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.
Loy Norrix Career Prepped Crocker for U-M Success, Law Degree Pursuit
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
July 29, 2021
KALAMAZOO — After graduating from University of Michigan in 2018, Davis Crocker suddenly found himself surrounded by green, white and Spartys.
With a degree in sports management from the Maize and Blue, Crocker is currently enrolled at Michigan State University’s College of Law in East Lansing.
“The first few months with all the green and Spartan heads, it’s a little bit of a culture shock,” Crocker, 25, said, laughing.
“I get the occasional comments every now and then. I try to be respectful.”
He has some backup. His brother, Reed, is on the MSU tennis team.
The Loy Norrix alumnus credits his four years playing high school tennis as “the kickstart to everything at Michigan and at law school now, balancing tennis and school with the team aspect, the coaches, the teammates.
“It laid the foundation for who I am now. My work ethic and leadership stem from that time.”
While many top tennis players opt out of high school tennis to concentrate on USTA tournaments, Crocker combined the two.
He said three things influenced his decision.
“First, that team aspect,” he said. “I think that’s so valuable. I played team sports when I was a kid, but when I just focused on tennis there weren’t as many opportunities for that. I enjoyed that aspect.
“Two, I felt I needed to give back to the school in some way. They were very flexible with my travel, my practicing and everything. I felt like doing things under their name was probably not enough, but at least a little bit.”
The third was that he just enjoyed being around the guys and going on road trips.
“The winning helped,” he added, laughing.
Winning, indeed.
He ended his high school career with some impressive numbers, enough to earn him the Michigan Mr. Tennis Award his senior year, when he went undefeated at 30-0.
His four-year record was 108-9, with seven of those losses his freshman year.
Loy Norrix did not qualify for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Championships as a team those four years, but Crocker did individually and won the No. 1 singles title his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
“When I won the state championship that third time (in 2013), that meant a lot out of the three,” he said, reminiscing. “The guy I played in the finals ended up playing at Arizona State.”
Crocker, the top seed, defeated second-seeded William Kirkman from Midland Dow, 6-3, 6-1.
Telling defeat
Art Williams, who coached the team all four years, said one moment was indicative of Crocker’s work ethic.
“During Regionals of his junior year, Davis was rolling through the draw as usual. On the final day, in the final No. 1 singles match, Davis struggled with his opponent,” Williams recalled.
“I rarely had to coach Davis through a defeat; it just rarely happened. But on this day something was off. His father told me Davis was dealing with a very upset stomach.”
Williams said Crocker made no excuses, but after losing that match took the time to walk to the net to shake his opponent’s hand.
“The story does have a happy ending though,” Williams added. “Even with the loss, Davis still qualified for the state tournament and proceeded to win his second state title by defeating the very same player (Portage Central’s Billy Heckman) he lost to just two weeks before.”
That Regional loss was Crocker’s last defeat of his high school career.
Crocker graduated early from Loy Norrix in January 2014 and headed to University of Michigan that same month.
He said high school tennis prepared him for a much different type of tennis in college.
“It helped a lot because college took the team part to even more of an extreme,” he said. “In high school, you’re only together for three or four months, then you see each other in the hallway.
“In college it’s pretty much year round. You’re either communicating or practicing or competing. I think just laying that (high school) groundwork made the transition easier.”
He said he is happy he had that extra semester at Michigan before actually competing.
“The levels were higher. With my teammates, I’m not the top guy any more. I’m just one of 12,” Crocker said. “There are no easy games at that level. You have to bring your ‘A’ game every time.”
By his senior year, Crocker was an ITA Scholar-Athlete, Academic All-Big Ten, Big Ten doubles indoor champion with Harry Brown and co-captain of the tennis team.
While at U-M, he spent three seasons as assistant to Loy Norrix coach Bill Jenkins and, before entering law school, spent a year as an instructor at West Hills Athletic Club in Kalamazoo.
After playing so much tennis, Crocker took a break from sports.
“I was mentally done with it, but now I feel ready to play a little more and be involved with the community,” he said.
“These last six months I started hitting a bit and training a little more. I did a couple tournaments recently.”
Following family traditions
Crocker’s dad, grandfather and uncle are U-M grads, and his great-great-grandfather graduated from what was then the Detroit College of Law.
Currently, his dad and uncle are partners in Crocker & Crocker, a law firm started by his grandfather in Kalamazoo.
“I was always in that (law) environment when I was a kid,” Crocker said. “It lines up with all my interests like reading and writing and history. With sports business, I would like to do something potentially with sports and the law.
“I’ve also thought about compliance or something like that with the NCAA, which has changed a lot even since I first got into law school.”
He also has been working with his dad in telecommunications law.
“There are so many different areas that it can be overwhelming,” Crocker said. “I’ll sort that out in the next year and a half (before graduation).”
As for high school, Crocker has some advice for those in any sport:
“When you first begin, don’t be overwhelmed by the situation, just embrace it. You will look fondly back, even on those times when you are maybe teased by the older guys. You appreciate it later on because you grow so much from it.”
2020-21 Made in Michigan
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PHOTOS: (Top) Three-time MHSAA Finals tennis champion Davis Crocker has begun playing competitively again while also working toward a law degree. (Middle) Crocker unleashes a serve during his No. 1 singles title match in 2013. (Below) Crocker stands at the scoreboard during his championship match at the 2012 LP Division 2 Finals. (Top photo by Pam Shebest; middle and below photos by High School Sports Scene.)