Lumen Christi runaway winner in the Cardinal Division tournament
BLOOMFIELD HILLS — One of the reasons why the Catholic League Executive Council voted to admit Detroit Country Day School to the league this fall was to bring a level of increased competition to its sports.
Well, that didn’t take long.
In their first opportunity to play for a Catholic League championship, the Yellowjackets claimed a trophy by sharing top honors with Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood at the Bishop Division tennis tournament Sept. 26.
The two traditional powerhouses topped the seven-team field with 18 points apiece. Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice ranked third, with 9 points, followed by Ann Arbor Greenhills (6), Detroit Catholic Central (3), Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett (2) and University of Detroit Jesuit (0).
“It means a lot, especially for us; it was a big win,” said Samuel Kole-James, Country Day’s champion at No. 2 singles. “It shows what you can do when you work hard every day and focus. It means a lot to the program.”
This is Country Day’s first time playing in any conference since 1984 (in the former Metro Conference), and the Yellowjackets seized the opportunity to chase a Catholic League title.
“I think CC was the only team we didn’t have (on our schedule) last year (before we joined the CHSL),” Country Day head coach Nicholas Fiaschetti said. “It was just like a lot of the people we knew already. At this point, it’s obviously elevated a little bit.”
“We’re definitely more focused, we play with more intention and we try to be closer because we know these moments are going to change us, and we can get tougher for these moments,” said Kole-James, who also won an individual state champion as a freshman in 2025.
How evenly matched were Cranbrook and Country Day? The Cranes and Yellowjackets met head-to-head in six out of the eight flights, each winning three.
Country Day’s three champions each came from the singles realm, and each defeated a Cranbrook player in the finals. At No. 1, the Yellowjackets’ Ricky Jeong defeated the Cranes’ Jacob Yang (6-2, 6-1); No. 2 Samuel Kole-James prevailed over Trevor Ilitch (3-6, 6-1, 6-2) and No. 4 Nicholas Nadjarian took down Henry DeMuth (6-0, 6-2).
For Cranbrook, Eli Rosen won No. 3 singles in two sets over Country Day’s Victor Martin (6-1, 6-2). The Cranes also saw their players win flights at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 doubles.
Saturday’s Bishop tournament was a lot more orderly compared to the 2025 championship, when players from five different schools won flights, and only three of eight top seeds were able to prevail. The only flight where the top seed did not win Saturday came in No. 4 doubles, with Cranbrook’s second-ranked duo of Stanley Shen and Jaiden Swami taking down Country Day’s Saha Kebl and Sebastian Shah (6-2, 6-3).
The Catholic League’s Bishop division field holds a unique distinction in that all seven schools are state ranked. Brother Rice is rated third and Catholic Central is 10th among Division 1 teams (from the largest schools); U of D Jesuit is 10th in Division 2; Country Day, Cranbrook and Greenhills are 1-2-4 in Division 3; and Liggett is ranked second in Division 4.
“I was really happy with our boys,” Fiaschetti said. “I feel like it was extremely difficult for us out there on that day. It seemed like the teams were extremely competitive and I felt like we did a good job of handling our emotions overall, and that’s honestly how we got it done.”
“These were tight matches. We know it’s going to be hard, and we know we need to get better, and we’re going to just do everything we can to be ready for states,” Kole-James said.
Cranbrook and Liggett went on to capture state titles in 2025, extending the legacy of the teams that play in the Catholic League. Since 2008, when boys tennis became a fall sport, Greenhills has won 11 state championships outright and shared another; Cranbrook has won 10 state crowns, Country Day has won five times and shared once; and Liggett has won five. It’s even more dominant in Division 3, where Country Day, Cranbrook or Greenhills has won the state title every year since 2008, and has had the top two team finishers every season since 2014.
At last year’s state finals, Cranbrook captured the title by the narrowest of margins, scoring 34 points while Country Day was right behind with 33.
“We graduated three from the lineup, and we have some good freshman that have come in. I think we’re stronger than we were last year,” Fiaschetti said. “Obviously singles is our strength, 100 percent, but it seems like everybody on our team’s improved and we still have a little bit more ahead of ourselves in doubles.”
This year’s Division 3 state finals will take place Oct. 16-17 at the Midland Tennis Center.
“Obviously we’ve had some heated battles with them (Cranbrook),” Fiaschetti said, “and whoever’s available at their best is going to win it. I think it’s like a 50-50 with us and them at this point, and I’m excited for it because it’s an opportunity for us to rise. Last year we had a loss, 34 to 33, and I think we’re all remembering that one and we’re doing everything we can to avoid that again.”
A near sweep for Lumen Christi in Cardinal Division
Last year, Jackson Lumen Christi played like a team finally ascending to the top of the league. This year, the Titans played like they don’t plan to move from that perch any time soon.
Going into the Cardinal Division tournament with top seeds in all eight flights, Lumen Christi claimed six titles to comfortably win their second straight Catholic League championship. Austin Brinker’s squad scored 22 team points, well ahead of Warren De La Salle (14), Dearborn Divine Child (10), Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard (2) and Riverview Gabriel Richard (0) in the matches played at Warren Regina on Sept. 26.
T.J. O’Neil and Gabe Cooper won the No. 2 and No. 3 singles flights for the Titans, and swept the doubles flights as the teams of Brogan Kelly-Chase Schirmacher, Maden Brady-Theo McEldowney, Harrison Botke-Vincent Tran and Gurmilan Singh-Shayan Challapalli all prevailed in straight sets.
The only outliers were Warren De La Salle’s Liam Erickson, who outlasted Lumen Christi’s Zach Tropea (2-6, 6-3, 7-6) (6 tie-breaker) to claim the No. 1 singles bracket, and Divine Child’s Colin Miller, who won at No. 4 singles over the Titans’ Patrick Best (6-4, 6-3).
Lumen Christi is ranked No. 1 in Michigan’s Division 4, according to the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association.
