I know my tennis followers haven't heard from me in awhile. The holidays, football and our newest social media venture - TOUT - has consumed me these past two weeks. That doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention. There have been some good matches, some good tournaments.
Unfortunately the weather got the best of some big tournaments this past weekend. Both the Holly Invite and Novi Quad were shortened due to rain. Still, the tournaments were played and nearly finished.

• At Novi, the hosts didn't lose all to often, scoring 16 points to win their own quad. Tim Wang, Andre Liu, Koushik Kondapi and Maxx Anderson won all nine matches they played, with Anderson - who played in one of two flights to actually finish play - finishing 3-0. Those four did not drop a set all day (18-0). In doubles, the Wildcats finished 7-2, finishing unbeaten at 1-doubles. Michael Chang and Andrew Ying beat Cranbrook's Taylor Ghesquiere and Stephane Teste in three, tough sets, in a matchup of two of my Top-5 doubles teams heading into the season. Cranbrook showed off its depth, finishing first at 2-3-4 doubles. Chase Ghesquiere-Nolan Trepeck and Wyatt Kayne-Joseph Cavatao were 2-0 at 2-3 doubles, while Steven Meng and Alex Hubers were 2-1 at 4-doubles, winning the flight by a tiebreaker. Novi finished with 16 points, followed by Cranbrook (10), West Bloomfield (6) and Grosse Pointe South (4). West Bloomfield's Kevin Rothstein was 2-0 at 1-singles, while teammate Max Sandberg was 2-1 at 4-singles.
• Up in Holly, rain got the best of the field which included Ann Arbor Greenhills, Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, East Lansing, Holly, North Farmington, Rochester Adams and Stoney Creek. Most flights got through two rounds before play was called off. Rochester Adams' Justin Hyman won both his matches at 1-singles - including a 6-2, 6-3 win over Bloomfield Hills' Josh Mukherjee - to reach the finals. On the other half of the draw, North Farmington's Griffin Mertz dropped just six games to reach the final, which was not played. Clarkston's Matt Dahl and Rochester Adams' Oliver Li were also both 2-0 at 2-singles before the rain hit. Clarkston's Ian Stuart was 2-0 at 3-singles, as were Bloomfield Hills' Connor Long and Clarkston's Alexis Haselwanter at 4-singles. Clarkston's Brendan Greenlee and Mitch Rogowski and Bloomfield Hills' Cameron Peres and Ben Weisberg were both 2-0 at 2-doubles, Bloomfield Hills' Rohan Sinha and Luke Ross and Rochester Adams' Rishi Mehta and Austin Trieu were 2-0 at 3-doubles, and Bloomfield Hills' Steven Teitelbaum and Alex Donnelly and Holly's Aaron Vergith and Morgan Baylis were both 2-0 at 4-doubles. Fifth doubles actually finished, as Bloomfield Hills capped off a nice day in doubles with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Ann Arbor Greenhills in the final.

Beating the heat

Groves' Blake Small and Athens'
Naren Nathan shake hands after
Small's win at 3-singles.

Groves' Bobby VanFaussien and
Dylan Lange prepare for a
return of serve Tuesday.

I was a bit surprised at just how many matches were played Tuesday afternoon. It was blazing hot out there. Not that I don't think the guys can't handle it. Rather I'm surprised the schools allowed the matches to be played at all. Several sporting events and practices were canceled because of the 95-degree temperature.
Clarkston continued its impressive play - including in the OAA White - with a 7-2 win over Lake Orion. The Wolves were nearly flawless in singles. Over in the Blue, Royal Oak beat Farmington Hills Harrison, 5-3, with the Ravens taking three of the four singles matches to get the victory. Mac Lewis beat Dylan Collins in a nail-biter (three sets) at No. 1 singles. Avondale shut out Southfield, 8-0. Most of the flights were lopsided, but at 1-singles, Avondale's Ben Beckas and Southfield's Keil Pearson were in a tight match (first-set tiebreaker) when Pearson retired. Should be an interesting OAA Blue Tournament, to say the least.
Finally, in the OAA Red, Seaholm beat up on North Farmington, 7-1. Seaholm did not drop a set - save for No. 1 singles, where the Raiders' Griffin Mertz beat Ben McDermott, 6-3, 6-3. Also in the Red, Birmingham Groves knocked off Troy Athens, 5-3. The Red Hawks picked up wins at 1-2-4 singles, but the Falcons proved to be the deeper team, sweeping doubles. Bobby VanFaussien and Dylan Lange edged out Aditya Yelemanchi and Dhanush Gummalla in three sets to set the tone at 1-doubles.