The Berkley High School tennis team

Good News Bears

Steve Stein

Contributing Writer

T

he Berkley High School boys
tennis team was a nondescript
squad for most of the season

this fall.
After winning four straight Oakland
Activities Association Blue Division
championships, the Bears were moved
up to the tougher White Division, and
they struggled.
They finished 2-4 in division dual
matches, and they tied for fourth place
in the division tournament. They did
win all five of their non-league duals.
While that was going on, they were
building confidence and belief in them-
selves that they could do good things
because they were holding their own in
the White Division.
As it turned out, the
Bears did great things,
and Coach Lenny
Waldman was named a
Regional Coach of the
Year by fellow coaches.
Berkley qualified
for the Michigan
Lenny
High School Athletic
Waldman
Association Division
2 state tournament by
scoring 10 points — the exact number
it needed — at the regional tourney.
Then it happened. The Bears stunned
the prep tennis world by finishing 10th
of 22 teams at the state tournament,
held indoors (because of bad weather)
Oct. 19 and 20 at Genesys Athletic Club
in Grand Blanc.
Midland Dow (35 points), Grand
Rapids Forest Hills Central (23),
Portage Central (22), Grand Rapids
Forest Hills Northern (18), Birmingham
Seaholth (15), Okemos (14), University
of Detroit Jesuit (13), Bloomfield Hills
Andover (9) and Battle Creek Lakeview
(9) placed ahead of Berkley (8).
The Bears finished in front of tradi-
tional area powers North Farmington
(7), Birmingham Groves (6) and
Bloomfield Hills Lahser (3), who were
11th, 12th and 17th, respectively.
Berkley's improbable performance at
the state tournament was its best show-
ing there since the Bears were sixth in
1984. They also went in 1999.
No. 4 singles player Sam Subia led

the way for Berkley in Grand Blanc by
making it to the semifinals even though
he wasn't seeded. Subia played three
grueling three-set matches, and he won
two of them.
After a first-round bye, Subia upset
No. 6 seed Gilbert Chen of Andover 7-6
(5), 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the second round
and No. 3 seed Freddy Heegan of U-D
Jesuit 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
No. 2 seed and eventual runner-up
Justin Minzlaff of Forest Hills Northern
beat Subia in the semifinals 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.
"Nobody expected us to do well at the
state tournament:' Waldman said. "We
were a real Cinderella story. I told the
kids before the tournament that even if
we didn't score any points, I'd be the hap-
piest coach there because we made it."
The coaching honor caught Waldman
off-guard.
"I prefer to talk about my players
instead of myself, but I must say I was
honored to be named Coach of the Year
by my colleagues:' said Waldman, 45,
a 1985 Berkley High grad who is in his
17th year as a social studies teacher
there.
He played tennis for one year while
he was a student at Berkley. His main
sport in high school was track.
"I really enjoyed my time as a Berkley
student, so what our tennis team
accomplished this year is extra special
to me:' Waldman said.
The Farmington Hills resident has
coached the Berkley boys tennis team
for five years and the Berkley girls ten-
nis team for nine years. The girls team
went to the state tournament in 2008.
Berkley's singles lineup this fall
had Noah Kretchmer at No. 1, Ian
Kobernick at No. 2, Adam Edery at
No. 3 and Subia at No. 4. Noah's father,
Geoff Kretchmer, was a member of the
1984 Berkley boys tennis team.
"Like father, like son:' Waldman
said.
The Bears' doubles lineup had Jim
Demery and Jason Sachse at No. 1,
Eli Falk and Connor Rittman at No.
2, Jacob Behrmann and Gian Bonello
at No. 3 and Jacob Rothman and Alex
Stone at No. 4. Jake Gross and Graham
Wise played No. 5 doubles in White
Division matches. [i]

a
■

81111i011

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November 1 • 2012

77