Troy Varsity Boys Tennis Team Ready For State Finals

There was a time when the varsity boys tennis team would be happy just to make it to the state finals. That isn’t the case anymore.

When the Colts head to Midland for the Division 1 tournament on Friday, they will be making their ninth straight appearance at the finals and looking for their fifth top five finish as a team in six years.

“I want a top five finish every year, and you know what? We may never win a state championship as a team or we may win 10 of them, but I want these kids to go out there and be competitive,” Troy head coach Jim Sturgis said. 

Back-to-back top 10 finishes in 2004 and 2005 were the first in three decades. Sturgis was named coach of the varsity team in 2006 and he has pushed the kids even harder.

His focus was getting his players to play tennis year round. Sturgis played at Ann Arbor Huron, a perennial title contender, and knew from personal experience how important it was to constantly work at getting better. 

“You have to play year round,” Sturgis said. “You can’t show up on August 10 and wonder why you’re not winning.”

Troy hasn’t won a team championship, but it does have four individual championships since 2006 including Brett Foreman’s No. 1 singles win last year. 

Foreman was only a sophomore at the finals in 2010 and Sturgis thought the Colts would open the season as a legitimate title contender. Before playing a single match, Foreman’s chances at leading the team to a state championship were dashed with a season-ending injury. 

Troy lost another key player just a month later when James Heichel, who played No. 2 doubles, went down with a back injury that ended his year.

Sturgis had to shift senior Noah Rice into the No. 1 singles slot and tweak his double pairings, but the injuries couldn’t derail the Colts run to the state finals. Or from winning the Oakland Activities Association Red division.

“I thought we would legitimately be competing for a state title (before the injuries),” Sturgis said. “Now, I think we’ll finish five or six, and that’s a great finish considering the injuries we’ve dealt with. I give the boys 1000 percent credit for stepping up.”

At the Division 1 regional last week, Troy finished in second place behind Brother Rice to qualify.

The Colts reached the finals in all four doubles flights and two of the singles flights. Senior Sanjay Devireddy was runner-up in No. 2 singles and sophomore Vinai Reddy was runner-up in No. 4 singles.

Doubles has been Troy’s strength all season and regionals were no different. Matt Kuntzman and Kento Mizusaki won No. 1 singles and Shallin Shah and Pramod Mulabagula won No. 4 doubles.

“Brother Rice had beaten us when we saw them at a tournament 7-1 and then beat us at another tournament 7-1,” Sturgis said. “This time it was 6-2 so we won another match and kept improving. Brother Rice is a very good team, so is Grosse Pointe South and Athens. It was tough.”