28 | NOVEMBER 7 • 2019
T
hirteen isn’
t necessarily an
unlucky number.
The Frankel Jewish Academy
boys tennis team qualified for the
Division 4 state tournament for the
fourth time in five years this fall and
finished in a tie for 13th place at Hope
College’
s Etheridge Tennis Complex in
Holland.
Eli Grey, who played No. 3 singles for
the Jaguars, won all three of his matches
Oct. 18 at the Vande Poel-Heeringa
Stadium Courts and advanced to the
flight semifinals Saturday, Oct. 19.
Both flight semifinal matches and the
championship match were moved to
the night of Oct. 19 inside the DeWitt
Tennis Center so Grey could compete
after Shabbat.
While Grey was facing No. 1 seed
Cody Richards from Traverse City St.
Francis in one semifinal match, the
team state championship was on the line
on the next court in the other semifinal
match between players from Ann
Arbor Gabriel Richard and Kalamazoo
Hackett.
Richards beat Grey 6-2, 6-0 and went
on to win the flight championship with
a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Rafid
Farjo from Gabriel Richard.
“I didn’
t play too well in my match
(against Richards), but it was a great
experience that night,” Grey said.
It was a great experience because even
though most of the FJA contingent had
returned home, a large crowd of players,
coaches and fans from the other teams
involved stuck around to watch the
matches.
Grey was not seeded in his flight.
The senior beat a seeded player and a
competitor who had defeated a seeded
player to get to the semifinals.
Grey finished the season with a 14-6
record, the best of any FJA singles player
or doubles duo.
A team effort involving FJA Athletic
Director Rick Dorn, the Michigan High
School Athletic Association and the
tournament director at Hope College
created the accommodations for the
Saturday night matches.
“I started talking with the MHSAA
the week of the regionals to see options
we had if any of our players made it to
the state semifinals,” Dorn said.
The MHSAA contact was Dan
Hutcheson, assistant director in charge
of tennis.
After Grey got to the semifinals,
“because of travel times, it didn’
t make
sense to send everyone home and bring
everyone back to finish the No. 3 singles
competition,” Dorn said.
So, Dorn said, the decision was made
to play the flight semifinals at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19, then the championship match.
Grey found out about the plan around
10 minutes after his third match Oct. 18.
“Coach (Larry) Stark told me we’
re
going to be staying another night,” Grey
said.
This was Grey’
s third trip to the state
tournament. He played No. 3 doubles as
FJA Boys Tennis
Team States Its
Case … Again
Jaguars’
Eli Grey plays a rare
Saturday night semifi
nal match
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LEFT: Frankel Jewish Academy tennis player Eli Grey gets ready to serve during a match this season. RIGHT: Frankel Jewish Academy boys tennis players and coaches
watch FJA’
s Rafi Weinstein play in a No. 4 singles match at the Division 4 state tournament.
HANNAH CHARLIP
Jews in the D