Midland Dow Travels Little to Go Far

By Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com

October 15, 2022

MIDLAND — Midland Dow's boys tennis team didn’t have to travel far to claim another MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 title Saturday at the Midland Tennis Center.

With top performers in every flight, the hometown Chargers were well-represented in their quest for the championship trophy, leading the likes of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, which made a late charge; Mattawan, Birmingham Seaholm and Birmingham Groves.

Dow finished with 32 points, followed by Northern with 27 and Seaholm at 22.

All seven Finals team titles have come under coach Terry Schwartzkopf, who was the face of frustration as things got close during the semifinals. The Chargers previously had won titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Dow lost semifinal matches at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. But sophomore and top seed at No. 4 singles Nimai Patel clinched the championship for Dow with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over Sebastian Madlangbayan of Forest Hills Northern.

“I started out pretty strong, I was up 4-0 and then he started playing really well,’’ said Patel. “I started feeling the pressure. I finished out the first set, but the second set I was up 3-2 and my foot started cramping. I started hitting out every single ball. I had to regroup. I put some cream on where I was cramping, and I started playing a lot better.''

Patel said he understood Schwartzkopf’s frustration.

“We’re a very talented team and we were capable of getting through every flight,’’ said Patel. “We finished third last year. So, to get through this year and win was great.’’

Grosse Poitne South senior Connor Stafford upset top seed Sammy Yin of Forest Hills Central 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to claim the No. 1 singles title.

“I felt like I made a lot of silly errors in the first set,’’ said Stafford. “I thought the match turned when I was up 4-1 in the second set. Mentally I was concentrating on hitting my shots. I didn’t want to lose my last high school match. It was great to get here and win.’’

Dow claimed No. 2 singles when top seed Aaron Li came back from losing the first set and prevailed, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 over Karan Deol of Forest Hills Northern.

Li advanced to the final at No. 2 Singles when Chris Shang of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central had to retire because of cramping.

“In the first set I didn’t have a good forehand,’’ said Li. “My coach talked to me after the first set, and I was able to find my forehand.

"We were hungry for the title this year. Coach will be happy for us.’’

Nolan Ackerman of Mattawan won No. 3 singles over Logan Yu of Dow, 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-1.

Rivals Groves and Seaholm played for the fourth time this year in No. 1 doubles. Seaholm won all four with Alex Lewis and Zane Chutkow earning the title 6-3, 6-4.

“We just bring the fight every time we face them,’’ said Lewis. “We can say we’ve never lost to Groves.’’

Dow captured No. 2 doubles as top seed Roofy Elsaadany and Aiden Tanis won 6-1, 6-2, in their final.

“It was a long year,’’ said Elsaadany. “I was out three weeks. We worked hard to get to this point.’’

Added Tanis: “Everything we did was to get to this point. The hard work paid off.’’

At No. 3 double,s Dow’s top seed Vishagen Karthikeyan and Shubhan Nagarkar lost to Northern’s Kyle Cornell and Tanay Shenoy 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.

No. 4 doubles went to Seaholm’s Ricky Sparby and Nick Kelley with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. 

Click for full results

PHOTOS (Top) Midland Dow celebrates its latest Division 2 championship. (Middle) Mattawan's Nolan Ackerman sends back a volley on the way to winning the No. 3 singles title. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)

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.

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett tennisThe 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 full results.

(Click for more photos from High School Sports Scene.)