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Sports

North Farmington Tennis Earns Berth In State Finals

The Raider tennis squad takes second place at regionals on its home courts.

The Raiders’ boys’ varsity tennis team advanced to the MHSAA Division 2 State Finals by virtue of a second-place finish at regionals on Thursday.

Host for the event, North Farmington earned 24 points, a single point behind Bloomfield Hills Andover and a point ahead of Bloomfield Hills Lahser.

“I thought (the team) did amazing today,” Raider head coach Whitney Wasielewski said. “The players worked hard and really played their best. They’re peaking at the right time, and I’m really proud of them.”

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The Raiders captured two flight championships with freshman Griffin Mertz winning the No. 3 singles bracket, and the team of junior Andrew Murtland and sophomore Rob Chapekis taking home the crown in the No. 4 doubles flight.

Mertz’s win in the finals came over Bloomfield Hills Andover junior Brandon Alexander, 6-3, 6-0. Thursday marked the third match of the season between the two, with Alexander winning both of the earlier matches.

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Mertz said that he was a bit surprised that he was finally able to get the best of Alexander, and that the success he saw the rest of his team having on the day helped him play to his potential.

“Since I knew we had already made it to states, I had nothing to lose,” Mertz said. “I just came out here and did the best that I could.”

North Farmington has a week to prepare for the state finals in Kalamazoo, Oct. 14-15. The Raiders will be looking to improve on last season’s tie for ninth place at states.

“We need to keep working hard and keep improving our footwork, speed and consistency,” Wasielewski said. “Our doubles players need to keep working on getting to net and being aggressive.”

The squads from and also participated in the regional with both teams failing to advance. The Falcons finished in a tie for seventh with 2 points while the Hawks ended up in ninth place with 1 point.

MHSAA Regional No. 11-2 Team Results

1.    Bloomfield Hills Andover, 25 points *

2.    North Farmington, 24 points *

3.    Bloomfield Hills Lahser, 23 points *

4.    Auburn Hills Avondale, 7 points

5.    Dexter, 6 points

       Pinckney, 6 points

7.    Farmington, 2 points

       Ypsilanti, 2 points

9.    Harrison, 1 point

* - Advanced to MHSAA Division 2 State Finals

Flight Champions

Singles

1.    Max Hemmrich, Sr., Bloomfield Hills Lahser

2.    Sanjay Reddy, Jr., Bloomfield Hills Andover

3.    Griffin Mertz, Fr., North Farmington

4.    Jonah Yousif, Sr., Bloomfield Hills Andover

Doubles

1.    David Gwizdala, Jr./Michael Daniels, Jr., Bloomfield Hills Lahser

2.    A.J. Smith, Jr./Matt Meechan, So., Bloomfield Hills Lahser

3.    Dylan Deitch, Jr./Cuthbert Sun, Jr., Bloomfield Hills Andover

4.    Andrew Murtland, Jr./Rob Chapekis, So., North Farmington

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