All three Ann Arbor teams placed in the top 10 this weekend at the MHSAA Division 1 Boys’ Tennis State Finals at the Byron Center and Grand Rapids South Christian on Friday and Saturday.
Bloomfield Hills finished first with 35 points, followed by Troy with 27, Northville with 20 and Brother Rice with 13. Skyline finished with 12 points and finished in a tie for fifth place with Rochester Hills Stoney Creek. Huron finished in a tie for seventh with 10 points while Pioneer placed 10th with nine points.
In No. 1 singles, both Skyline’s Connor Wilcox and Pioneer’s Braylen Kaiser reached the quarterfinals. Wilcox, who drew an opening-round bye, defeated Northville 6-3, 6-4 before falling 6-0, 6-0 to eventual state champion Pierce Shaya of Bloomfield Hills. Kaiser, only a sophomore, also drew a first-round bye before knocking off Rockford 6-4, 6-1. He lost in the next round to Stoney Creek 6-3, 6-4. Huron’s Warren Gunnar won his opening match 6-2, 6-3 over Holland West Ottawa before falling 6-1, 6-0 to Shaya.
In No. 2 singles, Skyline’s Justin Woo and Pioneer’s Aarith Veerabhadran both reached the quarterfinals. Woo, a sophomore who drew a first-round bye, defeated Rockford 6-1, 6-4 before falling to Stoney Creek 6-2, 6-0. Veerabhadran, who also had a bye, defeated West Ottawa 6-3, 6-2 before falling to eventual state champion Connor Shaya of Bloomfield Hills 6-0, 6-1. Huron’s Nihar Gundala lost 6-4, 7-6 (5) to Northville in the second round.
In No. 3 singles, Huron junior Aarav Dalal reached the championship match, falling 6-3, 6-1 to Bloomfield Hills. Dalal defeated Troy 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in an exciting semifinal match to reach the finals. He also beat Pioneer senior David Loh 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and Rochester 6-0, 6-1. Loh beat Novi 6-1, 6-2 in his first match. Skyline’s Josh Lee also had a strong showing. The sophomore opened with a 4-6, 6-1, 10-2 win over Brother Rice before falling 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 to Okemos in the quarterfinals.
In No. 4 singles, Huron’s Sean Miao defeated Rockford 6-2, 6-0 and Rochester Adams 6-0, 6-3 in a quarterfinal match. The junior lost 6-3, 7-5 in a semifinal match to Bloomfield Hills. Pioneer junior Wesley Roberts defeated Rochester 6-0, 6-2 in a first-round match before falling to Troy 6-2, 6-0 in round two. Skyline’s Tanner Schultz fell 6-1, 6-2 to Holland West Ottawa in the second round.
Skyline’s Nehith Kumar/Daniel Zhou, Huron’s Trevor Nelson/Albert Hu and Pioneer’s Dylan Li/Aayush Veerabhadran all fell in the second round at one doubles.
In two doubles, Skyline’s duo of Hudson Sung/Marco Rogers defeated Rochester Adams 6-1, 6-2 and then knocked off Troy Athens 6-0, 7-5 in the second round. They then defeated Rockford 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semifinals where they fell 6-1, 6-1 to eventual state champion Northville. Huron’s duo of Luke Mathew/Audrey Gunnar defeated Catholic Central 6-2, 7-6 (3) before dropping a quarterfinal match to Bloomfield Hills 6-2, 7-5. Pioneer’s Brian Zhu/Kabir Jha defeated Hudsonville 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round before falling 6-1, 6-3 to Troy.
In three doubles, Skyline’s team of Brian Wolfe/Mihir Anand defeated Stoney Creek 6-4, 3-6, 10-3 in round two before falling 6-0, 6-1 to eventual state champ Bloomfield Hills in the quarterfinals. Huron’s team of Daniel Jacob/John Wasco fell to CC 6-4, 7-5 in round two and Pioneer’s team of Zach Yadmark/Joseph Hwang lost 6-1, 5-7, 10-7 to West Ottawa in the first round.
In four doubles, Skyline’s team of Aditya Sharma and Wes Lovelace won a first-round match 6-3, 6-2 over Clarkston before falling 6-2, 6-2 in round two to Northville. Pioneer’s team of Liam Blackwell/Mathew Chen opened with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 win over CC in the first round before falling 6-0, 6-1 to eventual state champ Troy in the second round. Huron’s team of Siddarth Sangi/Victor Tarca lost 6-2, 6-0 to Bloomfield Hills in the second round.
