Inside or Out, Black Hawks Dominate D1
October 20, 2018
By Chris Stevens
Special for Second Half
MIDLAND – Inside or outside, the Bloomfield Hills boys tennis team knows exactly what it takes to win an MHSAA Finals championship.
Last year, the Blacks Hawks won on the outdoor courts at the Greater Midland Tennis Center. Saturday, at the same location, they went back-to-back in capturing a second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 title. This time, the action took place inside because the outdoor courts were wet due to overnight showers and winter-like weather.
Regardless of location, the taste of winning a second straight championship is incredibly sweet. Bloomfield Hills, which dominated the competition with 37 points, has now won three of the past four Division 1 titles. Birmingham Brother Rice and Ann Arbor Huron tied for second Saturday with 22 points. Northville was fourth with 20 points, and Troy placed fifth at 17.
“We have a very close team,” said Black Hawks star senior No. 1 singles player Andrew Zhang, a hard-hitting left-hander, who captured an individual title en route to running his season record to 26-0. “Everyone has a close bond with each other and cheers for one another.
“We put in a lot of hard work this season. The entire team showed a lot of dedication throughout the season. We trained very hard,” added Zhang, who’ll play his college tennis at Duke University. “We are very fortunate to have such a strong team.”
Bloomfield Hills coach Greg Burks was proud of his team’s effort, saying the Black Hawks steadily improved throughout the fall. In particular, he said that Zhang’s stellar play led the way.
“Every bit of adversity that he faces on the court, he handles spectacularly. He’s one of the best thinkers on the court that I’ve ever seen,” Burks said. “He’s the ultimate sportsman. If you ask any of the players in our area who they think is the nicest tennis player, Andrew would be right there (at the top.) He’s a great kid, and I’m going to miss him.”
The Black Hawks captured Finals titles in five of eight flights.
At No. 1 singles, Zhang did not drop a set during the tournament. In the championship match, he posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Brother Rice’s Jarreau Campbell.
“It was a tough match,” Zhang said. “Jarreau is a great player.”
Bloomfield Hills also won at No. 3 singles, No. 1 doubles, No. 2 doubles and No. 4 doubles.
At No. 3 singles, Sebastian Burman needed three sets to defeat Clarkston’s Frank Piana in the title match, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
At No. 1 doubles, Noah Roslin and Adrian Wilen recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 decision over Troy’s Michael Song and Aniket Dagar. At No. 2 doubles, Ryan Frank and Andrew Chen swept Daniel Dong and Justin Yang of Northville, 6-1 and 7-6.
At No. 4 doubles, Michael Lee and James Piel, who were seeded fourth in their flight, upset the second-seeded tandem of Troy’s Alex Yang and Noah Tanguay, 6-3, 6-2.
“As a team, we continued to improve throughout the season,” Burks said. “(Like Andrew said), the entire team got along well, and bonded together.”
In other championship flights, Brother Rice’s JJ Eterbeek went three sets to beat Bloomfield Hills’ Tommy Herb, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. At No. 4 singles, Northville’s Matthew Freeman posted a 7-6, 6-1 win over Cade Burman of Bloomfield Hills.
Then, at No. 3 doubles, Ann Arbor Huron’s Sammy Clyde and Pranav Sharma outlasted Max Nosanchuk and Phoenix Williams in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Bloomfield Hills posted 24 points on Friday to open the tournament. Next was Ann Arbor Huron with 20 points.
The Black Hawks built such a decisive lead early on Saturday that the team title was sealed before all of the title matches had concluded.
“Obviously, it’s an unreal feeling,” Burks said of the team capturing a second straight Division 1 title. “We played well last year, but this year, all eight flights played great (in the tournament), and that doesn’t always happen.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills’ boys tennis team holds up its Division 1 title trophy and a banner celebrating its back-to-back championships Saturday. (Middle) Black Hawks No. 1 singles player Andrew Zhang prepares to return a volley during his run to the No. 1 singles title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Troy Repeats with Doubles Domination, Pioneer's Miller Takes Championship Step
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2026
MIDLAND — For Ann Arbor Pioneer sophomore Grant Miller, it was the culmination of a two-month process where he was able to trust his tennis game again.
Miller said he didn’t have his best summer on the junior circuit, and that carried over a bit to the start of the season in August when he admitted that his confidence “was a little bit low.”
Entering the second and final day of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals on Friday, the objective was simple.
“I’ve spent the last 2½ months really working on my game,” Miller said. “Now is the time to trust it. Now is the time to not worry about anything. I’ve got to go and I’ve got to trust all the work I put in.”
Miller did exactly that, ultimately riding that trust and work into an individual championship at No. 1 singles.
The runner-up last year as a freshman, Miller took the next step, prevailing 6-1, 6-1 over senior Aarav Shah of Salem in the championship match at Midland Tennis Center.
Miller lost to Shah back in August when he was still rounding into form, but that turned out to be his only defeat this season. Miller also defeated Shah at last week’s Regional tournament.
The top seed going in, Miller also earned a 6-1, 6-0 win over Dheeraj Yelleti of Troy in a semifinal.
In particular, Miller said honing and trusting his forehand really paid off as the season went on.
“That was the biggest thing for me, just building that trust and confidence in my game,” Miller said. “That keeps me more mentally stable, knowing I have that trust, so I’m able to kind of stay more steady instead of going so up and down throughout the match.”
Team-wise, it came as little surprise that Troy repeated as champion.
The Colts earned 29 points, well ahead of runner-up Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (20) and third-place Pioneer (19).
Troy rode its strong doubles teams, prevailing in three of the four doubles flights.
The team of junior Sourish Daruri and senior Jesse Hao won at No. 1 doubles, the tandem of juniors Jyottiraditya Kashyap and Siddarth Manikandan triumphed at No. 2 doubles and the pairing of sophomore Vivaan Shan and junior Stas Barodka won at No. 4 doubles.
“It’s just honestly one of those years where a lot of teams put their best players in singles,” Troy head coach Brian Miska said. “Some years they put their best players in doubles, some years they put them in singles. So this year, the singles draws were just tough. A lot tougher than last year.”
Even worse for the rest of the field is Troy should be back for more, given it had just two seniors on the roster.
“I had seven new starters this year from last year’s championship team,” Miska said. “We have only two seniors. That was our fear, to see how they kind of would respond under pressure. Give these kids credit. They really did. They worked so hard on their game.”
Clarkston had a pair of individual winners, sophomore Evan Geisz at No. 2 singles and freshman Athan Brozovich at No. 4 singles.
Ann Arbor Skyline freshman Marc Mocanu captured the title at No. 3 singles. The No. 3 doubles title was claimed by the Brother Rice pair of junior Dylan Fisher and sophomore Sam Dimerman.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Grant Miller prepares to smash a forehand during Friday’s final rounds at Midland Tennis Center. (Middle) Troy’s Siddarth Manikandan sends back a powerful volley during a No. 2 doubles match. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)