Michael Bian and the Yellowjackets made it a clean sweep of the singles championships as Michael Khagahny won in straight sets over East Grand Rapids’ Max Condon, 6-1, 6-0.
In No. 1 doubles, Country Day’s Blake Burstein and Damian Runkle won 6-2 and 6-0 in the championship match over Cranbrook’s Taylor Ghesquiere and Matthew Gerard in the championship match and then the Yellowjackets won No. 2 doubles behind a 6-4, 6-3 championship match win from Rishabh Nayak and Adam Junn over Nolan Trepeck and Joseph Cavataio from Cranbrook. The lone event that Country Day did not win on the day, No. 3 doubles, Cranbrook’s Alex Hubers and Steven Meng earned a win over Country Day’s D.J. Bailey and Andrew Joslyn, 1-6, 7-5 and 6-3. Country Day’s duo of Anand Prabhu and Jack Mettler won in straight sets over Cranbrook’s Colin Petzold and Brandon Kerr, 6-4 and 6-4 to take No. 4 doubles.
Ann Arbor Greenhills Continues Dominance in Division 4, wins seventh straight state championship
Ann Arbor Greenhills accumulated 33 team points as it rolled to another state championship over the weekend, besting second place Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (22) by 11 points, as Traverse City St. Francis took third place with 21 points. Greenhills won five of the eight flights on Saturday afternoon as it cruised to its seventh straight Division 4 title.
Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Nick Solarewicz picked up the No. 1 singles championship as he topped Lansing Catholic’s Matt Heeder in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. In No. 2 singles, Kalamazoo Hackett’s Henry Hedeman came out on top with a win over TC St. Francis’ Sam Holmes to win the No. 2 singles title, 6-2, 6-4. Greenhills won the No. 3 singles flight as No. 1 seeded Gage Feldeisen beat Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Ian Worthington, 6-2, 6-1. Greenhills also won the No. 4 singles title as Sonal Verma topped Hackett’s Noah Katt in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.
The No. 1 doubles team of Brandon Johnson and Sam Talsma cruised their way to the flight championship for Greenhills, topping Kalamazoo Christian’s David Niewoonder and Dean VanElderen, 6-2, 6-1. The Greenhills team of Isak Akervall and Andy Xie picked up the No. 2 doubles title with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Liggett’s team of Alex Dow and Dave Sekhon. GR Catholic Central’s Josh Sullivan and John Jakubowski won the No. 3 doubles title, beating Greenhills’ Matt Chatas and Nick Wu in three sets, 6-3, 4-6 and 6-4. David Groden and Zach Wu won the No. 4 doubles flight for Greenhills, winning 6-3 and 6-1 in the championship match over St. Francis’ team of Jackson Richmond and Ryan Navin.
