Troy High boys tennis team wins state title for first time since 2021

MIDLAND — The Troy High boys tennis team hoisted the 2025 MHSAA Division 1 state title trophy Oct. 18. It was the first time they had done so in four years.

The championship at Midland Tennis Center follows a runner-up finish for Troy in 2023 and 2024. Nearly the full team returned this season, completing its redemption arc.

“We only lost one starter from last year,” said Brian Miska, the team’s coach. “Last year, we thought we had a shot to win it. Bloomfield (Hills) won it — in hindsight, quite easily. That kind of left a bad taste in our mouth coming into this year.”

Bloomfield Hills bested Troy by eight points in the 2024 tournament, but this time around, Troy finished 10 points higher than anyone else. In a reversal, the runner-up this year was Bloomfield Hills.

“The one thing I preached to these kids after the state tournament was failure breeds success. These kids put a ton of work in,” Miska said. “For the kids to see themselves fail and then succeed from it was awesome for me as a coach.

“We had this year circled for the last few years,” the coach added. “We knew we had a strong senior class, and we knew we had a really strong sophomore class, of course mixed in with some juniors.”

Of the eight events at the state tournament, Troy won four, and only one of those victories was via a top two flight.

“The depth is unmatched,” Miska said. “We’ve got kids at four doubles that would be playing one singles at a lot of other schools. … And no one cared where they were at the end of the day. They put the team goals ahead of individual goals.

“The toughest part sometimes with depth is the egos,” he continued. “We have so many great players and being able to manage that was not difficult this year. The egos just were not there. It was ego-free with one goal in mind.”

Troy’s one singles player was Neel Nagappala, who can now say he ended his senior season with a state title.

“From my perspective, coming in as the head of the team, I got to make sure everyone is on board and locked in,” Nagappala said. “A big part of our team also comes from our bench and how they support players. … It’s good to have those guys helping us out.”

Nagappala was the four seed in the one singles event. He made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Rochester Hills Stoney Creek senior Quentin Rangi.

Miska described Nagappala as continuing a long line of successful Troy singles players on the court. Off the court, the program will miss his leadership going forward, as well.

“I came into my freshman year, and the team had won Troy high’s first ever championship the year before that,” Nagappala said. “It was kind of an expectation to follow suit at least once in my high school career.”

Troy won half of the events at the state tournament, with senior Anthony Wu (four singles), Varun Shetty and Sourish Darui (two doubles), Nate Wanstreet and Jackson Kraus (three doubles), and Raghav Karur and Zain Taqi all taking home hardware.

The players on the team had a saying throughout the year that they “wanted to put (their name) on Long Lake Road,” said Nagappala.

“When a team wins a state title, they put it on a sign on Long Lake Road,” he explained. “Now we’ve done it… We’re there, we’re permanent, and we’ll be remembered in Troy High’s history.”

This title is Troy’s second ever boys tennis state title. It is also the program’s second title under Miska. 

Other individual Division 1 title winners include Rochester senior Chad Anderson (one singles), Novi freshman Kris Thomas (two singles), Bloomfield Hills junior Zev Spiegel (three singles), and Jonah Chernett and Krish Reddy (one doubles).