Cranbrook Kingswood Wins 6 Flights to Regain LPD3 Championship Reign
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
October 22, 2023
KALAMAZOO – By winning six of the eight flights, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood can once again call itself the Michigan Lower Peninsula Division 3 boys tennis champion.
One year after relinquishing its title to Ann Arbor Greenhills, Cranbrook totaled 37 points to finish first Saturday in completing the two-day tournament at Kalamazoo College.
Detroit Country Day took the runner-up honor with 28 followed by East Grand Rapids (20), Holland Christian (17) and St. Joseph (15) to round out the top five.
The top-ranked Cranes earned titles at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 singles and won three of the four doubles flights to clinch their second team championship in three seasons.
"Last year's Finals came down to the wire, and Greenhills ended up getting us by a point. That was an absolute gut-wrencher,” said Cranbrook head coach Steve Herdoiza. “All the flights we lost last year were ones we came back and won this time. I'm really proud of our boys. All of them found a way to play their best tennis on the last day of the season when it mattered the most."
After Friday's matches were suspended around midnight, play resumed at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with No. 3 and No. 4 singles at the Portage YMCA and a few doubles matches at Stowe Stadium on the K-College campus.
Rain, however, chased all those flights playing outdoors back inside shortly after to the Markin Racquet Center for the remainder of the day.
Play in all four singles flights picked up again Saturday in the quarterfinal round.
Top-seeded Saahitth Reddy, Detroit Country Day's junior and No. 1 singles player, outlasted Cranbrook junior Ryan Michaels 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the finals.
The match fell just a few minutes short of taking three hours to complete.
Reddy also defeated Michaels in straight sets in a regular-season dual between the two schools this fall.
Cranbrook won that match with Country Day 5-3.
There were moments in Saturday's match when it looked like Michaels would best Reddy this time around.
"Saahitth is a such a great player. You do what you can to win, and sometimes it just doesn't work out for you," Michaels said.
Michaels held a 4-1 lead at one point during the second set.
"I should've won that set comfortably. We were holding serve and then I broke to love. A real turning point for him in the third was when he broke me and then he had serve after going up 4-3," Michaels added.
Reddy said it was the emotional support of his teammates during the match that carried him through.
"I just didn't want to give up. When my teammates started cheering me on, I kind've got emotional and that usually helps me. My forehand and down-the-line shots are my biggest weapons. (Michaels) was playing really well in that third set, so I just had to stick it out," Reddy said.
Herdoiza commended Michaels for his effort.
"The heart and tenacity that he showed is Ryan in a nutshell. You are never going to find an ounce of effort missing from that young man's game. It's all just will power and desire," Herdoiza said.
Cranbrook senior Caden Che defeated top-seeded Dan Marin from Country Day 6-4, 6-4, at No. 2.
Top-seeded Jace Bernard from Cranbrook lived up to his pre-tournament seed with a 6-3, 6-4, win over East Grand Rapids' Mikey Beusse in the No. 3 finale.
No. 1 seeded junior Amaan Khan from Cranbrook downed St. Joseph freshman Eeshaan Ale 6-2, 6-1 in the final at No. 4 singles.
Herdoiza also praised Khan's performance.
"I haven't seen Amaan's stats or anything yet, but he might've had one of the more dominant seasons. He wasn't just winning matches, but in some of those he was giving up only 10 points or less. That's real dominance," Herdoiza said.
Devin Kozal and Jace Konwinski from Ada Forest Hills Eastern defeated Country Day's No. 1 doubles unit of Achyut Reddy and Charlie Khaghany 6-3, 6-3.
"Country Day had good ground strokes and are kind've shifty, but Devin and I stuck together and got it done," Konwinski said.
Kozal and Konwinksi, who are cousins and live next door to one another, controlled the net throughout the match.
"We do drills in practice where our No. 1 and No. 2 singles players hit with us, and that really helps us prepare for matches like these," Kozal said.
Cranbrook sophomores Cole Kirschenbaum and Kenneth Hu pulled off a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 finals win over East Grand Rapids' No. 2 tandem of Charlie Lentz and Luke Lentz. The Cranes' No. 3 doubles unit of freshman Ryan VanDyke and senior Ben Stevenson were champions at No. 3 doubles. Stevenson and VanDyke were victorious over Country Day's Thomas Bresson and John McKany 6-1, 6-3.
"In the first set we played very smart by getting to short balls, the net and by finishing off points," Stevenson said.
VanDyke felt it was him and Stevenson's aggression from the onset of the match that was the difference.
"I thought we attacked early and asserted our dominance at the net," VanDyke said.
Cranbrook seniors Ketan Swami and Kevin Guo defeated Joe Mulder and Tommy Rosmarin from East Grand Rapids 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 doubles.
(Click for more photos from High School Sports Scene.)
After Sending Every Flight to Championship Day, Seaholm Boys Secure 1st Title
By
Fred Kelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 23, 2025
MIDLAND – Birmingham Seaholm had been knocking on the door of a first Finals boys tennis championship for the past couple of seasons.
This year, the Maples just busted it right down.
Seaholm entered this week’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals as the top-ranked team in the state, and the Maples made that ranking hold up, finishing with 31 points Thursday to top a 21-team field and outlast second-place Byron Center (26 points) and second-ranked Midland Dow (22).
“Last year, we were right there in the end, tied with Dow with 24 points (heading into day two). This feels good, because these returners were motivated, and they worked their butts off in the offseason,” said Seaholm eighth-year coach Nick Shaheen, whose Maples were Division 2 runners-up the last two years.
“We knew it was going to be a tough tournament. Midland Dow is a great team, and I’ve got a lot of respect for their program, and for Byron Center as well,” Shaheen added. “It took a team effort. To get eight flights into the semis is tough. We felt like we were playing our best tennis at the end of the season, and sometimes that’s what you need to win a state championship.”
The Maples won titles at three flights, as second-seeded Charlie Griffith won the No. 3 singles championship, top-seeded Joaquim Flory earned the No. 4 singles title, and the second-seeded duo of Britton Leo and Alex Ting clinched the No. 1 doubles crown.
Griffith defeated third-seeded Ryan McKendry of Byron Center 6-3, 7-5 in Thursday’s semifinals, then edged top-seeded Roman Vuljaj of Detroit U-D Jesuit 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) in a thrilling three-set upset to clinch the title.
Flory won a tough three-setter 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2 over fifth-seeded Oscar DeLuca of Grosse Pointe South in the semifinals, then beat third-seeded Cole Krauss of Byron Center 7-5, 6-4 in the title match.
Leo and Ting rallied to beat third-seeded Rylan Vandenberge and Casey Schans of Byron Center 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals before going on to upset top-seeded Matt McGaugh and Nathan Song of Dow 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Shaheen said that advancing to the semifinals in four singles flights – and to the finals in three of them – helped his Maples get over the hump this year.
“Traditionally, we’ve been known as more of a doubles power, so for us to send three flights into the singles finals was big. We really relied on the depth of our team,” he said.
“In past years, when we’ve had good runs, our singles haven’t been quite deep enough to get us there,” he added. “But on the first day (of this tournament), we went perfect, which is not easy to do. We benefitted from getting some serious all-year-around players at singles, and that helps.”
Seaholm had a Finals runner-up at No. 2 singles, as top-seeded Giorgio Materazzo beat Rei Hitachi of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, then lost 6-3, 6-1 to third-seeded Vikram Krishnan of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern in the title match.
In other action for the Maples on Thursday, second-seeded Carter Griffith lost 6-1, 6-2 to third-seeded Mason Crosby of South Lyon East in the No. 1 singles semifinals; fourth-seeded Saajan Mahadevan and JJ Bastani lost 6-2, 6-1 to top-seeded and eventual champion Nolan Booth and Brayden Slot of Byron Center in the No. 2 doubles semifinals; third-seeded Roger Harris and Kalil Wahab lost 6-4, 6-4 to second-seeded Aidan Banchoff and Ben Vander Stelt of Byron Center in the No. 3 doubles semifinals; and second-seeded Ryan McArdle and Gabe Christman lost 6-3, 7-6(1) to third-seeded Zeke Sandholm and Brady Slot of Byron Center in the No. 4 doubles semifinals.
In Thursday’s other flight finals, top-seeded Sam Schumacher of Portage Central beat Crosby 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Booth and Slot beat third-seeded Joseph Song and James Notarnicola of Forest Hills Central 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles, fifth-seeded Marcus Bernard and Drew Decker of Forest Hills Northern beat Banchoff and Vander Stelt 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 doubles, and top-seeded Ethan Clark and Vettel Xu of Dow beat Sandholm and Slot 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(2) at No. 4 doubles.
According to Shaheen, Seaholm’s first team title on the boys tennis side has been a long time coming.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys. This is something our senior leaders have wanted for a long time,” he said. “They see on our fence back at Seaholm all of the girls state championships, and they so badly wanted to put one on the fence for themselves. We are extremely proud of the effort they put in.”
Shaheen was particularly pleased with how his Maples adjusted to the unpredictable weather in Midland, which prompted play to be bounced back and forth between the Greater Midland Tennis Center’s indoor and outdoor courts.
“For them to come out here and be adaptable – playing indoors, outdoors, indoors, outdoors – I give our boys a lot of credit, because that’s not easy,” he noted. “They were super tough this week. It's a tough, emotional week, so for them to handle that pressure and the ups and downs and come out on the other side is really awesome.”
(PHOTOS by High School Sports Scene.)