I've got to say, I hate rain. And if you were a tennis fan this weekend, I'm sure you're with me. Rain played a big part in the festivities. Indoor tennis is tolerable, but not for 20 straight hours. There's nothing like seeing 200-plus people surrounding a court late on Day 2 of the finals.
Regardless, I spent my weekend up in Midland watching some great tennis. And I've got to start things off by saluting the performance Ann Arbor Huron put on for the crowd. They far exceeding everyone's predictions, probably even their own. I know they exceeded mine. I underestimated their "ability to finish." I believed they had the talent, and the draws, to put themselves in a position to be there in the end. But I felt Brother Rice and Novi had the top-end talent to pull away.
But instead, that's exactly what Huron did. The River Rats clinched the title with seven flight finals yet to be played. Six of their eight semifinalists scored wins, and three of them went on to win it all. I didn't see any winning flight championships. So congratulations to Huron, which, as I was told, will return a plethora of talent next year, starting at the top with No. 1 Jack Petersen. Consider them the favorite, starting now.
As for Novi and Rice, which I had picked to finish 1-2, they each had their troubles in head-to-head matchups with Huron. Rice was the first to fall, dropping semifinal matches to the River Rats at three flights. In two of those three, Huron went on to win titles. Novi directly controlled its own destiny as well, but dropped two semifinal matches to Huron and three more in the finals.
Again, Kudos to the River Rats. They definitely deserved to win their second-straight state title.

One of the big reasons I wanted to be in Midland on Friday-Saturday was the draw at No. 1 singles. I can't remember a more talented, or deep, top draw. By the end of the weekend, it included three different No. 1 singles state champs. Troy's Brett Forman won it all in 2010. Tyler Gardiner won it as a junior a year ago. And on Saturday, Utica Eisenhower's Ed Covalschi picked up a pair of impressive victories, beating Forman and Gardiner back-to-back to claim his title.
Fans packed the stands, and wall, to watch both matches, starting at 9 a.m. Gardiner beat Petersen in one semifinal on the first court, while Covalschi beat Forman in an exciting three-setter on the next court over. Forman beat Covalschi in the first set in what his coach said was his best match of the season. But Covalschi eventually wore out the Troy senior, who cramped up in the third set. I was excited to get a chance to see Covalschi play, and he lived up to the reputation that preceded him.
Some of the best tennis - aside from that semifinal match - at No. 1 singles took place on Day 1. While on my way up to Midland, I was notified that Rochester Adams sophomore Justin Hyman was up a set and had a 6-5 lead on No. 3 seed Tim Wang of Novi. Despite facing two match points, Wang rallied to win the match and secure two big points for his team. This was a match I thought could be trouble for the Wildcats.
Also on Friday, Stoney Creek's Nick Fiaschetti beat Catholic Central's Michael Dube' in three sets in a bit of an upset. Though anyone who's seen Fiaschetti play the past few weeks wasn't surprised. He's one of a few players in the draw that in most years would have been seeded - Hyman and Troy Athens Richard Zhang to name a couple others.

Congratulations to Oakland County's three flight champions on Saturday. Novi's Pavan Rao won at No. 4 singles, while Brother Rice's Nos. 3-4 doubles teams walked away as winners. Joey Hildebrand and Johnny Cameron knocked off Ann Arbor Huron at No. 3, while David Weatherford and Brendan Dillon went through their draw losing just seven games in four matches.

As a team, Huron made my predictions look a little silly. I didn't want to reveal my individual predictions before the draws because I didn't want to put any undue pressure on the kids. But I'll reveal them now. I hit some, and missed on some, thanks in large part to the success of the River Rats.

No. 1 singles
My prediction: Covalschi (UE) over Gardiner (NOR)
Actual: Covalschi (UE) over Gardiner (NOR)

No. 2 singles
My prediction: Connor Johnston (NOR) over Michael Trupiano (DCC)
Actual: Connor Johnston (NOR) over Jack Hamaty (BBR)

No. 3 singles
My Prediction: Koushik Kondapi (NOV) over Colin Williams (AAH)
Actual: Colin Williams (AAH) over Koushik Kondapi (NOV)

No. 4 singles
My Prediction: Pavan Rao (NOV) over Jon Seyhun (AAH)
Actual: Pavan Rao (NOV) over Jon Seyhun (AAH)

No. 1 doubles
My Prediction: Jason Carless-Andrew Ying (NOV) over Akihiro Ota-Aaron Brodkey (AAH)
Actual: Akihiro Ota-Aaron Brodkey (AAH) over Jason Carless-Andrew Ying (NOV)

No. 2 doubles
My Prediction: George Hamaty-Connor Parks (BBR) over Nishant Kakar-Michael Chang (NOV)
Actual: Max Teener-Ryan Stark (AAH) over Nishant Kakar-Michael Chang (NOV)

No. 3 doubles
My Prediction: Joey Hildebrand-Johnny Cameron (BBR) over George Lu-Michael Bondin (AAH)
Actual: Joey Hildebrand-Johnny Cameron (BBR) over George Lu-Michael Bondin (AAH)

No. 4 doubles
My Prediction: David Weatherford-Brendan Dillon (BBR) over Shashank Chitta-Kevin Xu (NOV)
Actual: David Weatherford-Brendan Dillon (BBR) over Austin Luker-Will Brenner (AAH)


I will try to blog about the Division 2 and 3 finals later today. Because I was on site in Midland, I was unable to communicate with my other coaches. Country Day did dominate in Division 3, while Birmingham Seaholm was one of five Oakland County teams to finish among the Top-12 in Division 2.

On my newest post, I predict all the qualifying teams for this week's tennis regionals in Oakland County. But I wanted to take a few minutes to give my thoughts an opinions here, in this blog post.
I cover both boys and girls tennis here at The Oakland Press, as well as high school hockey. As anyone knows, these sports are very prominent at our schools and some of the best teams year in and year out compete for state championships. And boys tennis is no exception. In my blog posting on June 12, I broke down the number of champions and runners-up in all Oakland County sports, and boys tennis was near the top.
The downside of that is that the competition to get to the state finals is fierce. Some of our better teams do not even get a chance to play for a state title. There are a couple instances this fall where that's the case. Here's a little more on each of our regionals:

• It's unfortunate that the Division 1 regional at Rochester is so stacked. Brother Rice is seeded No. 1 at seven of eight flights and will of course make it out. The question is, will the Warriors leave any points on the table for the rest of the field to snatch up? Rochester Adams should have enough to get through as the second automatic qualifier, but the fight for a possible third qualifier (18 or more team points) is a good one. On paper, Stoney Creek - led by senior Nick Fiaschetti - is seeded in the top two at two flights. If the Cougars can avoid any major upsets, they may just earn enough to get through. West Bloomfield might just be on the outside looking in, barring an upset or two on their own part.
• The Novi regional should be an interesting one. Novi - ranked No. 1 in the state, is a shoe-in to get through, as is No. 4 ranked Northville. Catholic Central - led by its No. 1 player, Michael Dube' and No. 2 Michael Trupiano - should score enough points to get through as well. But there's little room for error for the Shamrocks, which are going through a bit of a rebuilding season.
• Over at Grosse Pointe South, there should be enough points available for Troy, Grosse Pointe South and Troy Athens to all get through. Troy is the top seed at every flight. And Athens' singles and GPS's doubles should be strong enough to get them 20-plus points. The only thing here is which team will finish runner-up to the Colts. I think the Blue Devils will prevail by the narrowest of margins.
• In Division 2, Andover will be the favorite at the North Farmington regional. Lahser and North Farmington will battle it out for second. The Knights beat the Raiders 5-4 in the regular season, but the teams were 4-4 through four-doubles. The match was pretty balanced. The difference could be whether North Farmington can get some big points in singles (Griffin Mertz at No. 1 for example) as opposed to Lahser scoring bigger in doubles (Nos. 2-3 for example). I picked Lahser to narrowly edge out the Raiders. But both qualify.
• No drama at all at Groves on Thursday. Both Groves and Seaholm will dominate the field. But for those interested, Groves beat Seaholm 5-4 in the regular season. But the eight-flight score was 5-3 in favor of the Falcons. Groves has a distinct advantage in singles, while Seaholm is slightly better in doubles. All but one match during the teams' first match were won in straight sets. Brandon Hermann and Austin Lessnau needed three sets to beat Seaholm's Alex Cross and Will Geller. Expect it to be a dual in the final. And I'm predicting a 4-4 tie this time around.
• A really competitive regional will take place in Fenton, where a few Flint Metro League teams will battle it out, along with Flushing. Holly, which won its 20th-straight league title two weeks ago, shoudl get through, along with Flushing. From there it's a crap-shoot. Brandon, Fenton and Swartz Creek finished 2-3-4 at the league meet, separated by four points total. Fenton was 5-1 in league play (behind Holly). It'll all come down to matchups, really. I think Fenton and Brandon have enough talent to earn an at-large spot, but will there be enough points? Brandon has Spencer Navarre. His regional championship should give the Blackhawks a leg up at that flight, but they'll have to avoid any early (first or second round) upsets if they want to get through.
• And just like the D-2 regional at Groves, the D-3 regional at Cranbrook will be a two-team dual. Country Day beat Cranbrook 7-1 in the regular season and the No. 1-ranked Yellowjackets are a lock to get back to defend their state championship from a year ago. The only question will be whether or not Country Day's Max Shanbrom can avenge his earlier loss to Cranbrook's Nithin Davuluri at No. 4 singles. If he can, the Yellowjackets might be seeded No. 1 at every flight at states.

SIDE NOTES

• In case you missed it, Ann Arbor Huron beat Brother Rice 5-3 Tuesday. The Warriors had just jumped ahead of Huron in the state rankings this week. The Hurons won three of the singles matchups, which surprised me a bit. They lost all but four players from last year's state championship team, but must be peaking at the right time. The two teams split in doubles, with Huron getting wins a 1-2 and Brother Rice at 3-4.
• In a match that I've been anticipating all year long, Troy's Brett Forman beat Country Day's Max Fliegner 6-3, 6-4. Troy coach Brian Miska said "This is the Brett Forman I've been waiting to see all year long." Forman and Fliegner were 1-2 in my preseason rankings.
• Country Day capped off a perfect regular season this past weekend with an impressive showing at the Midland Dow Quad. The Yellowjackets beat the host Chargers 6-2, Ann Arbor Huron 5-3 and Port Huron 8-0. And they did it without No. 2 Sven Kranz and half of No. 3 doubles, Blake Burstein. Coach Josh Molino's team has now beaten Nos. 1-2-3-5 in Division 1; No. 1 in Division 2; No. 2-3-4 in Division 3; and No. 1-2 in Division 1. That's pretty much everyone. No doubt who the best team in the state is.