OAA TENNIS LEAGUE MEET PREVIEW: Troy netters still aiming for OAA crown

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

TROY — Not too many teams can lose the state’s top singles player to injury and still be a team that can contend for a championship.

Troy has been able to weather such a storm and enters Tuesday’s OAA Red Division league meet as the top-seeded team.

The Colts, who finished 6-1 in league play, are alone in first place in the eight-school division. Bloomfield Hills Andover, North Farmington and Rochester Adams are all tied for second, while West Bloomfield, Birmingham Groves, Rochester Stoney Creek and Birmingham Seaholm follow suit in the standings in one of the state’s premier tennis conferences.

Six of the eight teams in the division are ranked. Andover is the only team to defeat Troy this season, upending the Colts 5-4 two weeks ago.

“It’s always a great league,” said Eric Sturgis, Troy’s head coach. “Every year we always have a bunch of teams ranked.”

Currently in Division 1, Troy is ranked eighth, West Bloomfield ninth and Rochester Adams in 10^th. Over in D-2, North Farmington enters the week fourth and Groves is 10^th. Additionally in D-3, Andover is ranked third.

The only schools in the division that are not ranked are Seaholm and Stoney Creek, but neither team is a pushover.

Troy lost junior Brett Forman, the state’s defending No. 1 singles state champion, in early August due to a fractured bone in his back. The doctors have told Foreman to rest for up to six months, meaning the Colts have had to forge on without its top player.

“With him, I think we could contend for state,” admitted Sturgis. “Without him, I still think we can win the league and even compete well in our regional. I think we might have a shot at top five in the state if everything goes well and definitely top 10. We don’t have a ton of seniors on this team and we have a very good eighth grade class coming up with some kids that will probably make varsity as freshmen.”

Even with that loss, Troy has remained formidable and has bounced around the state’s top 10 with several quality wins and high tournament finishes this season. The Colts enter the championship season with high hopes.

Senior Noah Rice (No. 1), senior Sanjay Devinreddy (No. 2), junior Saumil Shah (No. 3), and sophomore Vinai Reddy (No. 4) have comprised to make a solid singles lineup for the Colts. Senior Matt Kuntzman and Kento Mizusaki have posted a winning record at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles unit Mike Kuntzman, a senior, and junior James Heichel have also been tough to beat for the Colts.

In all, there are nine seniors on Troy’s roster.

“It will be interesting because we’ve had to move some players around due to Forman’s loss, but we have played really well this season and proved that we could be a top-10n team without him,” said Sturgis.”Sure, it hurts not having him, but injuries are a part of sports. I would rather have a healthy Brett (Foreman) as a senior than not at all.”

OAA WHITE DIVISION

RETURN TO SENDER: Troy Athens sophomore No. 1 singles player Richard Zhang and the Red Hawks enter Tuesday's OAA White Division Tournament at the Rochester Community Schools in second place behind Bloomfield Hills Lahser. File Photo | Dan Stickradt

Bloomfield Hills Lahser finished 6-0 in league play this season and hopes to contend for the tournament title after finishing second last season. Defending champion Stoney Creek bumped up to the OAA Red Division this season.

“The Birmingham-Bloomfield schools are always tough. It’s no surprise that Lahser is favored,” offered Rochester coach Jerry Murphy, also the OAA-White tournament manager.

Troy Athens finished second at 5-1, followed by Rochester (4-2), Clarkston (3-3), Lake Orion (2-4), Auburn Hills Avondale (1-5) and Farmington (0-6) in the dual standings.

“The whole league is very even. That’s the way the league was created and it’s always worked with tennis,” continued Murphy. “I don’t think that’s always the vase with other sports. But the top team gets moved up and the bottom team gets moved down. Each division the teams are always really competitive.

“You look at (the Red Division) and most of those teams are ranked. In our division the White (division), Lahser beat everyone, but they beat us 6-3 and beat Athens 5-4,” added Murphy. “Athens beat us 5-4 and Clarkston and Lake Orion are right behind us. We only beat Lake Orion 5-4. There’s a lot of (parity) in our league, which should make for some interesting matches.”

This season the league added a fifth doubles flight to break all ties within the division.

OAA BLUE DIVISION

Farmington Harrison is the host and the top seed in the division. Berkley, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Southfield, Southfield Lathrup, Hazel Park.

Play begins at 8:30 a.m.at the three Farmington schools, which includes Harrison, Farmington High and North Farmington.

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STATE RANKINGS

Boys Tennis

(By the coaches association)

Division 1 — 1. Novi Detroit Catholic Central; 2. Birmingham Brother Rice; 3. Ann Arbor Huron; 4. Port Huron Northern; 5. Novi; 6. Ann Arbor Pioneer; 7. Saline; 8. Troy; 9. West Bloomfield; 10. (tie) Rochester Adams, Northville.

Division 2 — 1. Midland Dow; 2. Battle Creek Lakeview; 3. Grand Rapids Forest hills Central; 4. North Farmington; 5. Okemos; 6. Portage Central; 7. Traverse City Central; 8. Detroit U-D Jesuit; 9. East Lansing; 10. Birmingham Groves.

Division 3 — 1. St. Joseph; 2. Grand Rapids Christian; 3. Bloomfield Hills Andover; 4. (tie) Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; 6. Birmingham Detroit Country Day; 7. East Grand Rapids; 8. Petoskey; 9. Parma Western; 10. Spring Lake.

Division 4 — 1. Lansing Catholic Central; 2. Ann Arbor Greenhills; 3. Grosse Pointe University Liggett; 4. Portland; 5. Grosse Ile; 6. Kalamazoo Christian; 7. Almont; 8. Armada; 9. (tie) Traverse City St. Francis, Jackson Lumen Christi, Ludington.

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Category: Auburn Hills Avondale, Clarkston, High School, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek, Troy, Troy Athens