Cranbrook Kingswood and Detroit Country Day will fill every flight at the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Division 3 boys tennis state finals, which begin Friday, Oct. 16, at the Midland Tennis Center.
The Cranes enter as defending D3 team champions. Cranbrook edged Country Day 34-33 for the 2025 title, according to the MHSAA, and the two programs — Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills and Country Day in Beverly Hills — figure to battle again through Saturday's final rounds.
Both schools qualified entries in all four singles flights and all four doubles flights, according to MLive's state finals player listing.
Jeong leads Country Day's singles lineup
Country Day's Ricky Jeong headlines the No. 1 singles draw. Jeong won the D3 No. 1 singles championship as a sophomore in 2025 after claiming the No. 3 singles title as a freshman in 2024, according to the MHSAA. He beat Cranbrook's Jace Bernard 6-1, 6-3 in the 2025 final.
Samuel Kole-James, who won the No. 2 singles title as a freshman in 2025, returns in that flight for the Yellowjackets. Victor Marin plays No. 3 singles and Nicholas Nadjarian plays No. 4.
Cranbrook counters with Jacob Yang at No. 1 singles, Trevor Ilitch at No. 2, Eli Rosen at No. 3 and Henry DeMuth at No. 4.
Doubles flights stacked with returning talent
Cranbrook's Josh Day, who won the No. 4 singles championship as a junior in 2025, moves to No. 1 doubles this season alongside Ryan VanDyke. Dylan Popat and Andy Yu, the 2025 No. 4 doubles champions, return together at No. 2 doubles. Liam Black and Luke Stevenson play No. 3, and Stanley Shen and Jaiden Swami round out the Cranes' lineup at No. 4.
Country Day's doubles entries are Shiv Kumar and Adam Mahmoud at No. 1, Preston Blum and Emmanuel Kole-James at No. 2, Henry Diemer and Rithik Vakhariya at No. 3, and Sasha Kebl and Sebastian Shah at No. 4. Kumar won the 2025 No. 2 doubles title alongside a different partner, according to the MHSAA.
A rivalry measured in decades
Cranbrook, Country Day and Ann Arbor Greenhills have combined to win every D3 team championship since 2008, according to MHSAA records. Cranbrook coach Steve Herdoiza has led the Cranes to titles in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2025.
Country Day finished as runner-up in 2025 and shared the 2024 title with Greenhills.
The D3 finals run Friday and Saturday at the Midland Tennis Center, with championship matches scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17.
