OhioTennisZone.com Interview
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Orange's Ben Pomeranets | 7Hills Earns First Final Four Spot
Pepper Pike Orange's Ben Pomeranets is the defending Division II Singles Champion and he is the subject of the second OTZ interview of the season. He was a finalist in 2021. And unfortunately, there was no tournament in 2020. (See 1 and 2)
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Pomeranets at States '23 - Click to enlarge |
"My main goal for this season is to be the best leader I can be for my team. I'm lucky to be part of a talented group of boys, and there's nothing I want more than to lead my brothers to another state title. Another goal I have is to repeat my success last year and win the individual state singles title. I'm currently one of five people in the history of Orange High School to win one boy's singles title, and I'd be honored to win a second time and tie with the late Mark Rothchild, a legend in the tennis community and the father of my close friend, Ty Rothchild."
Pomeranets started playing tennis at age five and except for a couple of years doing Tae kwon do, he has focused on tennis. It is also a family affair. "My whole family plays tennis, including my parents, my younger brother, Alex, and my older sister, Rachel."
Pomeranets has remained a strong player throughout his junior career. His TennisRecruiting.net ranking is currently 96th in the nation. His annual rankings have ranged from 47 (2020) to 83 (2023). His UTR has been as high as 11.44 and it is now 11.23. His UTR range is here.
"My favorite shot is definitely my forehand. When other parts of my game have let me down in the past, my forehand has often been the shot that saves me in tight moments. I believe my biggest weapon is my competitive ability. A lot of players at a high level can hit a clean ball and move well around the court, but I think my willingness to always fight and stay disciplined has set me apart from some of my peers." When asked about what part of his game is different from last year's States, he added, "My serve has never really been a strong suit. It was always a point-starter or neutral shot for me. I have been putting in a lot of work in with my coach to strengthen it, to get the technique down [and] the accuracy, and I think I've added a couple of miles per hour.. It is definitely a much bigger weapon than it used to be". While he has not used a speed gun frequently with his serve, he estimates that it is about 121mph.
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After 2022 Championship - Click to enlarge |
For college he will be headed down to Blacksburg, Virginia. "Last year, I committed to play college tennis for Virginia Tech. The school checked basically all of my boxes: it has great academics, a great tennis team, a beautiful campus, and great people. I was also considering playing for Indiana University, and have spoken with some other schools like Northwestern and Cornell."
Pomeranets has hit the books hard in high school. He has taken 12 AP classes - one as a freshman, three as a sophomore, and four during his junior and senior years. His favorite AP's are Biology, Physics, and Psychology. "I am definitely more of a math / science student. I've always been very talented in mathematics, but my interests have shifted toward science in the past few years." He also added, "I've been computer programming since 3rd or 4th grade. Although it's never been something I've taken all too seriously, I've developed a few personal computer games in a handful of different languages. I'm also currently managing the computing aspect of my group's senior project, in which we are creating a robot that will be able to play some simple songs on the piano." With his high SAT scores, he will likely help boost the Virginia Tech's team GPA. Pomeranets plans to major in biomedical engineering.
All of his family is involved in the sciences. His father, Mikhail, is a software engineer, and his mother, Svetlana, is a pediatrician. Rachel, his sister, is three years older and she attends Ohio State. She will be taking the MCAT soon.
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Pomeranets at 2021 States - Click to enlarge |
Pomeranets will be heading down to Virginia Tech in the middle of August. Prior to leaving, he plans to play at Kalamazoo at the Boys USTA National Championship.
As for the obligatory response about OhioTennisZone, Pomeranets stated, "It's pretty awesome to have everything about Ohio high school tennis in one location. OhioTennisZone is a place that I can see how my competitors are performing in different parts of the state, how the best teams are performing against each other, as well as any important news that comes up."
Why play high school tennis? "It's really the little things that I like the most about high school tennis. The bus rides and dinners with my team, joking around with Coach Rich [Boles] and Coach Dave [Soldevilla], and the brotherhood we've created. Winning is also nice, too." Orange won the State Team Tournament in 2021 and they were runner-ups last year.
Coach Rich Bole shared this about Pomeranets, "Ben stands out for his commitment to the team, his desire to be a captain, and his willingness to play in any match. You don't see that out of all the star players in high school tennis these days. Supporters of our program will never forget Ben's rivalry with Andrew Zimcosky; the pressure he felt from losing the first few times, and how hard he worked to draw even in the rivalry and ultimately capture the title last year. I am optimistic that Ben will make another jump in tennis level next year competing in the ACC. He has accomplished about all he can playing in Northeast Ohio and high school tennis."
Pomeranets successfully got through Sectionals, and Districts begin on Friday. Hopefully fans will see him again later in May as well. [ << Non-jinxing comment.] Good luck!
