St. Clair, Armada crack top 10 at boys tennis State Finals
Updated: Dec 6, 2022
The boys tennis season has come to a close, but not without exciting finishes from a pair of local teams as St. Clair and Armada each scored 11 points to finish eighth at their respective State Finals tournaments.
Division 3 State Finals – Mason, Mich.
Ian Pinnoo, a senior from St. Clair, highlighted this weekend’s performances with a runner-up finish at the No. 2 singles flight. He had a bye in the first round and won easily through the second and third rounds, 6-0, 6-1, and 6-1, 6-0, respectively.
To advance to the championship, Pinnoo battled in a three-set semifinal, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 before eventually falling to Rishi Verma of Anna Arbor Greenhills 6-3, 6-1.
St. Clair had four other seniors making their fourth State Finals appearance along with Pinnoo: Michael Mascarin at No. 1 singles, Hadley Schwarz at No. 3 singles, and Patrick Mason and Joey Fajardo at No. 1 doubles.
After a first-round bye, Mascarin won 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-1 in the second and third rounds to qualify for the semifinal, in which he lost 6-3, 6-4 to the eventual state champion.
Schwarz entered the tournament unranked but quickly proved herself, starting with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 first-round victory. From there she won 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the semifinal to play the No. 1 seed, to whom she ultimately fell 6-4, 6-0.
And rounding out the experienced St. Clair seniors was the No. 1 doubles duo of Mason and Fajardo, who won 6-2, 6-3 in the first round before falling 6-3, 6-4 in the second.
Division 4 State Finals – Kalamazoo, Mich.
The Tigers proved their depth as they qualified for four different quarterfinal matches to help their team to eighth place overall.
At No. 1 singles, senior Nolan Hill won his first round 6-1, 6-3 before falling in the second 6-2, 6-0.
Fellow senior Parker Westfall battled his way to the quarterfinal at No. 2 singles. He won his first round 6-2, 6-3 and bounced back from a close first-set loss to win 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2 in the second. He then fell to the No. 1 seed 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinal.
At No. 3 singles, senior Jim Burns won his second round 6-4, 6-4 after a first-round bye to advance to the quarterfinal, where he also fell to the No. 1 seed, 6-0, 6-1.
And rounding out the singles flights, sophomore Jaret Hill picked up wins in the first two rounds 6-3, 6-1 and 6-0, 7-6 to qualify for the quarterfinal, where he eventually fell 6-1, 6-1 to the No. 1 seed.
The No. 3 doubles duo of junior Drew Blake and sophomore Jacob Dean was the fourth and final Armada representative in the quarterfinal. After a first-round bye, the pair won an exciting 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 second-round match before falling in an even closer quarterfinal: 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-2.
Senior Colton Smith and junior Jack Davis played their final matches together as Armada’s longtime No. 1 doubles team. They won 6-3, 6-3 in the first round before falling 6-2, 6-4 in the second.
And at No. 2 doubles, senior Ty Vanlerberghe and junior Jacob Meerschaert picked up another Armada win in the first round, 6-4, 6-1, and fell in the second 6-2, 6-0.
For full results of the 2022 MHSAA Boys Tennis State Finals tournament, click here.
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