Preview: Pair of Reigning Champs, Pair of 2025 Runners-Up Hold Tennis Top Team Seeds
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 15, 2026
This season’s 10-day run of four Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals at Midland Tennis Center will feature two reigning champions expected to lift the winner's trophy once again and two 2025 runners-up expected to take the next step – the Division 4 favorite for the first time.
Division 1 begins the series of Finals with its two-day tournament Oct. 14-15, and Division 2 concludes the season Oct. 23-24.
Below is a preview of anticipated contenders in all four divisions. Click here for full brackets and additional details on all four tournaments.
Division 1 – Oct 14-15
Top-ranked: 1. Troy, 2. Novi, 3. Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice.
Reigning champion Troy has finished among the top two in Division 1 four of the last five seasons and broke Bloomfield Hills’ three-year hold on the championship with last year’s 10-point Finals win. Novi tied for third last season and is seeking its first Finals title since 2015, and edged Brother Rice by two points at their Regional last week. The Warriors are seeking their first Finals championship since 2009.
Troy: Three top-seeded doubles pairs plus another second-seeded duo could provide the power needed to drive Troy’s repeat run. Junior Sourish Daruri was part of last season’s No. 2 champion and is playing with senior Jesse Hao as the top-seeded pair at No. 1 this time. Juniors Jyotiraditya Kashyap and Siddarth Manikandan are second-seeded at No. 2, with sophomore Brad Bagley and freshman Aaditya Manikandan the top seeds at No. 3 and sophomore Vivaan Shan and junior Stas Barodka top-seeded at No. 4. Senior Zain Taqi was part of the No. 4 doubles champion last season and is seeded first at No. 4 singles, and junior Krish Gupta is seeded second at No. 2.
Novi: Sophomore Kris Thomas won No. 2 singles last season and enters this weekend as the fourth seed at No. 1 and as one of six Novi flights total seeded fourth or higher. Juniors Ishan Parikh and Luka Milosevich carry the team’s highest seed, second at No. 4 doubles. Sophomore Ronak Sharma is teaming with junior Daniel Han as the third seed at No. 2 doubles after Sharma was part of the runner-up at No. 4 last year with sophomore Vincent Maisano, who is teaming with sophomore Suveer Singh as the third seed at No. 3 this time.
Bloomfield Hills: Ranked No. 5 heading into the postseason, Bloomfield Hills is hoping to make a run at another title after finishing second at last year’s Final and also second to Troy at their Regional earlier this month. The Black Hawks are seeded at six flights, with Zev Spiegel the sixth seed at No. 2 singles after winning No. 3 a year ago. Seniors Krish Reddy and Maanav Majmuder are seeded fourth at No. 1 doubles after Reddy was part of last year’s champion at that flight.
Grant Miller, Ann Arbor Pioneer sophomore: Last season’s No. 1 singles runner-up – after entering as the second seed – is the top seed this time with a 22-1 record and his only loss in three sets in August to Salem’s Aarav Shah, who he then defeated 6-0, 6-1, at last week’s Regional.
Aarav Shah, Salem senior: Shah is back at the Finals after just missing qualifying last season but making the No. 1 singles quarterfinals as a sophomore. His only loss this season was to Miller at the Regional, and all of his wins but the one over Miller went just two sets.
Division 2 – Oct 23-24
Top-ranked: 1. Birmingham Seaholm, 2. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 3. Midland Dow.
One of the three schools mentioned above has finished first the last four seasons and six of the last seven, and last year was the first time since 2020 that one of those three also didn’t finish runner-up. Byron Center – ranked No. 5 heading into this weekend – finished second by five points to champion Seaholm a year ago, with Dow third and Forest Hills Northern fourth. FHN’s most recent title came in 2024, and Dow won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples will pursue a repeat championship with all eight flights seeded third or higher and four flights on the top line of their respective brackets. Freshman Luke Janz is seeded first at No. 4 singles, with senior Kalil Wahab and freshman Hunter Helman top-seeded at No. 1 doubles, senior Aaryan Senthilvanan and freshman Mark Latinsky top-seeded at No. 3 and seniors Deven Badhwar and Ryan McArdle on the top line at No. 4. Sophomores Ahren Gupta and Kyle Carr are seeded second at No. 2 doubles, with junior Carter Griffith second at No. 1 singles, sophomore Charlie Griffith second at No. 3 and senior Giorgio Materazzo seeded third at No. 2. Charlie Griffith is the reigning champion at No. 3 singles, Materazzo was the runner-up at No. 2 a year ago, and Senthilvanan was part of the champion at No. 3 doubles in 2024.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern: All eight FHN flights also are seeded, with four third seeds or higher – freshman Andrew Yang seeded second at No. 2 singles, junior Sam Ogilvie third at No. 3, freshman Jayden Qi second at No. 4 singles and junior Daniel Jin and senior Mikey Hernly seeded third at No. 3 doubles. Junior Vikram Krishnan is seeded seventh at No. 1 singles after winning the No. 2 flight a year ago, and junior Drew Decker is teaming with senior Ethan Han as the fifth seed at No. 2 doubles after Decker was part of the champion at No. 3 last fall.
Midland Dow: Three top seeds lead the way for a group with seven seeded flights total. Senior Chase Martin is on the top line at No. 2 singles, and Raymond Chai holds the same at No. 3, with seniors Ethan Clark and Jashwanth Thamminana top-seeded at No. 2 doubles and junior Vetter Xu and senior Zander Salisbury second-seeded at No. 3. Clark and Xu teamed up to win No. 4 doubles a year ago, and senior Nathan Song is playing with junior Sullivan Ladd as the third seed at No. 1 doubles after Song was part of the runner-up at that flight in 2025.
Mason Crosby, South Lyon East senior: After finishing second at No. 1 singles last season and second at No. 2 as a freshman, Crosby is seeking to finish his career with his first title and enters with a 26-0 record including five straight 6-0, 6-0 wins and 17 total this fall.
Evan Weber, Berkley junior: Weber is pursuing the title at No. 1 singles with a 21-2 record entering the weekend and losses to only Carter Griffith and Division 1 Ryan Brockhaus from Brother Rice – and Weber won a rematch with Griffith at their Regional.
Division 3 – Oct. 16-17
Top-ranked: 1. Detroit Country Day, 2. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 3. Holland Christian.
Cranbrook returned to the top of the Division 3 standings last season for the second time in three years and fourth time over the last six, finishing just a point ahead of Country Day. The Yellowjackets fell back to second after sharing the 2024 title with Ann Arbor Greenhills – which is ranked No. 4 this fall. Holland Christian won Division 4 in 2024 and finished third in Division 3 last fall.
Detroit Country Day: The Yellowjackets will attempt to win back the team title with the top or second seeds at all but one flight. Junior Ricky Jeong is seeded first at No. 1 singles and freshman Nicholas Nadjarian is the top seed at No. 4, Jeong pursuing his third Finals singles championship after winning No. 1 last year and No. 3 in 2024. Sophomore Samuel Kole-James at No. 2 singles and senior Victor Marin at No. 3 are joined by senior Preston Blum and freshman Emmanuel Kole-James at No. 2 doubles, freshman Rithik Vakhariya and senior Henry Diemer at No. 3 and sophomore Sasha Kebl and junior Sebastian Shah at No. 4 doubles among second seeds as well. Sophomore Shiv Kumar and junior Adam Mahmoud round out the lineup as the third seed at No. 1 doubles. Samuel Kole-James is the reigning champ at No. 2 singles, Plum was part of last year’s champion at No. 1 doubles and Kumar was part of the winner at No. 2. Marin also made the final matches last season, finishing runner-up at No. 4 singles.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes also are seeded first or second at every flight but one, with top lines going to freshman Trevor Ilitch at No. 2 singles, Eli Rosen at No. 3, seniors Ryan VanDyke and Josh Day at No. 1 doubles, senior Liam Black and junior Luke Stevenson at No. 3 and junior Jaiden Swami and senior Stanley Shen at No. 4 doubles. Freshman Jacob Yang is seeded second at No. 1 singles, sophomore Henry DeMuth is second at No. 4, and junior Dylan Popat and senior Andy Yu are the third seed at No. 2 doubles. Day was the champion at No. 4 singles last season, and Popat and Yu won the title at No. 4 doubles. Rosen was the runner-up at No. 2 singles in 2025, and DeMuth was part of the runner-up pair at No. 3 doubles.
Holland Christian: All eight flights are seeded as Holland Christian attempts to make its move on the annual contenders. Seniors Graham Tannis and Michael Gorno are leading the way as the second seeds at No. 2 doubles, with freshman Asher Grosso is the third seed at No. 2 singles. Senior Eli Whitmore is teaming with junior Brody Bergsma as the fifth seed at No. 2 doubles after Whitmore was part of the champion at No. 3 last season, and seniors Jonathan Haig and Carter Leep are seeded fourth at No. 3 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 last fall. Junior Nico Grosso is the sixth seed at No. 1 singles coming off last year’s runner-up finish at No. 3.
Anish Komirisetty, Haslett junior: The third-seeded player at No. 1 singles is 28-0 and a combined 79-3 for his career while competing in his second season at the top flight after playing No. 2 as a freshman.
Division 4 – Oct. 21-22
Top-ranked: 1. Jackson Lumen Christi, 2. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, 3. Ludington.
University Liggett took back the title last season, claiming its first since 2022 by finishing 10 points ahead of Lumen Christi. The Titans are favored this time as they seek their first Finals championship in this sport. Ludington is pursuing the same after tying for ninth in Division 3 a year ago.
Jackson Lumen Christi: Powerful doubles are expected to pace Lumen’s title drive, with senior Maden Brady and sophomore Theo McEldowney seeded first at No. 2 and senior Gurmilan Singh and junior Shayan Challapalli seeded first at No. 4. Senior pairs Chase Schirmacher and Brogan Kelly and Harrison Botke and Vincent Tran are seeded second at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, respectively. Seniors TJ O’Neill at No. 2 singles and Gabe Cooper at No. 3 are expected to add punch as third seeds. Kelly was part of the runner-up last season at No. 3 doubles.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett: A repeat run could be led by junior Justin Platt at No. 3 singles, junior Fernando Romine at No. 4 and junior Lucas Ferguson and sophomore Ian Moya at No. 2 doubles – all second seeds. Seniors Davis Ford and Charlie Laethem at No. 1 doubles also will be counted on to score big points as a third seed. Platt was the No. 4 singles champion a year ago, while Laethem was part of the champion at No. 2 doubles and Ferguson part of the flight winner at No. 3.
Ludington: A powerful singles lineup could send the Orioles into the title hunt, with seniors Oliver Kolb at No. 2, Tyler Keillor at No. 3 and Ryder Saya at No. 4 all top seeds and senior Ryan Higley at No. 1 unseeded but coming off a Regional championship. Juniors Gavin Cohoon and Ethan Blough at No. 1 doubles also are seeded, in the fifth spot.
Mateus Pimental, Goodrich senior: The second seed at No. 1 singles enters the weekend 21-0 and hasn’t lost a set this season.
Noah West, Lansing Catholic junior: He’s the top seed at No. 1 singles with a 28-2 record but with those defeats in three sets to Haslett’s Komirisetty (see above) and Maple City Glen Lake senior Hawthorn Sutherland, who is seeded fifth in this bracket.
Matthew Brenzing & John Oliver, Grandville Calvin Christian juniors: Brenzing returned to doubles after playing No. 1 singles a year ago and has teamed with Oliver to achieve a 26-0 record and the top seed at No. 1 doubles this weekend.
Cranes Turn Away Country Day Again
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2016
KALAMAZOO — On his seventh match point at No. 1 singles, Benji Jacobson smashed an overhead winner and had a feeling this was an important victory.
It was.
With just two matches left on Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium courts, Jacobson’s win gave Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood a one-point win over perennial nemesis Detroit Country Day to clinch the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship for the second year in a row.
Cranbrook tallied 34 points to Country Day’s 33.
St. Joseph, with two flight champions, tied with East Grand Rapids for third (20 points) and Ada Forest Hills Eastern was fifth with 18.
The title chase was so close that after the doubles semifinals and before any singles semis finished, Cranbrook and Country Day were tied at 28 points each, prompting tournament director Paul Ballard to comment, “This is the first time I can remember that there were two perfect team scores by this time.”
Jacobson, the top seed who was Division 3 champ at No. 2 last year, defeated the second seed, Holland Christian senior Ryan Rhoades, 6-3, 6-4.
“I won on the seventh match point,” Jacobson said. “March 7 is my birthday, so I guess that’s kind of a lucky number.
“I knew in the back of my head my team needed me. It’s the team. It’s all about the team. That’s what I do it for.”
He said when he realized his match could be the clincher, “I was just like, get to net. That’s my game.
“I came to net and hit an overhead winner. That’s the best feeling in the world, being a state champion.”
Cranbrook coach Jeff Etterbeek said he wasn’t surprised Jacobson won the clincher.
“He’s been our anchor all year,” Etterbeek said. “He’s just a class act, a great player. It’s nice to have that in our stable, that thoroughbred in our stable.”
Etterbeek expected a tough tournament from Country Day.
“They beat us 5-3 in the dual, we beat them 5-3 in the Regional,” he said. “There were a lot of three sets so we knew it was going to be nip and tuck at the states.
“We were down the first set in all four doubles matches and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, man.’ The fact that we could win two of those meant everything.”
Country Day coach Brian DeVirgilio said it came down to nerves.
“The difference was just a couple matches here or there,” he said. “It was just a matter of nerves when you get down to it at the last minute.
“It’s just whoever can get a few more balls in the court. It’s so close right down the line. It’s just a matter of who can get a few more balls in at the end.”
Rhoades lost in the semifinals at No. 2 singles last year.
“Last year at 2 I had a good season but I had things to work on and that’s what I worked on to get better,” he said. “That resulted in me going up to No. 1 and making the finals instead of the semifinals.
“Today (Jacobson) got up 4-0 in the second set and that put a lot of pressure on me to get going. It’s kinda hard to come back from 4-0, especially on him because he’s a good player. I gave it all I had there and he still won. I tip my head to him.”
The No. 2 singles finals featured the only female, second-seeded St. Joseph senior Ahmeir Kyle, pulling out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Country Day freshman Nick Gruskin, the top seed, in the last match on court.
“He started playing a lot better in the second set and it was getting in my head,” Kyle said. “I just had to pull it together.
“I just stayed focused and had to get back to how I was playing in the first set. Just stay consistent and keep pressing.”
Kyle played on the boys team as a freshman, losing in the MHSAA Final at No. 4 singles. She said she opted to do so again this year so she can run track in the spring.
She said she has had no problems competing against boys, but “some of them, it gets to their ego, but most of them think it’s cool.”
Gruskin was devastated at not getting the point for his team.
“I just worked hard, tried to help my teammates as much as I could,” he said. “I couldn’t get it done today.
“I didn’t expect to be the last match on. She was really good, she really was. I gotta give credit to her. She hit the ball really hard. She made a lot of balls.”
DeVirgilio said having Gruskin get to the final was a surprise.
“He really played well for us all year,” the coach said. “He’s done really well. He’s had a great year at No. 2.
“We didn’t really expect him to be as successful as he has. He did a really, really good job.”
At No. 3 singles, freshman Will Page, the top seed, gave St. Joseph its second champ with a 6-1, 6-2 win over second-seeded Justin Luo, a Cranbrook sophomore.
Making his MHSAA Finals debut, Page said: “I expected to do pretty well in this tournament, but mainly I realized I had to get to the final and bring it home for my school.
“I just tried grinding out every point. Mainly I give it to God in that match, every point. I hit some great shots and I would say I just gave it to God in that match.”
Luo said he thinks Page was more prepared.
“I think he came out more ready than I was,” Luo said. “I was a little nervous; I was a little tight. I was hitting the ball short at the beginning.
“I was making too many errors. He stayed solid, hit the ball when he had to. I just wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t expect it.”
Luo said winning the team title this year was sweeter than last.
“Last year we kinda locked it up (winning the title with 38 points to Country Day’s 30). We were the best; there was no question.
“This year there were a lot of questions. This year we lost to DCD in the dual match. We barely pulled it out (Saturday).”
At No. 4 singles, Country Day’s top seed, Eric Wang, was leading 6-2, 2-3 when Cranbrook freshman Sohum Acharya, the second seed, retired after cramping.
“I didn’t want it to end this way, but I felt like he put out a good fight and I put out a good fight. It was a good match,” Wang said.
More surprising is that Wang was a reserve on the team last season.
“I felt like this year I really stepped up, and I’m really proud of how I performed,” he added. “The secret for me was putting a lot of time in the offseason. Also, determination and hard work and making sure that I wasn’t giving up on any points. I was going for the ball at all costs.”
Acharya said even the four bananas he ate didn’t help alleviate the leg cramps.
“I hope to use what I learned (in the tournament) and try to use it to get back here next year and hopefully win,” he said.
“I learned that sometimes you have to adjust your play style depending on how the other guy plays and, in my case, I had to be more consistent.”
The doubles finals were also hotly contested with loud cheers, hoots and hollers often erupting from the bleachers lining the back courts.
Cranbrook and Country Day fought for the title in every doubles final, with each school winning two.
At No. 1, Cranbrook’s top seeds, senior Michael Bian and junior Andrew Du, defeated second seeds, sophomore Rick Warnicke and junior Ryan Murakawa, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
At No. 2, Country Day’s top seeds, seniors Kavon Rahmani and Milind Rao defeated second seeds, junior Jacob Yellen and sophomore Joe Croskey, 7-5, 6-0.
At No. 3, Country Day’s second-seeded juniors Nate Thewes and Tommy Nardicchio upset top seeds, senior Blake Fisher and sophomore Nikhil Deenadayalu, 6-4, 6-2.
At No. 4, Cranbrook’s top seeds, junior Eshaan Kawira and sophomore Jack Trees, fought back after losing the first set, 1-6, to second seeds, junior Prathik Chukkapelli and sophomore Nick Sicilia, for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood’s Benji Jacobson returns a volley during a Saturday match at the Division 3 Final. (Middle) St. Joseph’s Ahmeir Kyle begins a serve during her championship win at No. 2 singles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)