Sophomore Alex Matisse is heading to the MHSAA Boys Tennis Division 1 State Finals this week after qualifying on the Singles No. 1 court.
“It was really exciting to qualify just because the person I had to play I have looked up to for a long time,” he said.
During the semifinals round of the MHSAA Regional, Matisse faced Rochester Adams’ Justin Hyman and won.
“He’s been sort of a mentor,” Matisse explained. “It was exciting being able to take him down and show the people around me in my region I am a person who should go to state and should be in that spot.”
Matisse finished the tournament with a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Bloomfield Hills’ Josh Mukherjee in the finals.
“It feels great to represent Clarkston not just for Clarkston but for my team,” Matisse said about the state finals. “It feels like an opportunity to represent my school.”
Alexis Haselwanter defeated Rochester Adams Josh Li in the championship round, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, on Singles No. 3 court. Ian Stuart lost to Rochester’s Santhosh Narayanan, 6-4, 0-6, 1-6, on Singles No. 2 court.
Bloomfield Hills won the regional title and Rochester Adams and Rochester qualified to go to the state finals. Clarkston missed making their the second consecutive appearance as a team by one point from the 18 points needed to qualify.
The Wolves had seen Bloomfield Hills and Rochester Adams during the season and Coach Chas Claus explained both are great teams.
“We are still hopeful,” Claus said heading into regionals. “We are going to give it all we’ve got and see what happens.”
The Wolves finished the league seventh out of eight teams for their first season in the OAA Red.
“We were on the heels of a lot of teams and in the middle of the pack,” Claus said.
The state finals are held at Midland Tennis Center this Friday and Saturday.