Ann Arbor Greenhills players and coaches pose with their Catholic High School League championship trophy on Saturday.

   Defending Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 champion Ann Arbor Greenhills dominated an elite field to win its first Catholic High School League championship Saturday, Oct. 5, at Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart and Bloomfield Hills Marian.

   Division 3 No. 1-ranked Greenhills earned 60 points, winning seven of eight flights. Division 3 No. 2 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood was second with 40 points. Division 1 No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice was third with 36 points. Division 2 No. 3 University of Detroit Jesuit finished fourth with 35 points. Detroit Catholic Central was fifth with 29 points.

   Greenhills swept singles play with sophomore Mert Oral (No. 1), senior Kaan Oral (No. 2), freshman Rishi Verma (No. 3), and freshman Chakor Rajendra (No. 4) earning championships.

   Greenhills won three of four doubles flights with the teams of senior Sahil Deenadayalu and senior Henry Branch (No. 1), junior Joey Formicola and freshman Daniel Stojanov (No. 2), and senior Alex Schwendeman and junior Thomas Zeng (No. 4) earning titles. The No. 3 team of senior Nathan Rosenberg and junior Finn Feldeisen fell in the quarterfinals.

   Kaan Oral was state champion at No. 2 singles the past two years. His brother, Mert, won the state championship at No. 3 singles last year.

  Rosenberg and Feldeisen are defending state champions at No. 3 doubles. Schwendeman was state champion last year at No. 4 doubles

 

with Harrison Li, who graduated.

   Greenhills finished second in last year’s CHSL championship to Brother Rice.

   The Gryphons are undefeated in dual meets this season with convincing wins over CHSL rivals Cranbrook (7-1), University of Detroit Jesuit (7-1), Detroit Catholic Central (8-0), Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (7-1), and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (7-1).

   Greenhills concludes its dual meet season on Monday, Oct. 7, against Division 1 No. 1 Ann Arbor Huron. Greenhills beat Huron 8-0 on Aug. 19.

   The Gryphons are also ranked at No. 1 in the latest Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association Top 10 rankings regardless of division.

   Greenhills has won 10 of the past 13 Division 4 championships and was runner-up the three years they didn’t win. Greenhills has won 12 state championships in total under longtime head coach Eric Gajar.

   The Gryphons moved up to ultra-competitive Division 3 this season and will battle with No. 3-ranked Detroit Country Day and four-time defending D3 champion Cranbrook for the championship. Either Country Day or Cranbrook have won every Division 3 championship since the fall 2007 season.

   Greenhills will battle Country Day in the MHSAA Region 20 tournament at Greenhills on Thursday, Oct. 10. Both are expected to advance to the Division 3 finals on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 18-19 at Kalamazoo College.

 

Photos: StudentandAthlete

Ann Arbor Greenhills freshman Chakor Rajendra (No. 4 singles) returns a ball at the CHSL championship on Saturday.

Ann Arbor Greenhills junior Thomas Zeng (No. 4 doubles) returns a ball at the CHSL championship on Saturday.

Ann Arbor Greenhills senior Alex Schendeman (No. 4 doubles) returns a ball at the CHSL championship on Saturday.

Ann Arbor Greenhills sophomore Mert Oral (No. 1 singles) returns a ball at the CHSL championship on Saturday.

Ann Arbor Greenhills senior Kaan Oral (No. 2 singles) returns a ball at the CHSL championship on Saturday.

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