Shaya Brothers Rule the Court
Pierce Shaya (left) and his brother Connor Shaya hold the Bloomfield Hills High School boys tennis team’s Division 1 state championship trophy.
By Steve Stein
State champions. Times two.
That’s what you can call Bloomfield Hills High School boys tennis players Connor Shaya and Pierce Shaya.
The brothers were the best in their flights at the Division 1 state tournament held on a windy, cold October weekend at Hope College’s Etheridge Tennis Complex in Holland, and they helped the Black Hawks win the team state championship.
Connor Shaya, a freshman, won the state championship at No. 4 singles. He beat Troy’s Dhruv Gupta 6-2, 6-3 in the state championship match and finished 28-0 for the season.
Pierce Shaya, a sophomore, won the state championship at No. 1 doubles with partner Merrick Chernett. The duo went 26-1 for the season including a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Troy’s Srihari Ananthalwan and Ruskil Kagithala in the state championship match.
Let’s do the math. The Shaya brothers, each a four-star, nationally ranked college recruit, went a combined 54-1 for the season. Not bad for underclassmen.
Their extraordinary success this season didn’t surprise Chris Shaya, the brothers’ uncle and former University of Michigan tennis player who is the tennis director at Bloomfield Tennis & Fitness in Bloomfield Township.
Chris Shaya has been Connor Shaya’s and Pierce Shaya’s private coach for several years.
“Both guys do a great job using what they have learned, and they know how to play,” Chris Shaya said. “Their future success in tennis will be determined by how much effort they put into it.”
As for the major reason for the brothers’ current success, “they know what they do well, trust it, and use it to impose their will on their opponents,” Chris Shaya said.
Bloomfield Hills boys tennis coach Greg Burks had a plethora of superlatives to say about the Shaya brothers.
“Connor went undefeated this season as a freshman. That’s unbelievable,” Burks said. “He was nervous at the start of the season, but then he found his rhythm. His game is a blend of patience and finding the right time to hit the ball hard.”
Pierce Shaya was the No. 3 singles state champion last season as a freshman. He had a 27-0 record for the year.
But he didn’t play singles this season. Instead, he was half of Bloomfield Hills’ No. 1 doubles duo. He took one for the team.
“Pierce could have been a singles player at the top of our lineup this year, but I asked him to play No. 1 doubles because that’s what would be best for our team, and he did it,” Burks said. “He was the ultimate team player.
“Pierce has a singles mentality, but he became a better and better doubles player as the season went along. I thought he and Merrick could overpower their opponents and be unstoppable. That’s what they did.”
Chris Shaya said he’s proud of how Pierce Shaya responded to Burks’ request to play doubles instead of singles this season.
“That shows you the kind of kid Pierce is,” he said. “He did something he really didn’t want to do. When you’re on a team, you’re often asked to make sacrifices for the good of the team. Pierce made that sacrifice.”
The brothers will long cherish this season for many reasons.
“Winning states with my brother was an amazing feeling that we got to share together,” Pierce Shaya said. “We’ve devoted so much of our time to tennis. It was amazing to see that time pay off.”
“Winning states was a lot of fun,” Connor Shaya said. “Having my brother with me made the experience even better. He helped me when I needed it because he’d already done it.”
Constantly pushing each other to be better tennis players gives the brothers a common bond. They often practice together and play matches against each other.
“My brother and I have been training together close to every day of the week for eight years,” Pierce Shaya said. “We push each other in tennis because we have very high expectations for ourselves and want each other to be the best we can be.
“In such a lonely sport, motivation doesn’t always come with it, so we use each other for help in that area.”
“We motivate each other to keep pushing and fighting. We help each other out when we need it,” Connor Shaya said.
Connor Shaya is 14. Pierce Shaya is 15. They have an older sister Grace Shaya, 18. Their parents are Donovan and Manahil Shaya.
As for the Bloomfield Hills boys tennis team, the Black Hawks scored 35 points at the Division 1 state tournament. They dominated the competition, winning championships in five of the eight flights and finishing second in two other flights.
Second-place Northville (25) and third-place Troy (24), the defending state champion, were far in back of the Black Hawks, who finished second at last year’s Division 1 state tournament.
Bloomfield Hills is a boys tennis power. The Black Hawks have won three Division 1 state championships in six years and four state titles in eight years (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022), all with Burks as their coach.
With much of its lineup coming back next season, Bloomfield Hills is favored for a repeat state championship.