Huron Hangs On for 3rd Straight Title
October 19, 2013
By Geoff Mott
Special to Second Half
MIDLAND -- With two doubles matches left at Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys Tennis Finals at the Midland Community Tennis Center, Novi found itself rooting for Birmingham Brother Rice.
If Brother Rice could beat two-time defending champion Ann Arbor Huron at No. 3 and No. 4 doubles, all three schools would share the 2013 team championship.
While Brother Rice pulled out a win at No. 3 doubles, Huron’s No. 4 doubles team of Will Brenner and Orion Sang held on for a 6-3, 7-5 win over Patrick Hamill and Dan Lunghamer to give the River Rats their third-straight Division 1 title.
“It was better that we didn’t know the state championship was on the line,” said Sang, who didn’t know Huron had won the title outright until he was mobbed by teammates after the win. “I had a little feeling that it was close because everybody was fighting so hard.
“This feels good. We always thought about (winning a third state title) and that’s been in the back of our minds.”
Now the River Rats are champions again, winning with 30 points. Novi finished runner-up with 29 points while Brother Rice finished third with 28.
“We knew we had to win out but we just wanted to go out and do the best we could,” said Brother Rice senior Joey Hildebrand, who teamed with David Weatherford to beat Huron’s Jason Chen and Austin Luker, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 at the No. 2 doubles title match. The win set up the dramatic final two matches.
“It feels great because we wanted to give our team a chance to win this.”
Novi junior Tim Wang captured the individual championship at No. 1 singles. After a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Justin Hyman of Rochester Adams, the top-seeded Wang went on to knock off Northville’s No. 2-seeded Connor Johnston 6-1, 6-3 in the final.
Johnston fought off No. 3 seed Michael Dube’ of Detroit Catholic Central for a grueling 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) win in a semifinal.
“I knew Johnston had a really tough match and while I had a three-setter (in the semifinals), Johnston was cramping up after a really tough match,” Wang said. “I had good shots today. I was playing great, and after he broke my serve in the second set, I found an extra gear.”
Wang ate bananas and drank Pedialyte to counter cramping issues that affected a lot of the athletes.
“I pride myself in fitness, and I’m really blessed that I haven’t had problems with cramping,” Wang said. “I might have been the No. 1 seed, but I had to play my best. This means a lot to me because it came down to who wanted it the most.
“I was ready to grind it out.”
Novi’s Koushik Kondapi won the No. 3 singles title with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over top-seeded Colin Williams of Huron while Novi teammate Maxx Anderson had treatments for cramps twice before delivering a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 win over Brother Rice’s Jack Winkler for the title at No. 4 singles.
“I think I became smarter with the cramping,” Anderson said. “I almost defaulted but my coach wouldn’t let me. If he would have said yeah, I would have defaulted. But I could hear my teammates chanting my name and there was no way I could stop.”
Ann Arbor Pioneer sophomore Ian Yi captured the No. 2 singles title, beating Rochester Adams’ Oliver Li 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Yi, who beat Ann Arbor Huron’s Kevin Mei in the semifinals (1-6, 7-5, 6-1) for the fourth time this season, had lost twice to Li this year.
“I went hard for all of my shots,” the 14-year-old Yi said. “I was able to edge him on big points. Coming in my goal was to get to the semifinals. I was really loving it when the people were cheering for me. It pumped me up even more.”
Huron’s six seniors have provided the leadership for another title run. While Jack Petersen (No. 1 singles), Kevin Mei (No. 2) and Colin Williams (No. 3) came up short of individual titles, seniors Aaron Brodkey and Akihiro Ota returned to clinch back-to-back titles at No. 1 doubles.
The doubles team’s only blemishes on the season came in a pair of eight-game pro sets, and Brodkey and Ota never lost a regular set on the year. After winning 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals against Victor Flynn and Will Norris of Grosse Pointe South, Brodkey and Ota beat Brother Rice’s Connor Parks and George Hamaty 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
“There really wasn’t any extra pressure on us because we worked so hard all year to get the No. 1 seed,” Ota said. “We wanted to prove we were that good and it was a tall order (with the competition). This feels really good to go out on top.”
Teammates since seventh grade, Brodkey and Ota became leaders together while setting an example for the younger doubles players.
“We’re best friends,” Brodkey said of Ota. “You could ask me any question about him and I’d know it. When we break down for hitting drills, we don’t even join the group. We just hit with each other.
“We’ve made a pretty good team. I hit big shots to set him up at the net and he has some of the best hands you’ll see in the state in doubles.”
Top-seeded Brendan Dillon and Joe Paradiso captured the No. 3 doubles title for Brother Rice, outlasting Huron’s Michael Bondin and Danny Friedman for 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) in the title match.
“I had a large group back this year with six seniors with a lot of experience,” Ann Arbor Huron coach Stefan Welch said. “Brother Rice and Novi were so close last year and you know they wanted it so bad this year so we knew it would be close.
“It came down to who would play well, and I’m so proud to be able to send these guys out on top.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Huron players and coaches pose with three fingers raised signifying their three straight MHSAA titles. (Middle) Huron's Colin Williams launches a serve during a No. 3 singles match Saturday. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
Troy Extends 1st-Day Lead to Take Back Title, Rochester's Anderson Completes Climb
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
MIDLAND – It was the sweetest of Saturdays for the Troy High School boys tennis team at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.
Troy entered Saturday’s final rounds at Midland Tennis Center with a 23-17 lead over second-place Bloomfield Hills, with Detroit Catholic Central one more point back at 16.
By the time the flights were in championship matches, Troy had built an eight-point lead on the way to finishing with 32 points followed by the Black Hawks with 22.
The Colts, last Finals champs in 2021, ended Bloomfield Hills’ three-year reign after finishing runners-up the last two seasons.
Nate Wanstreet, part of Troy's No. 3 doubles team with sophomore Jackson Kraus, said the momentum for this year started last season.
Wanstreet and Kraus defeated Troy Athens' Sahay Achar and Vikram Menon 6-0, 7-6, to win their flight.
"We only lost one player from last season,'' said Wanstreet. "We got off to a slow start this season, but we started to come on late and hopefully this will lead to a championship.
"All year we've gotten everyone's best at No. 1 doubles. Even teams that weren't playing well before they played us, we got their best shot. It kept us sharp all year.''
Troy also claimed No. 4 doubles as Raghav Karur and Zain Taqi defeated Novi's Vincent Maisano and Ronak Sharma, 6-1, 6-4.
In the featured match of the day, Rochester's Chad Anderson, the top seed at No. 1 singles, downed second-seeded Grant Miller of Ann Arbor Pioneer 7-5, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5.
Anderson suffered with cramps in his legs, thighs and quads after the first set.
"This is probably the happiest I've been on a tennis court,'' he said. "I'm still in a lot of pain, but it was worth it. I broke him in the second set, but he broke back. It was a struggle because of the pain I was in, but it's worth it.''
Anderson went up 5-1 in the first set, only to have Miller rally to tie the match at 5-5. Anderson regrouped to win the last two games and take the set.
Miller broke through to win the second.
"They were giving me mustard to help with the cramps,'' said Anderson, who had finished No. 1 singles runner-up last season and No. 2 singles runner-up as a sophomore.
Troy's first flight championship came at No. 2 doubles with Varun Shetty and Sourish Darui downing Bloomfield Hills Sajan Doshi and Meyer Saperstein in straight sets 7-5, 6-1.
"We wanted revenge this year; we had lost to Bloomfield Hills the last three years. I agree that our momentum started last year,'' said Darui.
Added Shetty: "I wanted to get revenge from last year. We lost our last match. We just focused on the things we learned from last year. It'll be a great celebration tonight.''
Bloomfield Hills senior Jonah Chernett had the moment of the day.
Plagued with a disorder that prevented him from competing in singles and had him taking five trips to the Cleveland Clinic and one to Stanford this year, he and teammate Krish Reddy defeated top-seeded Ben Waechter and Spencer Seneker of Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 1 doubles.
"It has been such an amazing journey,'' said Chernett, who had to sit in a special chair during the changeover. "I've been playing singles all my life and not being able to compete was tough. I love my team and being able to get out there ... I felt at the start of the season we had a chance.''
Novi's Kris Thomas captured No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 7-6, victory over Troy's Dheeraj Yelleti. At No. 3 singles, Bloomfield Hills' Zev Spiegel defeated Okemos' Kai Minamisono. 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to clinch. No. 4 singles saw Troy's Anthony Wu and Detroit Catholic Central's Graham Long go three sets with Wu prevailing 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
PHOTO (Top) Troy's Krish Gupta celebrates during Saturday's Division 1 second round at Midland Tennis Center. (Middle) Rochester's Chad Anderson returns a volley at No. 1 singles. (Below) Dheeraj Yelleti sends a forehand at No. 2. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)