TCSF top 3 in tennis finals after partial 2nd round
Oct. 16—ANN ARBOR — Long rain delays led to a day largely full of watching for Traverse City St. Francis.
The Gladiators, who had every flight seeded in the top six — including six No. 1s — earned first-round byes in every flight by virtue of the seeding. That led to waiting around much of the day in Ann Arbor as matches were moved inside, which backed things up quite a bit.
The tournament's doubles matches were scheduled to be played at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, but all those moved indoors to the University of Michigan, where the singles matches were already slated.
The Gladiators technically sit in third place with eight points, but TCSF only played four matches, doubling up on points each time by winning a second-round match after a first-round bye. Allegan leads with 10, and Grand Rapids South Christian has nine. Grosse Pointe Liggett also produced eight points, with Berrien Springs and Milan each at seven.
Grant Hedley won a match at No. 1 singles, topping Williamston's Joe Mirate 7-5, 6-2. He takes on No. 3 seed Alberto Gonzelez Perez of Grand Rapids South Christian in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Tristan Bonanni won 6-0, 6-0 over Marine City's Tyler Simpson to set up a No. 2 singles quarterfinal with Marco Kilgus of Milan.
Cody Richards and Ben Schmude took a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles against Lansing Catholic. They face off with South Christian's Kevin Hur and Dan Hager in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Jack Britten and Anthony Spranger won 6-2, 6-2 over Berrien Springs' Erik Belin and Erik Blake, drawing South Christian in the quarterfinals.
Play resumes at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. St. Francis' four flights that didn't play Friday are all No. 1 seeds.
DIVISION 2 at HOLLAND
Traverse City Central sits in 14th place after the first day of the Division 2 final at Hope College. The Trojans have three points and one flight remaining Saturday.
Drew Humphrey and Ryan O'Connor followed up a first-round bye at No. 1 doubles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Wyandotte Roosevelt's Alex Moon and Cole Beaubion. The sixth-seeded TC Central duo improved to 21-5 and takes on third-seeded Blake Discher/Alex Prather of Grosse Pointe South in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Luke Appleford knocked off Wyandotte Roosevelt's Jack Vaduva 6-1, 6-0 before a loss to No. 1 seed Michael Liss of Birmingham Groves at No. 3 singles.
Groves leads the team race with 19 points, followed by Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (17), Detroit Jesuit (17) and Midland and Birmingham Seahold at 15.
DIVISION 3 at MIDLAND
Ann Arbor Greenhills turned out to be Petoskey's Achilles heel in the Division 3 finals at the Midland Tennis Center, knocking out the team's players in five flights Friday.
Petoskey's Evan Rindfusz beat Mason's Colin Koot 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round at No. 1 singles before falling to top seeded Mert Oral of Ann Arbor Greenhills.
JP Broz beat Patrick Mason of St. Clair 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the No. 3 singles opening round, falling to top seed Chakor Rajendra of Greenhills the next round.
Elijah Rindfusz downed Collin Moore of Mason 6-2, 6-1 to start the day at No. 4 singles, then dropped a 6-2, 6-0 decision to No. 1 seed Kabir Rajendra of Greenhills.
Petoskey is tied for 14th with three points after the first day and didn't have any players move on to Saturday's matches. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood leads Detroit Country Day by a single point, 23 to 22, atop the team standings. Greenhills is in third with 18.
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