Longtime Okemos Friends Deliver Again
October 20, 2018
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – What started with a love of the sport in elementary school grew into a second straight MHSAA Finals championship for members of the Okemos boys tennis team Saturday.
Led by a core group of players who began playing tennis together at a young age, Okemos won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title with six flight championships and 37 total points. Birmingham Groves and Birmingham Seaholm tied for second with 23 points, with Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern placing fourth with 19.
“We’ve known when these kids were 5, 6, 7 years old they were going to be good,” said Okemos coach Chris Silker. “They have stayed together. They have invested in each other and really pushed each other to higher levels every year.”
The No. 1 doubles team of seniors Zal Chinoy and Daniel Gorelik are a prime example of the long-time friendships on the team.
“I’ve known Daniel since I was in the second grade,” Chinoy said. “We started playing tennis together around that time. We built a friendship around playing tennis, and we kept it going for all these years and our chemistry is a main, main part of our game.”
Chemistry proved key as Chinoy and Gorelik wrapped up their careers by turning back Ben Adams and Aidan O’Neill of Birmingham Seaholm 6-1, 6-3.
“Actually Zal is the one that played tennis before me,” Gorelik said. “He was playing since he was 6 years old, and he was the one that brought me into it. He said, ‘Hey, you should try this sport.’ It’s actually surreal we are here right now playing one doubles together.”
At No. 2 doubles, sophomores Druv Talluri and Shrey Patel turned back Jonathan Cross and Owen Cross of Birmingham Seaholm 6-4, 6-1.
“It feels great,” Talluri said. “All the practice and it paid off.”
The duo both won flight titles last year as well. Talluri was part of the victorious No. 3 doubles team in 2017, while Patel won the No. 3 singles title last year.
“We have really good chemistry,” Patel said. “We’ve played together before, and we have a good chemistry together.”
Depth and balance are a major strong point of this year’s Okemos squad.
“We’re deep, we’re deep,” Silker said. “When you have a freshman that can come into the one-singles spot and pushes everyone down, it creates a stronger and deeper lineup.”
That freshman is Ozan Colak, who came into the tournament as the top seed at No. 1 singles. Colak more than lived up to his lofty ranking as he wrapped up the title with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Nathaniel Webster of Mattawan.
“Right now, I just can’t get this smile off my face,” Colak said. “It feels really good. I’ve had a lot of injuries, and to come out here and still play as well as I believe I can is huge for me. It’s a huge confidence boost. It just feels great to be on a team that is so good.”
At No. 2 singles, Okemos sophomore Joshua Portnoy stopped Anish Middha of Midland 6-1, 6-1 in the final. The win was extra special for Portnoy, as he lost in the final last year.
“I’m really excited because last year I fell short in the finals,” Portnoy said. “It just felt great coming back here and winning it. After the loss last year, I wanted to win it so bad, so I just worked really hard to come back this year and win.”
Okemos junior Benjamin Letzer claimed the title at No. 3 singles as he topped Saketh Kamaraju 6-1, 1-0 (retired). Letzer reached the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles last year and No. 2 singles as a freshman, and breaking through this year was special.
“It was a lot of fun getting a state championship,” Letzer said. “We have a lot of great guys on this team, and we are really positive and that helps.”
Winning the team title made the day even more special for Letzer.
“It’s really amazing,” Letzer said. “We have this great team chemistry and we’ve been playing this great tennis for two years. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Sophomore Rohan Shah capped the sweep of singles flights for Okemos when he turned back Owen Goodrich of Forest Hills Northern 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4.
“It was really cool winning four singles,” Shah said. “We have a special team. We have just amazing players, and it’s truly an honor being on this team. The seniors this year really worked their tails off, and it’s amazing to see them win a second title.”
Birmingham Seaholm finished the tournament with a pair of flight championships. At No. 4 doubles, the team of junior Fred Kassab and sophomore Nolan Werner outlasted Brett Kovan and Ethan Weitzman of Birmingham Groves 6-4, 6-3. The Seaholm duo entered the tournament seeded fourth but defeated top-seed Okemos in the semifinals and third-seeded Groves in the final.
“It’s crazy,” Werner said. “We were the number four seed, so we were not even projected to be here. We took down Okemos and took down Groves, two very good teams, so it worked out pretty good. We were just more aggressive at the net. We were making our serves, cutting more, it was great.”
Confidence was also a big part of Kassab and Werner’s success.
“I didn’t think we could do it at first,” Kassab said, “but we just took one match at a time, one point at a time and we persevered and won. We knew we had it in us.”
Seaholm pulled another upset at No. 3 doubles, where the second-seeded team of Max Levitsky and Cameron Lee outlasted the top seed from Okemos, Siddharth Nagisetty and Aditya Kandula, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
For Levitsky, a senior, winning capped a career that saw him finish as a runner-up at No. 3 doubles last year and a quarterfinalist at No. 3 singles as a sophomore.
“It’s fun to go out with a win as a senior,” Levitsky said. “I think we won more of the big points, and we played our game really well. This feels pretty good.”
Lee, a junior, reached the quarterfinal round as a singles player last year.
“This feels awesome,” Lee said. “It’s extremely special. I think we just outplayed them. We capitalized on the easy balls, and we weren’t nervous or tentative.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Okemos freshman Ozan Colak follows through during No. 1 singles action Saturday. (Middle) Birmingham Seaholm’s Nolan Werner and Fred Kassab encourage each other during a No. 4 doubles match. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Preview: All Eyes Turn to Midland as Tennis Debuts Revamped Championship Round (Updated 10/23)
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 16, 2025
While several contenders at this season’s Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals will be familiar, the season-concluding tournaments across four divisions will have a significantly different look.
Beginning this weekend, all four championships will be decided at Midland Tennis Center over the next nine days. Division 1 begins Friday and concludes Saturday, followed by Division 4 next Monday and Tuesday, Division 2 on Oct. 22 and 23 and concluding with Division 3 on Oct. 24 and 25.
As such, our preview will be updated in advance of those Finals, concluding with Division 3 added prior to its championship weekend.
Division 3 (Oct. 24-25)
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. Holland Christian.
Cranbrook, Country Day and Ann Arbor Greenhills (ranked No. 4 this season) have combined to win every Division 3 championship since 2008, with Country Day and Greenhills sharing the title last season and Cranbrook finishing third. But Holland Christian provides an intriguing angle this time; the Maroons moved into Division 3 this year after winning last season’s Division 4 title.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes are seeded to score big, with four top seeds, three second-seeded flights and a third seed. Holding down top lines are senior Kenneth Hu at No. 3 singles, junior Josh Day at No. 4, senior Kethan Lala and freshman Henry DeMuth at No. 1 doubles and sophomore Dylan Popat and junior Andy Yu at No. 4. After finishing runners-up at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively, last season, senior Jace Bernard and sophomore Eli Rosen are second-seeded at Nos. 1 and 2. Hu was the No. 2 singles champion last year, and junior Ryan VanDyke and senior Cole Kirschenbaum were the No. 2 doubles runners-up last season and are seeded second at No. 1.
Detroit Country Day: All eight flights are seeded fourth or better, but the power is expected to come at singles where two flights are top-seeded and two are seeded second. Sophomore Ricky Jeong is the top seed at No. 1 after winning No. 3 last year as a freshman, and freshman Samuel Kole-James is the top seed at No. 2 singles. Sophomore Adam Mahmoud is the second seed at No. 3 after winning the No. 4 title last fall, and junior Victor Marin is the second seed at No. 4. Senior Charlie Khaghany was part of the runner-up at No. 1 doubles last season and is teaming with junior Preston Blum as the fourth-seeded pair this time.
Holland Christian: The Maroons are seeded at six flights and especially powered by doubles where they are seeded first at No. 1 and second-seeded at the other three flights. Juniors Michael Gorno and Graham Tanis hold that top seed at the top flight, and won No. 3 doubles in Division 4 last season. Senior Jack DeYoung was part of the No. 4 champion in Division 4 and is teaming with sophomore Brody Bergsma on the second-seeded pair at No. 2. Senior Dylan Becksvoort was the Division 4 champion at No. 2 singles last season and is the third seed in this bracket, sophomore Nico Grosso won No. 4 singles in Division 4 and is seeded sixth at No. 3, and Lucas VanWieren was part of the No. 1 doubles champ last season and is playing No. 1 singles.
Anish Komirisetty, Haslett sophomore: Komirisetty is seeded third at No. 1 singles, 28-1 with his only loss this season to Lansing Catholic’s Noah West, who finished Division 4 No. 1 singles runner-up Tuesday.
Carson Coles, Big Rapids senior: The fourth seed at No. 1 singles is 30-1 with his only loss to Komirisetty on Oct. 4.
Division 2 (Oct. 22-23)
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. Midland Dow, 3. Grosse Pointe South
Reigning champion Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern is ranked No. 5 this season, and Dow and Seaholm tied for second last year just two points behind. The Chargers most recently won the 2022 and 2023 titles, and Seaholm are seeking their first Finals team championship in this sport but with five runner-up finishes over the last 18 seasons – its most recent two years ago.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples will pursue a first championship with all eight flights seeded third or higher and seven top or second seeds. Junior Giorgio Materazzo is on the top line at No. 2 singles, and senior Joaquin Flory occupies the same at No. 4, while sophomore Carter Griffith at No. 1 singles, freshman Charlie Griffith at No. 3, and three of four doubles pairs are all second-seeded. Seniors Britton Leo and Alex Ting are second-seeded at No. 1 doubles; Ting was the champion at No. 4 singles and Leo part of the No. 3 doubles winner a year ago. Leo’s 2024 partner, junior Aaryan Senthilvanan, is partnered with senior Jad Abdo as the second-seeded pair at No. 2 doubles. Carter Griffith is 22-5 and last fall reached the No. 1 singles semifinals as an unseeded freshman.
Midland Dow: The Chargers will be powered by their doubles, as three pairs are top-seeded – senior Matthew McGaugh and junior Nathan Song at No. 1, sophomore Sullivan Ladd and junior Jashwanth Thamminana at No. 3, and sophomore Vettel Xu and junior Ethan Clark at No. 4. Junior Yassin Elsaadany is seeded second at No. 2 singles and sophomore Raymond Chai is seeded second at No. 4, while senior Siddarth Venkatesan is seeded fifth at No. 3 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 a year ago.
Byron Center: While Byron Center enters ranked No. 4, a number of high seeds could allow the team to push the top two favorites as the Bulldogs seek their first top-two Finals finish. Seven flights are seeded, including six seeded third or higher. Senior Nolan Booth and junior Brayden Slot are the top seeds at No. 2 doubles, and seniors Aidan Banchoff and Ben Vander Stelt are seeded second at No. 3. Seniors Rylan Vandenberge and Casey Schans are seeded third at No. 1 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 2 a year ago.
Mason Crosby, South Lyon East junior: He’s seeded third at No. 1 singles and undefeated at 31-0 with only one match going three sets this season.
Sam Schumacher, Portage Central junior: The top seed at No. 1 singles is undefeated at 28-0 and just missed a first championship finishing runner-up at the top flight last season. He defeated Seaholm’s Carter Griffith on Sept. 6.
Division 4 (Oct. 20-21)
Top-ranked: 1. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, 2. Jackson Lumen Christi, 3. Maple City Glen Lake.
Last season’s champion Holland Christian is playing in Division 3 this season, but Glen Lake is the returning runner-up and Liggett was third in 2024. That was Glen Lake’s first top-two Finals finish, while Liggett is seeking its first championship since 2022 and Lumen Christi its first in program history with its previous high finish second in 2004.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett: The Knights are seeded at every flight, with four top seeds leading the way – sophomore Yurii Polnyi at No. 2 singles, sophomore Justin Platt at No. 4, senior Landen Maltby and junior Charlie Laethem at No. 2 doubles and sophomores Rene Quint and Lucas Ferguson at No. 3. Maltby was part of the No. 1 runner-up last season, while seniors Griffin Marchal and Niko Cooksey were runners-up at No. 2 in 2024 but are second-seeded at No. 1 this week. Ferguson was part of the runner-up at No. 4 doubles last season with Davis Ford, who is seeded third at No. 3 singles this time.
Jackson Lumen Christi: This team is expected to make a big jump after tying for 13th a year ago. Six Titans flights are seeded as they seek their first team championship, led by a pair of second seeds – senior Holden Luce and junior Brogan Kelly at No. 3 doubles and senior Jason Gonerka at No. 3 singles.
Maple City Glen Lake: Sophomores Levi Lamb and Luke Selby lead four seeded flights on the top line at No. 4 doubles, while junior Porter Martin is second-seeded at No. 4 singles. Last season’s No. 2 singles runner-up Hawthorn Sutherland is playing No. 1 this week as a junior.
Noah West, Lansing Catholic sophomore: After advancing to the No. 1 quarterfinals last season as a freshman, West is the top seed at the top flight and 26-2 without a loss since Aug. 16.
Luke Zhang, Plymouth Christian Academy junior: He defeated West to reach the semifinals at No. 1 singles last season as the fifth seed, and is second-seeded this time and undefeated at 17-0.
Division 1 (Oct. 17-18)
Top-ranked: 1. Troy, 2. Bloomfield Hills, 3. Novi.
Bloomfield Hills has won the last three Division 1 championships – including last season’s by eight points – with Troy finishing runner-up last fall and tying for second in 2023 after winning the most recent title in 2021 before the Black Hawks began their run. A Novi championship would be its first since 2015.
Troy: All eight Colts flights are seeded fourth or better, with five top seeds and domination expected especially at doubles. Senior Varun Shetty and sophomore Sourish Danui are top-seeded at No. 2, senior Nate Wanstreet and sophomore Jackson Kraus are top-seeded at No. 3 and senior Raghav Karur and junior Zain Taqi are top-seeded at No. 4. Troy also claims top lines at No. 3 singles with sophomore Krish Gupta and No. 4 with senior Anthony Wu. Sophomore Dheeraj Yelleti is seeded fourth at No. 2 singles after winning the No. 4 title a year ago, and Karur and Kraus won No. 4 doubles in 2024 while Wu and Shetty were runners-up at No. 2.
Bloomfield Hills: A top seed and three seconds should put Bloomfield Hills in position to score significant points again, and they could get a boost from at least one unseeded flight as well. Senior Connor Shaya is unseeded at No. 1 singles but won No. 2 a year ago, No. 3 as a sophomore and No. 4 singles as a freshman. Junior Brady Winston follows as the top seed at No. 2 singles, and reigning No. 3 singles champion Zev Spiegel is second-seeded at that flight. Also second-seeded are senior Jonah Chernett and junior Krish Reddy at No. 1 doubles and seniors Sajan Doshi and Meyer Saperstein at No. 2. Doshi and Saperstein were champions at No. 3 last season, while Winston was the runner-up at No. 4 singles.
Novi: The Wildcats finished seventh a year ago and enter this weekend with four flights seeded fourth or higher. Seniors Daniel Han and Jaehoon Lee lead the way as second seeds at No. 3 doubles as they play to become Novi’s first flight champions since 2016.
Chad Anderson, Rochester senior: Undefeated this fall at 22-0, he’s seeking to finish his career with his first championship and is seeded first at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at that flight last season and runner-up at No. 2 as a sophomore.
Grant Miller, Ann Arbor Pioneer freshman: He’s 25-2 this debut season with losses only to Anderson and Ann Arbor Skyline senior and third-seeded Connor Wilcox after winning the first set.