Preview: Powers Could Prevail Again
October 18, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This year’s Lower Peninsula Boys Tennis Finals will again feature a number of contenders we’re used to seeing raise trophies during the season’s closing weekend.
Reigning champions Okemos in Division 2 and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in Division 3 are loaded with top seeds, as is Ann Arbor Greenhills in Division 4 as it looks to build off two straight runner-up finishes. The closest competition might come in Division 1, where reigning champion Bloomfield Hills must fend off the usual cast of contenders including Ann Arbor Huron and Birmingham Brother Rice – but will take them on with a lineup topped by victorious veterans.
Play both Friday and Saturday begins at 8 a.m. Click for full brackets for all four tournaments, plus Regional results, and come back to Second Half early Saturday evening for coverage from all four Finals.
Lower Peninsula Division 1 at Midland Tennis Center
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills, 2. Ann Arbor Huron, 3. Birmingham Brother Rice.
Bloomfield Hills has won two of the last three Division 1 titles, last year by two points ahead of Troy and eight ahead of third-place Ann Arbor Huron. Huron claimed the championship in 2016, by two points ahead of the Black Hawks. Brother Rice has finished runner-up three times this decade and as recently as 2014, and will play for its first title since 2009. The Warriors came in fourth last season.
Bloomfield Hills: Seven of eight flights are seeded first or second, led by top-seeded Andrew Zhang at No. 1 singles. He’s finishing a career that’s seen him win No. 2 singles as a sophomore and finish runner-up at No. 2 in 2015 and No. 1 a year ago. Sebastian Burman is the top seed at No. 3 singles after being part of last season’s No. 1 doubles champion with brother Cade, the second seed this weekend at No. 4 singles. Noah Rosin and Adrian Wilen are top-seeded at No. 1 doubles – Wilen was part of the No. 3 runner-up a year ago.
Ann Arbor Huron: The River Rats have won four of seven team titles this decade. They also are seeded at seven flights and pack the most power with three top-seeded doubles pairs – Nick Grosh and T.J. Bai at No. 2, Sammy Clyde and Pranav Sharma at No. 3 and Nikhil Girish and Vincent Tremonti at No. 4. Grosh and Bai were runners-up at No. 4 a year ago.
Birmingham Brother Rice: The Warriors are seeded at six flights and should stack up some singles points led by second-seeded Jarreau Campbell at No. 1 and top-seeded JJ Etterbeek at No. 2. Campbell made the No. 1 singles semifinals a year ago and was part of the No. 1 doubles champion in 2015. Second-seeded No. 1 doubles pair Josh Anschuetz and Niko Mamatas have enjoyed previous Finals success as well, Mamatas as part of the runner-up at No. 2 doubles last season and Anschuetz as part of the runner-up at No. 1 in 2016.
Clarkston’s Luke Baylis: The Wolves junior is the third seed at No. 1 singles after making the semifinals last season and finishing runner-up at No. 2 as a freshman.
Lower Peninsula Division 2 at Holland Christian/Hope College
Top-ranked: 1. Okemos, 2. Birmingham Groves, 3. Birmingham Seaholm.
The Chiefs swept their Regional flights and are looking to repeat as a Finals champion for the first time since winning four straight titles from 2004-07. They finished 15 points ahead of runners-up Groves and Midland Dow a year ago, while Seaholm finished fifth. The runner-up finish was Groves’ fourth, and the Falcons are seeking their first championship. Seaholm owns two runner-up finishes and also is seeking its first title.
Okemos: The Chiefs won six flight championships a year ago, and they’re seeded first in all eight heading into this weekend. Shrey Patel was the No. 3 singles champion in 2017 and is seeded first at No. 2 doubles with Druv Talluri – part of last season’s No. 3 doubles champion. Daniel Gorelik is the reigning No. 4 singles champ and part of the top seed at No. 1 doubles with Zal Chinoy, part of last season’s champion at that flight. Josh Portnoy was the runner-up at No. 2 singles last season and is seeded first at that flight, with freshman Ozan Colak the top seed at No. 1, Benjamin Letzer the top at No. 3 and Rohan Shah the top at No. 4; Shah was part of the No. 2 doubles champ a year ago. Siddharth Nagisetty and Aditya Kandula at No. 3 doubles and Abhi Shukul and Diego Casagrande at No. 4 round out the top seeds; Nagisetty teamed with Shah for that No. 2 title last season and Kandula was part of the winning No. 4 flight.
Birmingham Groves: All eight flights are seeded, and five third or higher. Gabe Liss is the third seed at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up a year ago, while Gabe Vidinas is the second seed as the reigning champion at No. 2 and Jonah Liss is seeded third at No. 3 after finishing runner-up at that flight last season. Aerik Joe is part of the sixth-seeded No. 1 doubles pair and was part of the No. 4 champion in 2016.
Birmingham Seaholm: The Maples are seeded at five flights with three second-seeded doubles pairs. Ben Adams and Aidan O’Neill are teamed up for the second seed at No. 1 – Adams was part of the runner-up last season at No. 4 and O’Neill was part of the No. 3 runner-up. Max Levitsky teamed with Adams at No. 4 last season and this weekend is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 3.
Mattawan’s Nathaniel Webster: After making the second round as the fifth seed at No. 1 singles as a freshman last year, Webster enters this weekend third-seeded at the top flight.
Midland Dow’s Tyler Conrad: The Chargers’ senior is seeded fourth at No. 1 singles after finishing runner-up at No. 3 as a freshman, champion at No. 3 as a sophomore and making the semifinals at No. 2 last fall.
Lower Peninsula Division 3 at Novi
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Detroit Country Day, 3. East Grand Rapids.
Cranbrook Kingswood and Detroit Country Day have finished as the top two in this division the last four seasons, with the Cranes winning the last three titles after Country Day won four straight from 2011-14. In fact, they’ve combined to win the last 10 championships, and last year Cranbrook cleared the field by eight points. East Grand Rapids has finished runner-up twice over the last 11 seasons and is seeking its first title since spring 2007. The Pioneers tied for third last season with Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: The Cranes are seeded at every flight and carry six top seeds into the weekend, with three returning 2017 champions. Lucas Bosch is the top seed at No. 1 singles after winning No. 2 a year ago, and similarly Justin Luo is the top seed at No. 2 coming off the No. 3 singles titles. (Luo also was No. 4 champion as a freshman and No. 3 runner-up as a sophomore.) Joe Croskey was part of the No. 2 doubles champion in 2017 and is seeded first at No. 4 singles. Nolan Sherwood played No. 1 singles for Forest Hills Eastern last season and is seeded first at No. 3 for the Cranes. Patrick Tiwari and Sohum Acharya are the top seed at No. 2 doubles – Acharya was the runner-up at No. 4 singles last season – and Geoffrey Qin and Isaiah Croskey are top-seeded at No. 4. Nikhil Deenadaylu teamed with Croskey to win No. 2 last season and is part of the fourth-seeded No. 1 pair this time with Jack Trees, a runner-up at No. 3 in 2017. Hayes Bradley and David Hermelin are seeded third at No. 3 doubles after finishing runner-up at No. 4 a year ago.
Detroit Country Day: All eight flights are seeded second or third at their respective flights. Nikolas Gruskin is the second seed at No. 1 singles and Ricky Warnicke is the third seed at No. 2 – they finished back-to-back runners-up at No. 2 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Nick Sicilia was part of the No. 4 doubles champion last season and is part of the second-seeded No. 2 pair. Alex Mettler and Alex Pollak are the second seed at No. 1.
East Grand Rapids: The Pioneers are seeded at seven flights including with one of the top seeds that didn’t go to Cranbrook. Nick Lambert and Graham Haslem earned it at No. 3 doubles after making the semifinals for that flight together last season. Kole Butterer was part of the No. 2 doubles runner-up last season and is part of the third-seeded pair at No. 1. Ben Collins made the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles last season as a sixth seed and returns in the third spot in that flight.
St. Clair’s Derek Distelrath: The Saints freshman enters his first MHSAA Finals as the fourth seed at No. 1 singles.
Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s Anish Premkumar and Anish Kokkula: They’re the top seed at No. 1 doubles after Kokkula made the semifinals last season at No. 3 singles and Premkumar was part of the champion at this flight.
Lower Peninsula Division 4 at Kalamazoo College
Top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 2. Traverse City St. Francis, 3. Allegan.
Greenhills won eight straight Division 4 titles from 2008-15 before Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett won the last two with the Gryphons finishing second both times. Liggett is ranked No. 7 entering this weekend, and Greenhills is poised to take back the title after coming up two points short a year ago. St. Francis was third last season, six points off the lead, and it is seeking its first top-two finish. So too is Allegan, which tied for fifth in LPD3 last season.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: The Gryphons have six top seeds and two second seeds. Kann Oral is the reigning champion at No. 2 singles and seeded first at that flight, and Taha Zirapury is the top seed at No. 4 after pairing for the No. 3 doubles championship last fall. Trey Feldeisen is back at No. 1 doubles as the reigning champion but with new partner Henry Branch, a No. 3 singles semifinalist last season. Nathan Rosenberg and Finn Feldeisen at No. 3 doubles, Harrison Li and Alex Schwendeman at No. 4 and Mert Oral at No. 3 singles also carry top seeds into the weekend. Drake Rosenberg and Joey Formicola are the second-seeded pair at No. 2 doubles after Rosenberg teamed with Zirapury for the No. 3 title last season and Formicola was part of the runner-up at No. 2. Sahil Deenadayalu is the second seed at No. 1 singles.
Traverse City St. Francis: Seven flights are seeded, with one top seed and four second at their respective flights. Tyler Tafelsky is part of the second-seeded pair at No. 1 doubles after combining to win No. 4 last season, and Sean Navin and Brendan Chouinard own that top seed at No. 2 doubles. Andrew Gerling is the fourth seed at No. 1 singles, topping a lineup with the second seeds at the other three flights.
Allegan: Five flights are seeded, all third or higher, and with four seeds coming in doubles. In singles, Kody Harrington is the third seed at No. 2 after finishing No. 3 runner-up in Division 3 a year ago. Zach Sisson made the semifinals at No. 1 doubles in last season and is part of the third seed at that flight with Zach Lang, who made the quarterfinals at No. 2 doubles in Division 3 a year ago.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s William Cooksey: Last season’s No. 1 singles champ as a freshman returns as the top seed at that flight as a sophomore.
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard’s Ian Sood: A junior, Sood finished runner-up at No. 2 singles both of his first two seasons and this weekend is seeded third at No. 1.
PHOTO: Okemos’ Druv Talluri returns a volley during a No. 3 doubles match at last season's Finals; he returns this weekend as part of the top-seeded pair at No. 2. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
West Iron County Continues Reign Among UP Tennis Elite with Finals Repeat
By
Jerry DeRoche
Special for MHSAA.com
May 29, 2025
KINGSFORD – In the years 2022 and 2023, a strange event occurred in recent Upper Peninsula boys tennis history. One of the strongest programs above the Mackinac Bridge, West Iron County, failed to finish either first or second in the annual contest for Upper Peninsula Division 2 supremacy.
But the last two seasons have brought a return to normality.
With four flight championships, West Iron repeated as Division 2 champion by fending off Munising and three other opponents in Wednesday's Finals hosted by Iron Mountain and played at Kingsford High School.
The Wykons recorded 17 points to finish three in front of the runner-up Mustangs. Ishpeming placed third with 13 points, Iron Mountain finished fourth with 11 and Gwinn wound up fifth with one.
“There were a lot of long matches today,” West Iron coach Jim Anderson said. “A lot of them went to three sets or tiebreakers. I’m really happy with the kids’ focus to stay on track and accomplish our goal.”
The highlight of West Iron’s win came at No. 1 doubles where second-seeded Elijah Oberlin and Jackson Strom knocked off top-seeded Oskar Kangas and Evan Copley of Iron Mountain 6-2, 6-4.
Oberlin and Strom got off to a flying start, capturing the opening five games. Kangas, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh basketball recruit, and Copley steadied the ship a bit by taking the next two games, but the West Iron duo held firm to finish off the opening set.
The second set went back-and-forth until the Wykons broke serve in the 10th game to complete the victory.
“We talked about it before the match that we just needed to stay consistent,” said Oberlin, who started playing tennis just last season. “Nothing fancy, nothing special, just be consistent and stay focused.”
That no-frills approach worked wonders against the Iron Mountain duo, which featured Kangas, a returning No. 1 doubles champion from last year.
Anderson said he knew his doubles team could hang with the Mountaineers physically.
“We’ve got some really good athletes at one doubles,” the third-year varsity coach said. “Elijah was an amazing basketball player for West Iron County, and Jackson is a complete athlete who can do it all.
“So, they are able to handle other athletes across the net without any issues.”
Oberlin and Strom didn’t fare well in the U.P. Finals at No. 2 doubles last season but roared back with a memorable finish this time.
“Last year our team ended up winning, but we came up short,” Strom said. “But this year we were able to contribute to the team win, and it’s a great feeling.”
West Iron claimed another doubles title at the No. 4 flight where Cayden Holm and Carson Aldegarie upended Ishpeming’s Ethan DeMarios and David Hyatt 6-3, 6-2.
West Iron also posted wins at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. In the three singles match, No. 2 seed James White outlasted top-seed Seth Greenleaf of Iron Mountain 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-6 (7-5). At No. 4 singles, freshman Casey Clisch knocked off Ishpeming’s Gideon Krook 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
Individually, the star of the show was Munising senior Carson Kienitz, who won his fourth U.P. Finals championship with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Iron Mountain’s Malakai Broersma.
Broersma came into the championship match with a blister on his foot after defeating last year’s No. 2 singles champion Zander Birmingham of West Iron 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Nevertheless, Kienitz showcased his all-around game which took him to a No. 2 doubles title his freshman season, a No. 1 doubles championship his sophomore year and now two No. 1 singles titles.
“I’ve put in a lot of time ever since my freshman year coming up to this moment,” Kienitz said. “So obviously (winning four titles) is really awesome.”
The 6-foot-5 Kienitz, who was an all-U.P. first-team basketball selection this season, said he enjoys the more laid-back atmosphere of tennis as opposed to basketball and football.
“You’ve got a lot less people watching you, and it’s just you versus the other kid,” said Kienitz, who is off to Michigan State University in the fall to study electrical engineering. “And I’ve always tried to be nice to my opponents, and I love when they’re nice to me, so it’s a really friendly gentleman’s sport.”
Munising also won the No. 2 singles flight, as Danny Goss recorded a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over West Iron’s Dominick Brunswick, and the No. 3 doubles championship where Nolan Dolaskie and Blake Tyner fought through a second-set hiccup to defeat Ishpeming’s Luke Laitinen and Dax Kakkuri 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
The Hematites took home the other flight championship as No. 2 doubles team Ethan Corp and Levi Nicholls upended Iron Mountain’s Ben Truong and Dylan Lindgren 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
PHOTOS (Top) West Iron County's Elijah Oberlin returns a volley during a No. 1 doubles match Wednesday. (Middle) Munising's Carson Kienitz comes to the net to return a shot at No. 1 singles. (Photos by Terry Raiche.)