Sectional Draws |
Ohio High School Tennis
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024
Districts Week
It is high anxiety time again today as everyone awaits the posting of the District draws. The Districts draws currently online include: Central D2, Northeast, and Northwest. Watch for the rest of the District draws to be released today. Links to the draws are posted above.
The Sectional seeding round results are online on OTZ, except for the Northwest District. Those results have still not been posted.
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Bexley - Click to team page |
Below are additional Sectional seeding results from the Northeast and Southwest Districts that were played on Friday / Saturday. Indian Hill's Martha Thompson defeated Indian Hill's Grace Nguyen and Seven Hills' Daniela Alper; Mason's Addison Cassidy beat Mason's Ana Gotike and St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon; Gilmour Academy's Abigail Lynch defeated Bay's Julia Mavis and Midview's Kat Yates; Orange's Genevieve Hayden beat Orange's Ivy Berlin and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe; Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Madison's Gabby Montez and Laurel's Rida Tahir; Badin's Caroline Boyle beat Summit Country Day's Jayden Puryear and Cincinnati Country Day's Reema Arebi; Kenston's Brooke McNeal defeated Kenston's Alex Ungaro and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Lucy Paulin; Hudson's Emma Liu beat Archbishop Hoban's Karlie Nicolae and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay; Chaminade-Julienne's Ansley Violette defeated Chaminade-Julienne's Francesca Gongora and Northwestern's Sadie Pilson; and Ursuline Academy's Libby Goedde beat Turpin's Alyssa Dittmann and Loveland's Marlee Fleming. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's featured team is Bexley. They are coached by Heath Goolsby. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by two-time state champion, Amiya Bowles, along with Gabbie Theile and Myra Swartz.
The days of the week when Districts have their tournaments are normally the same each year, but they are different this year due to the timing of Yom Kippur. OTZ plans are to be at the Central Districts on Tuesday at Upper Arlington, the Southwest Districts on Wednesday at Mason HS, and the Central Districts again on Friday at Columbus Academy.
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Mason and Highland (H) versus Magnificat. The winners of these matches will represent their Districts in the State Team Tournament.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2024
Ready for District Draws
It is time to wait for the release of the all-important District draws. It always takes some luck to get to States and this is where the real luck kicks into play. Some Sectionals are weaker than others, and players on the bubble hope to get the #1 singles player or doubles team from the weakest Sectional.
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Columbus School for Girls - Click to team page |
The Central District results are online - again - because I have a very slick way to enter them. OTZ plans are to get the results for the Sectional seeding rounds entered for the other Districts online, too. Coaches may supplement these results by providing scores for the other matches using the OTZ-approved format.
While entering the results for the Northeast District, I was very surprised to see that the NE District used a tie-breaker for the third set in the non-seeding rounds. The NE District also did this during the Boys season. Is this now permitted for the other Districts? The tie-breaker was not used in the Central or Southwest Districts. The weather was perfect last week so that was not an excuse to abbreviate matches.
Among the top players, Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Bexley's Gabbie Theile and Columbus School For Girls' Iva Karagirova; Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett beat Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard Olentangy Berlin's Soleil Cordell; New Albany's Airi Clements defeated Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard; Olentangy Berlin's Soleil Cordell beat New Albany's Airi Clements; Magnificat's Anna Mancino defeated St. Joseph Academy's Melanie Lorenz and Amherst Steele's Kayla Bussard; Chillicothe's Bella Flores beat Gahanna's Audrey Goh and Gahanna's Daniela Guzman; Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler defeated Watkins Memorial's Nora Grennan and Worthington Kilbourne's Julia Carpenco; Columbus Academy's Gabrielle Stewart beat Buckeye Valley's Molly Jones and Columbus Academy's Ella Tsao; and Upper Arlington's Kylie Husted defeated teammate, Emily Lin. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Columbus School for Girls. They are coached by Shelby Cheses. They are Team Members.They are led by Priya Mehta, Victoria Dizon, and Iva Karagirova.
OTZ will be checking for the District draws throughout the day. I will provide an update on X.com (aka Twitter) if a District releases its draws.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2024
Columbus Academy in State Team Final Four
Congratulations to Columbus Academy. They are the first team to reach the State Team Final Four. They defeated Columbus School For Girls last night. CA will play the winner of the Gilmour Academy versus Hathaway Brown match in the first round of the tournament. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Dublin Scioto - Click to team page |
Today is Sectional Seeding day for most fo the state. Ohio tennis is fortunate to get to play on a beautiful day. It will be even better if the matches are finished by the time that Ohio State plays Iowa..
Among the top players, Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya defeated Columbus School For Girls' Victoria Dizon. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Dublin Scioto. They are coached by CJ Juda. They are Team Members. They are led by Amelia Kunard, Emmy Evans, and Brylee Beveridge.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2024
OTZ Photo Friday
There were no dual match scores reported yesterday. There will be at least one State Team Tournament match tonight where OTZ #6 Columbus Academy takes on #10 Columbus School for Girls for the Central District D2 Final Four spot. Click for the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws to see all of the results.
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Olen. Orange's Avery Reed - Click to enlarge |
There have been about 25 photos added since the last OTZ Photo Friday. The majority of the new images were taken at the Upper Arlington #1 Sectional. To view all of the photos, sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos.
The top photos are always being tweaked. To see the latest, click on Top Ten Girls Tennis Photos.Today's featured photo is of Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed, a senior.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2024
Ready for Sectional Seeding Rounds
The Central District and some of the other districts are finished with the preliminary rounds. After last week's rain, Ohio tennis is very fortunate to have this week of great weather. The Central District results are online and some of the other district results are starting to go online thanks to coaches providing this information.
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Worthington Kilbourne - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Worthington Kilbourne. They are coached by Stephen Metzmaier. They are Team Members. They are led by Tyra Butler, Julia Carpenco, and Georgia Brinegar.
Just one dual match is slated for today. It is Canal Winchester (H) versus DeSales.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2024
NDA Beats Toledo Central Catholic | Central District Sectional Results
The Central District Sectionals began under cloudy and drizzly skies. Almost all of the matches were played though. In dual match play, Notre Dame Academy defeated Toledo Central Catholic. To view yesterday's dual match results graphically, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Franklin Heights' Safourata Bah - Click to enlarge |
Bexley's Amiya Bowles did not drop a game in her two matches against Hartley's Mary Kate LeMay and River Valley’s Elise Osbourne in Sectional play. Other matches included: Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard defeated Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; Notre Dame Academy's Nora Johnson beat Toledo Central Catholic's Traver in a dual match; Worthington Christian's Elise Bourgeois defeated Columbus School For Girls' Anna Papadakis; Hilliard Davidson’s Brooklyn Murlin beat Whetstone’ Mabellene McNamara; Bexley's Gabbie Theile defeated Worthington Christian's Tori Bourgeois; Pickerington Central’s Sasha Bondartsuk beat Hilliard Bradley’s Shriya Reddy; Columbus School For Girls' Iva Karagirova defeated Worthington Christian's Evie Bourgeois; and Bexley's Gabbie Theile beat Columbus School For Girls' Molly Robins. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Sectionals are fun because there is an opportunity to see players that I have "seen" on paper but not in person. Today's photo is of Franklin Height's Safourata Bah, a senior. Check out other Sectional photos on Twitter (or X).
The Central D1 Sectionals will finish today.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2024
Upper Arlington Advances | Sylvania North Beats Ottawa Hills
The state started a few Sectionals yesterday. Many more Sectionals begin today. In the bigger dual matches, Upper Arlington defeated Hilliard Davidson to advance in the State Team Tournament and Sylvania Northview beat Ottawa Hills. Worthington Kilbourne defeated Thomas Worthington to win the Battle of Worthington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Coffman - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Dublin Coffman. They are coached by Brett Hundertpfund. They are Team Members. They are led by Lauren Burkett, Bethel Binyam, and Eknoor Kaur.
Good luck today!
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Sectionals Begin | Season-to-Date Report - GCTA Awards Banquet
Sectionals begin today in the Northeast and Southwest Districts, but not for all of the Sectionals within these Districts. Far more tournaments will begin tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate to allow Districts to get through the all-important, first two rounds.
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Season-to-Date Report - Click to enlarge |
The boys season is impacted by players who have to take AP tests which can greatly delay post-season matches. Thankfully the girls season does not have to deal with these.
With the season wrapping up for many teams this week, it is worthwhile to review one of the OTZ tools that coaches have to recognize their players. The Season-to-Date (or End-of-Year report) provides a great match summary for each player. A link to this report is available under the OTZ Personalized Report tab.
I spent most of the weekend handling tasks that I hate to do. One of which was recording those who have purchased an OTZ Membership. While it is great that many purchase a membership, it is a time-consuming task that I wish I could avoid. Along a similar line, if you have not paid for the girls season, please do so now. Your payment status is shown as you first login. If your status does not show that you have paid but you have, please email me. I do not want to turn off your OTZ access in error.
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GCTA Awards - Click to enlarge |
As many of you know, I have served on the board of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association for many years. This is a great organization that promotes tennis in central Ohio. To prepare for the awards banquet on Thursday, I was bugging our Executive Director, Linda Guyton, for the evening's program. When I did not receive it, I wondered if something was up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my name was on the program as an award recipient. Other award winners were Arya Chabria and Yasemin Bilgin (Junior Female Players of the Year), Henry Lessard (Junior Male Player of the Year), Cindy Ferrara (Sharon Rusk Lifetime Achievement Award), Don Evans (Columbus Recreation & Parks Award), CeCe & Bob Loper (Family of the Year), and Dan Witteman (Terri C. Jones Promotion of Tennis Award). I received the GCTA Award of Appreciation. My roles have been to provide the previous web site, and I still take quite a few photos. Oh wait, now I have to process a ton of photos. .
From the "photos can be deceiving" department, I avoid the "wedge formation" when I take team photos because I want readers to be able to view the players from the same perspective. In this case, Henry looks pretty tiny and that is not the case. He was just the furthest away from the camera. As another potential point of interest, photographers can subtly sneak their political bias into photos using a wide variety of approaches (ie. background, lighting, camera lens distortion, etc.). Be aware of this during the political season.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Olentangy Orange (A) versus New Albany; Thomas Worthington (H) versus Worthington Kilbourne; and Highland (H) versus Western Reserve Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Note that many of these schedules were entered prior to the season. Always check first with a coach or player before traveling to a match.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Ready for Sectionals (?) | OTZ Top Players
Hopefully the weather will clear and the state will start off with dry weather next week for Sectionals. It is key to reduce the field quickly because indoor facilities cannot handle the large number of players. Everyone starts out in the "State" tournament but single elimination narrows the field quickly.
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OTZ Top Players - Click to report |
OhioTennisZone is ready to roll to record the results for the Central District. I have a finely tuned process that utilizes a spreadsheet provided by the Central District that contains all of the players. Results from the other Districts need to be provided by the coaches using the following format. Since things can get very confusing very quickly, please do not provide results until your Sectionals reach the seeding rounds.
Significant changes were made to the OTZ Top Player and Watch Lists yesterday. While I mainly look at player results, I also care where players are ranked in the Sectional draws. Getting on the Top Players List is really tough. By the end of the season, it will include the top 20-25 players in the State. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
While there is never a good time to spill coffee on your desk, it certainly is not during the middle of a morning update as it was this morning. The good news is that I needed to clean my desk anyway. I also like the smell of coffee. Since I did not clean things off that well, I will get to enjoy the smell for a few days.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
Rain
Yesterday was about as much of a rainout as we have had this season. There was one tournament played so there are a few scores from Wooster players that were added.
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Lexington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lexington. They are coached by Jansen Webster. They are led by Jade Hunt, Ulo Ezike, and Lily Thomas.
Except for some Sectional draw prep, yesterday had too many interruptions.
Today's matches include: Worthington Christian (H) versus Western Reserve Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2024
Anthony Wayne Beats NDA | CA Defeats NA
Anthony Wayne defeated Notre Dame Academy to advance in the State Team Tournament, and Columbus Academy beat New Albany to win the Best Tennis School East of Columbus Award. (This is where the Academy parents ask the New Albany parents who won the match knowing that Academy won the match.)
The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Orange defeated Olentangy Berlin; St. Joseph Academy beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Perrysburg defeated Toledo St. Ursula Academy; Pickerington North beat Dublin Scioto; Eaton defeated Northwestern; and Mariemont beat Chaminade-Julienne. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hudson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hudson. They are coached by Tim Morgan. They are Team Members. They are led by Emma Liu, Mallory Hannan, and Bransyn Mathia.
Today's matches include: Oakwood (H) versus Springboro and Seven Hills (A) versus Ursuline Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2024
Centerville and New Albany Advance in the State Team
More rain hampered matches yesterday, but there were still several key matches that were played. Centerville defeated Sycamore and New Albany beat Dublin Jerome to advance in the State Team Tournament. In another big match, Mason defeated Indian Hill.
The close, 3-2 matches included: London defeated Canal Winchester and Newark beat Cambridge. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Centerville - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Centerville. They are coached by Scott Long. They are Team Members. They are led by Elise Hedrick, Eve Alappatt, and Reese Davis.
Today's matches include: Anthony Wayne (A) versus Notre Dame Academy; Columbus Academy (A) versus New Albany; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Gilmour Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
Highland Beats Avon Lake to Advance
The rainy weather impacted matches throughout the state. Highland defeated Avon Lake to advance in the State Team Tournament. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hilliard Darby beat Jonathan Alder; Chillicothe defeated Jackson; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat Chagrin Falls. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Loveland - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Loveland. They are coached by Jennifer Kapszukiewicz. They are led by Marlee Fleming, Laura Hiett, and Anna Proano-Raps.
The Northeast District Sectional draws are now available via the link above.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Sycamore; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Columbus Academy; and Solon (H) versus Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
Magnificat and Chaminade-Julienne Advance | New Rankings: Mason and Indian Hill Remain as #1's
In the State Team Tournament, Magnificat defeated Westlake, and Chaminade-Julienne beat Oakwood to advance. In one of the closest matches of the season, Hilliard Darby defeated Dublin Scioto. That match included three 3-setters.To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 OhioTennisZone.com
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| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 2. Anthony Wayne◄TEAM | Gilmour Academy◄TEAM |
| 3. New Albany◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown |
| 4. Sycamore◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 5. Centerville◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 6. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 7. Magnificat◄TEAM | Chaminade-Julienne◄TEAM |
| 8. St. Ursula Academy | Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy |
| 9. Highland◄TEAM | Oakwood |
| 10.Perrysburg◄TEAM | Columbus School for Girls◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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Among the top players, Eaton's Mallory Hitchcock defeated Miamisburg's Sophie Jovanov; Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett beat Olentangy's Harshini Mallipeddi; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Shaker Heights' Meredith Hurley; Highland's Ally Haynes beat Twinsburg's Olivia Prevette; Upper Arlington's Alexa Roth defeated Dublin Jerome's Ashna Kulkarni; New Albany's Airi Clements beat Gahanna's Daniela Guzman; Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler defeated Columbus Academy's Ella Tsao; Chaminade-Julienne's Ansley Violette beat Oakwood's Mila Gelbart; Columbus School For Girls' Priya Mehta defeated Watterson's Julia Caravella; Shawnee's Ava Patel beat Notre Dame Academy's Nora Johnson; and Canal Winchester's Ava Griggs defeated Delaware Hayes' Tavi Steffel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The OTZ Top Ten Team rankings have been updated.The big movers were St. Ursula Academy in Division I and Gilmour Academy in Division II.
The Northwest District released their Sectional draws late yesterday. Only the Northeast Draws are outstanding.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus Hathaway Brown; Oak Hills (A) versus St. Ursula Academy; and Hudson (H) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
Sectional Draws | Columbus Challenger
The release of the Sectional draws began yesterday. The Southwest District (except for Troy) was the first district to release their draws and the Central District followed soon thereafter. Links to the draws will remain at the top of this page.
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Naoki Nakagawa - Click to enlarge |
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James Trotter - Click to enlarge |
I plan to review the draws in more detail today, but Central's UA #1 Sectional is the super-Sectional for singles. The four seeded players in that Sectional will hope to reach States.
It is a little weird to see that the Central District for Division I will be hosted by just two locations - Upper Arlington and Pickerington Central. Hopefully it will not rain during Sectional week.
The Columbus Challenger finals were played yesterday at Ohio State's Ty Tucker Center. Naoki Nakagawa beat OSU grad, James Trotter, in the finals. it was a great match with Nakagawa winning 7-6, 5-7, 7-6. I counted approximately 65 people in attendance. It was a nice break for me from HS tennis. It is relatively easy to get great photos of professional players while the hardest is boys high school doubles. Boys are willing to make the trade-off of double faulting 2.4 zillion billion times (slight exageration alert) in order to get one ace.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Westlake (State Team match); Hudson (H) versus Hathaway Brown; and Columbus Academy (A) versus Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2024
UA Beats Oakwood | Mason and Anthony Wayne Win Tournaments
It was another beautiful, but hot day yesterday as many teams throughout Ohio competed in tournaments. Mason won the Flight A of the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Coaches' Classic, and Indian Hill came in second. This tournament has the longest name in the known universe and beyond. If they gave a plaque to the winner, it would not fit in any trophy case. In the Lexington Invite, Anthony Wayne edged out Centerville in a tie-breaker to win. In the only dual match reported, Upper Arlington defeated Oakwood, 3-2. To view graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Grove City - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Grove City. They are coached by Joshua Chandler. They are led by Reagan Worthington, Claire Donohoe, and Autumn Worthington. Grove City is the suburb that is located south of Columbus.
It was nice seeing everyone at the Lexington Invite. I have not had an opportunity to review the photos that I took, and that is partly because I am not looking forward to doing so. The harsh sun was horrible for taking photos.
Today is the Sectional draw. Good luck!
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2024
Centerville Beats Lexington
It was a quiet tennis evening with many teams having homecoming games. Centerville defeated Lexington; Marysville beat Hilliard Darby; and Columbus Academy defeated Marietta. To view graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Delaware Hayes - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Delaware Hayes. They are coached by Dianna Hibinger. They are Team Members. They are led by Tavi Steffel, Reghan Gist, and Ava Vogel.
I will be headed to the Lexington Invite soon. Due to homecoming conflicts, only Lex, Coffman, Anthony Wayne, and Centerville will be there. Will this song be on the homecoming playlist tonight? Maybe. If not, Ba-dee-ya dee-ya, dee-ya..
Dual matches today include: Magnificat (H) versus Laurel and Oakwood (H) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2024
St. Ursula Academy Beats Centerville | OTZ Photo Friday
In the biggest match of the evening, St. Ursula Academy defeated Centerville. The close, 3-2 matches included: Milton-Union defeated Greenville; Massillon Jackson beat Canfield; Tippecanoe defeated Beavercreek; and Olentangy Berlin beat Olentangy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Davidson's Mackenzie Kline - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Worthington Christian's Emma Flanigan; St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon beat Centerville's Eve Alappatt; Olentangy Berlin's Soleil Cordell defeated Olentangy's Harshini Mallipeddi; Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed beat Olentangy Liberty's Ferritto; Chillicothe's Bella Flores defeated Washington CH's Cambry Brown; Notre Dame Academy's Nora Johnson beat Findlay's Caitlin England; and Dublin Jerome's Ashna Kulkarni defeated Thomas Worthington's Neela Ramachandran. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is an OTZ Photo Friday. Several of the photos are from this week's matches. This is the time of year where the sun is not as intense as it sets. Click for the OTZ Top Ten and sign-in first to view the Most Recently Added Photos. To purchase a photo, simply click on this SmugMug link and provide the file name of the image (i.e. DSC_1234) in a Feedback message.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Western Reserve Academy and Centerville (A) versus Lexington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2024
Hawken, Mason, and CVCA Get Wins | OTZ Photos
In matches that involved ranked teams, Hawken defeated Magnificat; Mason beat St. Ursula Academy; and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated North Canton Hoover. The close, 3-2 matches included: Big Walnut defeated Gahanna; Copley beat Brecksville; Delaware Hayes defeated Hilliard Darby; Tippecanoe beat Northwestern; St. Joseph Academy defeated Amherst Steele; and Sycamore beat Oak Hills. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTZ Photos on SmugMug - Click to SmugMug |
Among the top players, Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Magnificat's Anna Mancino; St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon beat Mason's Pratyusha Chaudhuri; Olentangy Berlin's Soleil Cordell defeated Hilliard Davidson's Mackenzie Kline; Oak Hills' Renee Harper beat Sycamore's Lisa Kai; North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe; Columbus School For Girls' Priya Mehta beat Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler; Worthington Christian's Emma Flanigan defeated Watterson's Julia Caravella; Copley's Cassandra Komlanc beat Brecksville's Sophia Liu; and Massillon Jackson's Ashley Helle defeated Solon's Olivia Liu. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus St. Ursula Academy; Worthington Christian (A) versus Bexley; and Olentangy Orange (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
More on Photos
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Iga Swiatek - Click to enlarge |
Iga Swiatek |
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Jessica Pegula |
Paula Badosa |
The Top OTZ Photos include quite a few pros at the beginning of each season as placeholders until more high school photos are taken. The top list will be changing tomorrow for Photo Friday. Before these photos leave the top list, it is worthwhile to point out how the pros differ than the rest of us. There are a zillion things that the pros do well. These pictures from the Cincinnati Open illustrate many of these.
Coiling: Pros don’t hit the ball. They explode into it. Their entire bodies are coiled to launch into the ball. Their racquet head speed is always high to provide pace and/or top spin. They will often leave the ground because of the upward thrust of their legs during the stroke.
Effort: The only thing that they care about is reaching that ball. Iga makes this abundantly clear.
Eye-on-ball / Head locked after the impact: I do capture eye-on-ball almost all of the time, but what I do not capture is how much their heads stay locked after they have hit the ball. They keep their heads very still.
Face: Concentration? Yes. Anguish or frustration? No.
If I have taken your daughter’s photo, review what is online on OTZ and on SmugMug. These photos may help you identify a problem with her stroke or things that she is doing well. After that, buy a photo or two or three. Also do not just think about how only you might cherish this photo – think about how your daughter’s children and grandchildren will like it. Everyone changes with age, and most of us wish we had more photos of ourselves in high school.
For those considering playing in college, note that college coaches can see a lot when they examine a photo. I try and capture good things about a player’s stroke and footwork. If you are not sharing these photos on TennisRecruiting.net, etc., you really need to consider doing so. Questions? Please submit a Feedback.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
Mason Defeats Sycamore | Upper Arlington Beats Dublin Coffman
In two of the more notable matches of the evening, Mason defeated Sycamore and Upper Arlington beat Dublin Coffman. The close, 3-2 matches included: Franklin Heights defeated Ready; Brecksville beat Medina; St. Ursula Academy defeated Ursuline Academy; Columbus School For Girls beat Worthington Christian; Highland defeated Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; Olentangy Berlin beat Marysville; Chaminade-Julienne defeated Miami Valley School; Dublin Scioto beat Big Walnut; Eaton defeated Valley View; and Newark beat Reynoldsburg. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy Orange - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Olentangy Orange. They are coached by Susan Storrer. They are Team Members. They are led by Avery Reed, Aaria Gala, and Meher Banta.
Two of the matches mentioned yesterday as being State Team Tournament matches were not. Note the updates in yesterday's posting.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Hawken; North Canton Hoover (H) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; and Sycamore (A) versus Oak Hills. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2024
Sycamore Beats Centerville | Chaminade-Julienne Defeats Oakwood
There was hope that Ohio would receive some rain from the tropical storm, but it looks like there will be more clear days to play high school tennis instead. Sycamore defeated Centerville and Chaminade-Julienne beat Oakwood in the State Team Tournament. [Update: These two matches were regular season matches - not State Team matches.] In another notable match, Worthington Christian defeated Olentangy Orange. The close, 3-2 matches included: Magnificat beat Westlake; Lancaster defeated DeSales; Jefferson Area beat Lakeside; Delaware Hayes defeated Big Walnut; Newark beat Westerville North; Mariemont defeated Oak Hills; Whetstone beat Thomas Worthington; Notre Dame Academy defeated Lima Central Catholic; Medina beat Rocky River; and Tippecanoe defeated Troy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Sycamore - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Sycamore. They are coached by Mike Teets. They are Team Members. They are led by Lisa Kai, Serena Sayles, and Allison Sayles.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (A) versus Upper Arlington; Highland (H) versus Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and Magnificat (H) versus Archbishop Hoban. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2024
Sectional Draw Week | New Report
This is going to be a busy week. The Sectional Draws takes place on Sunday throughout the state. The goal for OTZ is to make sure that all of the scores are entered and that all of the Player Profiles are setup for members. The Top Player Report and Watchlist will also be updated. OTZ Team rankings will also be reviewed and updated.
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Same Day Match Report - Kilbourne - Click to enlarge |
The are numerous ways to see results online, but a new report was added over the weekend. This report provides the results as entered by the coach via OhioTennisZone. This view of the data provides more details such as tie-break scores and the first names for many players. It is available off of the Personalized Report which is the first page that members see when they logon. It is a variant of the Same Day Match Results report, but only for a specific team.
The overall goal is to reduce the amount of time that is spent on this website. That said, if there is a better way to present existing data, then that will be explored. Note that results submitted by coaches are occasionally corrected later and these scores will not be corrected on this report. There can also be duplicate scores if both coaches report results. When scores are corrected, the corrected scores are shown on the team report and on the player profiles.
This is another report that coaches could use to prepare for the Sectional draw.
This might be confusing so submit a Feedback with any questions.
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Columbus-area weather |
This looks to be yet another dry, hot week. Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Sycamore; Chaminade-Julienne (H) versus Oakwood; and Solon (H) versus Hudson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2024
Highland Beats Notre Dame Academy
It was a quiet day for dual matches. The three scores that were reported were: Massillon Jackson defeated Walsh Jesuit; Highland beat Notre Dame Academy; and Lancaster defeated Athens. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Shaun Stamps. They are Team Members. They are led by Alexa Roth, Alice Hawley, and Kylie Husted.
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Upper Arlington - Click to enlarge |
Players are not eager to look into the sun for the team photos, but the difference in quality is huge. Here is the photo of the players with the sun behind them. There is certainly less squintiness, but the colors are greatly diminished.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2024
Hawken Beats CVCA
There were just three matches recorded from yesterday. Hawken defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Massillon Jackson beat Notre Dame Academy; and St. Ursula Academy defeated Seven Hills. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mount Vernon - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Mount Vernon. They are coached by Steve Tier. They are led by Cameron Carlson, Addison Cooperider, and Natalie Gourley.
Today's matches include: Notre Dame Academy (A) versus Western Reserve Academy and Highland, and Massillon Jackson (A) versus Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024
Anthony Wayne Beats Sylvania Northview
Sure, it's Friday the 13th, but everything will probably be ok - except for your backhand - but don't think about it. In yesterday's play, Anthony Wayne defeated Sylvania Northview and Notre Dame Academy defeated St. Joseph Academy. The close, 3-2 matches included: Gahanna defeated Westerville Central; Delaware Hayes beat Dublin Scioto; Newark defeated Teays Valley; Wadsworth beat Copley; Medina defeated Avon; Watkins Memorial beat Chillicothe; Columbus School For Girls defeated Bexley; Marysville beat Thomas Worthington; and Wooster defeated Uniontown Lake. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wooster - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Wooster. They are coached by Cordell Smith. They are led by Ava Mathur, Hailey Jung, and AlyssaRae McIntosh.
OTZ plans are to catch-up on processing photos today.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus Notre Dame Academy and St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Seven Hills. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
Mason Beats Centerville | Magnificat Defeats Massillon Jackson
OTZ #1 Mason defeated #4 Centerville and Magnificat beat Massillon Jackson last night. The close, 3-2 matches included: St. Joseph Academy defeated Avon and Watkins Memorial beat Bloom-Carroll. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Oak Hills - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Oak Hills. They are coached by Chase Pearson. They are led by Renee Harper, Brooke Lint, and Audrey Schnorbus.
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SpaceX - Click to team page |
If you thought that the SpaceX astronauts were bundled-up this morning, just wait until you see the Ohio high school girls when they get off of the bus for Sectionals. . Yes, this space walk delayed today's OTZ update so I had to find a way to include a photo of it in today's update.
Today's matches include: Anthony Wayne (A) versus Sylvania Northview; Olentangy Orange (H) versus Upper Arlington; and Watkins Memorial (H) versus Chillicothe. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Beats Walsh Jesuit
Due to the extremely dry conditions, the girls season continues to tally up far more matches than last year. In comparison to 2023, 29.9% more matches have been played. In two of the bigger matches of the evening, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Walsh Jesuit and Dublin Scioto beat Dublin Jerome. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Coffman defeated Olentangy Orange; Canal Winchester beat Teays Valley; St. Joseph Academy defeated Strongsville; Seven Hills beat Cincinnati Country Day; Madison Senior defeated Valley View; Worthington Kilbourne beat Big Walnut; Chillicothe defeated Unioto; Lakeside beat Cleveland Heights; and Loveland defeated Turpin. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Gilmour Academy - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett defeated Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon beat Mount Notre Dame's Charlotte Scharfenberger; Magnificat's Anna Mancino defeated Western Reserve Academy's Riya Hegde; Upper Arlington's Alexa Roth beat Olentangy Liberty's Ferritto; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe defeated Walsh Jesuit's Laura Stephens; Loveland's Marlee Fleming beat Turpin's Alyssa Dittmann; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard defeated Dublin Jerome's Chetana Killada; Medina's Megan Nuske beat Revere's Gabi Iler; Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler defeated Big Walnut's Anna Swager; Seven Hills' Daniela Alper beat Cincinnati Country Day's Reema Arebi; and St. Joseph Academy’s Melanie Statsevych defeated Strongsville’s Mallory Koch. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
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Claudia Althans - Click to enlarge |
Today's featured team is Gilmour Academy. They are coached by Claudia Althans. They are Team Members, and they are led by Abigail Lynch, Caroline Koch, and Grier Peckham. Coach Althans was the subject of one of the best OTZ photos in 2016 when she played for Gilmour Academy.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Mason; Magnificat (A) versus Massillon Jackson; and Chaminade-Julienne (A) versus Mariemont. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
Gilmour Academy Beats Hathaway Brown | Centerville Defeats Ursuline Academy
There will be more shuffling in the OTZ Top Ten Team Rankings after yesterday's matches. #5 Gilmour Academy defeated #3 Hathaway Brown. In the State Team Tournament, Centerville defeated Ursuline Academy. The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Liberty beat Olentangy Berlin; Medina defeated Strongsville; Oak Hills beat Walnut Hills; and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Loveland. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Franklin Heights - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Franklin Heights. They are coached by James Wassmuth. They are led by Safourata Bah and Vonnie Chum.
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Columbus-area weather |
Hopefully we will get some rain this week from Tropical Storm Francine.
Today's matches include: Hudson (A) versus Gilmour Academy; Columbus Academy (A) versus Bexley; and Anthony Wayne (H) versus Findlay. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OTZ College Report
The OhioTennisZone.com College Report is now available. This report lists the Ohio high school tennis players who are competing in college. It is not all-inclusive. If a player was a OTZ-paying member (or playing under a Team Membership), he/she absolutely should be included in this report. If not, she will likely not be included. (Some are included at the bottom of the report.) This is a very time consuming report to create for a number of reasons. They include: kids stop playing college tennis, players switch teams, URL's for teams change, etc.
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College Report - Click to view |
There are 109 college players and 2 recruits in the report. There are 44 men and 67 women competing.
The breakdown by class are: Freshman - 36, Sophomore - 21, Junior - 24, Senior - 26, and Graduate Student - 2. There are also two recruits listed, and that number will, of course, grow.
Sources for this information include the players themselves (and/or their parents) and TennisRecruiting.net.
While it is time consuming to create it, it is also very time consuming for users to review. Player appearance can change quite a bit from high school tennis to college so that is fun to see, and it is interesting to see the college majors the players have chosen. As many would expect, the goals of these players are high.
It is also worthwhile to see how many players are on a team. If there are 20+ players, would your child get to play? Finances are tight at many D3 colleges, and I suspect that some teams are encouraged to recruit players simply to pay tuition dollars. A friend of mine has a son on a D3 football team. That team has 178 players. There are four #10's, four #15's, and four #32's. I guess it is good that they did not use decimal places or three digit numbers. . (As a comparison, Ohio State has 123 players on their roster.)
Another consideration.. U.S. D1 college tennis has morphed into benefiting non-U.S. kids more than U.S. kids. Is your U.S. kid on a team to play, or to be the "U.S. player" on a foreign team?
While there are negatives, there are absolutely many, many benefits to playing college tennis. The coach is going to keep his/her players on task on the court and in the classroom. I doubt that there is a better peer group of friends on campus. Players can improve their tennis games and stay fit. Our son played college tennis and it worked out great for him. While he does not play much tennis anymore, I greatly appreciate his platform tennis skills when he is my partner.
It has always been a bit weird to me, because I will have parents who have never been OTZ members, reach out to me and request that their son or daughter be included in this report. Please don't be that parent..
Every year I tell myself that I will never do this report again. Yet, here we are. Again.
Today's matches include:Columbus Academy (H) versus Dublin Jerome and Dublin Coffman (A) versus Dublin Scioto. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2024
Coffman and NA Beat Indian Hill | Anthony Wayne Defeats Magnificat
It was a busy tennis day that included numerous good dual matches. New Albany and Dublin Coffman both defeated Indian Hill, but IH did not have their best player. #2 Anthony Wayne beat #7 Magnificat. The close, 3-2 matches included: Toledo St. Ursula Academy defeated North Canton Hoover; Notre Dame Academy beat North Canton Hoover; and Magnificat defeated Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. They are coached by David Ramey. They are led by Amy Grace Beebe, Delanie Moore, and Kyla Moore.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2024
Sylvania Northview Beats North Canton Hoover
Thankfully, much of Ohio finally got some rain yesterday. It did impact the tennis schedule though. Just two matches were recorded - Sylvania Northview defeated North Canton Hoover and Loveland beat Lebanon. To view the graphical results, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy Berlin - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Olentangy Berlin. They are coached by Richard Hunt. They are Team Members. They are led by Soleil Cordell, Diya Agochiya, and Riddhi Agarwal.
The Berlin photo is certainly one of the best of the season with the way in which it includes all of the various shades of blue. Note that OTZ did not take this photo. When the photographer is known, it will be included after the copyright. If the photographer is unknown, the copyright will be before OhioTennisZone.com. Given how crazy things are with AI, I do not want to post any team photos without a copyright. Photos taken by OTZ will be identified by © Scott Gerber.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Notre Dame Academy and Anthony Wayne; Indian Hill (A) versus Dublin Coffman and New Albany; and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Toledo St Ursula Academy and Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
Gilmour Academy, Magnificat, Jackson, and CJ Get Big Wins
With the Sectional Draw coming up quickly on September 22, Ohio HS tennis continues to zoom along. In contests that included the state's best teams, Gilmour Academy defeated Hawken; Magnificat beat Hudson; Massillon Jackson defeated Highland; and Chaminade-Julienne beat Seven Hills. CJ's win over 7Hills was an OTCA match.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Orange defeated Hilliard Davidson; Reynoldsburg beat Logan; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Delaware Hayes; Troy beat Miamisburg; Lakeside defeated Riverside Painesville; Eaton beat Carlisle; Pickerington Central defeated Lancaster; and Columbus School For Girls beat Upper Arlington-B. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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States' Top Players |
Among the top players, Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett defeated Olentangy Liberty's Sophia Mattis; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming beat Laurel's Rida Tahir; Magnificat's Anna Mancino defeated Hudson's Mallory Hannan; Gilmour Academy's Abigail Lynch beat Hawken's Dani Forte; Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed defeated Hilliard Davidson's Mackenzie Kline; Chaminade-Julienne's Ansley Violette beat Seven Hills' Daniela Alper; Medina's Megan Nuske defeated Copley's Cassandra Komlanc; Highland's Ally Haynes beat Massillon Jackson's Ashley Helle; Marysville's Linnea Olofsson defeated Dublin Jerome's Ashna Kulkarni; and Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler beat Delaware Hayes' Tavi Steffel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
I have created this graphic for the HS tennis and pickleball seasons for the last few years. While its release this season is about 3-4 weeks later than preferred, I still thought that it was important to do. It is also fun to go back and review graphics done for previous seasons - Girls: 2023, 2022 - Boys: 2023, 2022, 2021. It is difficult to determine the 12 players who should be included. Seniors get the nod if it is close.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Upper Arlington; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Sylvania Northview; and Solon (H) versus Western Reserve Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
Sycamore Beats Chaminade-Julienne
Due primarily to the weather, the number of dual matches recorded on OTZ continues to compare favoriably versus last year's. About 20% more matches have been recorded versus the 2023 season. The Central District has the most matches online at 35% versus the Southwest at 32%, Northeast at 27%, and the Northwest at 6%.
In the biggest match of the evening, Sycamore defeated Chaminade-Julienne. Other close, 3-2 matches included: Worthington Christian defeated Wellington; Loveland beat Springboro; Tippecanoe defeated Eaton; Gahanna beat Lancaster; Bexley defeated Pickerington Central; Massillon Jackson beat Wooster; Watkins Memorial defeated Big Walnut; Hartley beat Canal Winchester; Walsh Jesuit defeated St. Joseph Academy; and Delaware Hayes beat Reynoldsburg. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Anthony Wayne - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Anthony Wayne. They are coached by Jill Feltner. They are Team Members. They are led by Mara Boyd, Jillian To, and Cora Langenderfer.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Hudson; Wooster (A) versus Hawken; and Highland (H) versus Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2024
Big Wins by HB, Magnificat, and Columbus Academy
There were several great matches among the top teams in the state yesterday. They included: Hathaway Brown defeated Orange; Magnificat beat Highland; and Columbus Academy defeated Columbus School For Girls. The HB versus Orange match included three 3-setters, and it was tied 2-2 when the match was clinched on third singles. Orange actually won more games -- 66 games to HB’s 61.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Cincinnati Country Day defeated Loveland; Massillon Jackson beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Medina defeated St. Joseph Academy; Worthington Kilbourne beat Dublin Scioto; and Franklin Heights defeated Grandview; Hilliard Davidson beat Olentangy Liberty; and Greenville defeated West Carrollton. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Columbus Academy - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Columbus Academy. They are coached by Preston Eberlyn. They are Team Members. They are led by Tamanna Arya, Ella Tsao, and Audrey Lu.
Zoey, the dog, will have CCL surgery next week. This is the human equivalent to an ACL. This is apparently a hereditary issue since Mrs. OTZ also had ACL surgery..
Today's matches include: Chaminade-Julienne (H) versus Sycamore; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Olentangy Berlin; and Centerville (A) versus Oakwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2024
Milly
Zoey the dog tore her ACL on Saturday so it is time for the next pet up.. It is time for Milly the Farm Kitty. We found her abandoned by her mother at the Findlay farm on August 18 when we went up to mow. She was meowing profusely. While I was mowing, Milly made a impassioned plea to Mrs. OTZ to come home with us to Columbus. That plea was evidently successful because as I finished mowing, Mrs. OTZ was observed carrying a big basket to our vehicle. As for the name of the kitten, my grandmother was named Mildred, and she loved cats. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done to make Mildred sound cute so OTZ Marketing came up with the name of Milly. (This is the first good idea to come from the OTZ Marketing department in 12 years.)
Milly - Click for video |
While she may get additional responsibilities at some point , Milly is the Director of Extremely Cute Animals. Some may criticize OTZ for what appears to be a blatant DEI hire since we have a dog, but most will agree that Milly satisfies the merit requirements. Zoey's role of being Chief Morale Officer has not changed, but Milly will assist with exercising the OTZ staff, especially as she becomes faster. Hopefully, we'll get Zoey into surgery this week. Please welcome Milly to the OTZ staff.
Milly has been watching this video on a loop for hours as she prepares for her first full ten minutes of work today.
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Columbus-area weather |
This abnormally dry weather has been brutal for farmers but it has been helpful in scheduling matches. Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Highland; Columbus Academy (A) versus Columbus School For Girls; and Oakwood (A) versus Miami Valley School. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2024
OTZ Top Ten Teams: Mason (D1) and Indian Hill (D2) Lead the Rankings
OTZ has been in massive catch-up mode for months. The boys tennis season was not wrapped up properly and neither was the summer pickleball league. While there is still work that must be done with both of those seasons, the girls season was also not properly started. Regular readers may have noticed that there was no OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Team Ranking. While it is too late to have a Pre-Season ranking, there is an early-season OTZ Top Ten Ranking that is being released today.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 2. Anthony Wayne◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 3. New Albany◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown |
| 4. Centerville◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 5. Sycamore◄TEAM | Gilmour Academy◄TEAM |
| 6. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 7. Magnificat◄TEAM | Chaminade-Julienne◄TEAM |
| 8. Hudson◄TEAM | Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy |
| 9. Highland◄TEAM | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 10. Dublin Jerome | Columbus School for Girls◄TEAM |
| HM: Dublin Coffman ◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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This is not a typical ranking. For alert readers who followed the Top Incoming Freshman players information, it was clear that there would be unfamiliar teams added to the rankings this season. There was also a mass exodus of high-quality graduating seniors. Teams that are either much higher than in the past or are new to the list in D1 include: Anthony Wayne, Hudson, and Highland. Unfamiliar D2 teams include: Hawken, Gilmour Academy, Chaminade-Julienne, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Oakwood, and Columbus School for Girls. Click on the above links to become more familiar with these teams.
While Mason is highly favored to win D1, D2 is going to be much closer. The Northeast District D2 is super competitive this year.
OTZ uses the Matrix Report to evaluate teams, but also the super-duper powerful, Top Ten Teams Report. This should be a premium report, but it is currently available for anyone to view. Note that the "percentages" refer to the percentage of games won in that match. If numbers scare you, this is not the report for you..
Numerous teams have been slow to play in good quality matches. Hopefully that will change this week. Expect some teams to move up (or down) quickly because of this. Also note that some coaches do not report all of their teams' matches, and the reason might be because they do not want to "tip off" opposing coaches of their line-ups. Of course, this is maddening to kids (and their parents) who deserve recognition for their efforts. Can you imagine a football coach not reporting touchdowns or yards gained by a star player because they want to hide this information? Yeah, Johnny Quest could have been Ohio's Mr. Football this year, but his coach underreported his yardage to give the team an edge over their battle against Bloomingburg . . Because it might be awkward for you to complain, note that I am more than happy to contact an athletic director if your coach is not reporting scores.
In the past, OTZ has described Twitter (now "X") as largely an entertaining time-sink. That opinion has changed. X has now become the go-to place for news - as long as users follow a variety of sources. Amazingly, free speech is under attack by many western nations, including the U.S. X is the place to get a variety of perspectives often by people who are just like you and me. Of course, always be skeptical of any information that you receive, especially from OhioTennisZone.. Sign-up for X now.
While today's OTZ plans were to watch US Open coverage while working on HS tennis, those plans came to an abrupt end yesterday. DIRECTV and ESPN cut off my access. While I may get more work done today, I will not be happy about it.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
Columbus Academy Beats Massillon Jackson | Magnificat Defeats Toledo SUA
Despite the holiday weekend, there were still numerous matches played yesterday. Columbus Academy defeated Massillon Jackson and Magnificat beat Toledo St. Ursula Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Magnificat - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Magnificat. They are coached by Chris Johnson. They are Team Members. They are led by Anna Mancino, Corinne Daniels, and Margaret Williams.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2024
Delaware Hayes Beats Chillicothe | Oak Hills Defeats Hamilton
It was a quiet evening for tennis and a big night for HS football. Delaware Hayes defeated Chillicothe in the State Team Tournament, and Oak Hills beat Hamilton. To view the results recorded from yesterday in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws
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Westerville Central - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Westerville Central. They are coached by Bradley Baker. They are led by Karina Pingarron, Camryn Pho, and Candice Pho.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (H) versus Massillon Jackson and Lexington; Hilliard Davidson (H) versus Massillon Jackson; and Magnificat (H) versus St. Ursula Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2024
Jerome Beats Coffman | HB Defeats Solon
There were more crazy hot temperatures yesterday. Hopefully temps will reset over the weekend. Dublin Jerome defeated Dublin Coffman and Hathaway Brown beat Solon in two of the bigger matches of the evening. The close, 3-2 matches included: Gahanna defeated Dublin Scioto; Archbishop Alter beat Springboro; Gilmour Academy defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Hudson beat Medina; Olentangy Orange defeated Pickerington North; Copley beat Stow-Munroe Falls; and St. John School defeated Lakeside. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lakeside - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lakeside. They are coached by Spencer Selman. They are led by Ary Toth, Layla Jones, and Jackie Perez.
The plan was to make today a Photo Friday, but today's update went poorly. This weekend will be a massive catch-up effort. The boys season was never finished to my satisfaction. The Top Teams in each division will be ranked. More tennis photos will be posted. I also need to wrap up the summer pickleball season. The daily update process is suddenly not working as it should - why?
Just one match is on the schedule tonight. It is Delaware Hayes (H) versus Chillicothe.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2024
Chaminade-Julienne Beats Springboro | NDCL Defeats CVCA
This miserably hot weather is more condusive to mall-walking than tennis. In two good matches, Chaminade-Julienne defeated Springboro and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. In another close, 3-2 match, Westerville Central defeated Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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DeSales - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is DeSales. They are coached by Arturo Sanabria. They are led by Natalie Everitt, Sanaa Lisath, and Pauline Gyamfi.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Indian Hill; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Solon (H) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2024
Toasty | Orange Beats Magnificat | New Albany Defeats Coffman
Last night was a toasty evening and today will be worst. Some teams will adjust their schedules to avoid the heat. Today's high in Central Ohio is expected to be 95 degrees. In the two biggest matches yesterday, Orange defeated Magnificat and New Albany beat Dublin Coffman. The close, 3-2 matches included: Carroll defeated Stebbins; Ashland beat Wooster; London defeated Kenton Ridge; Springboro beat Miamisburg; and Northwestern defeated Kenton Ridge. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Sylvania Northview - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Sylvania Northview. They are coached by Mark Fisher. They are led by Maddie Peisley, Reese Lambert, and Claire Lapointe.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Sycamore; Chaminade-Julienne (A) versus Springboro; and Dublin Jerome (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Always check first to insure that there are no scheduling changes.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2024
Orange Beats Hawken | High Temps
The state continues to get hit with excessive heat. Please stay safe out there. In match play, two of the top teams in D2 faced off yesterday and Orange defeated Hawken. The close, 3-2 matches included: Whetstone defeated Hilliard Darby; Aurora beat Copley; Lakeside defeated Jefferson Area; and North Canton Hoover beat Uniontown Lake. In the State Team Tournament, Oakwood defeated Cincinnati Country Day. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Notre Dame Academy - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Notre Dame Academy. They are coached by Kim Pacella. They are Team Members. They are led by Nora Johnson, Catherine Tohme, and Hannah Tam.
After geting tied up with other things on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, this will finally be a day where I can focus on OTZ for much of the day.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (H) versus New Albany; Indian Hill (A) versus Mariemont; and Olentangy Orange (A) versus Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2024
Hot Dry Weather
While the dry weather has been helpful from a tennis match perspective, it has not been good for farmers and lawn enthusiasts. Hopefully, we will get a break from the hot dry conditions this week.
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Avon - Click to team page |
A few coaches used the weekend to catch-up on scores. These results are not mentioned in the daily update, but they are included in the team reports. To view all of the results, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are led by Ashley DeHaven, Maddie Heun, and Teresa Sherwood.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus St. Joseph Academy; Marysville (A) versus Hilliard Davidson; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2024
NA > Sycamore > Perrysburg
There were several interesting dual matches yesterday. Perrysburg and Sycamore traveled to New Albany for the contests. New Albany defeated Sycamore; Sycamore beat Perrysburg; and New Albany defeated Perrysburg. To view the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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New Albany - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is New Albany. They are coached by Marc Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Airi Clements, Ella Smith, and Valentina Suslova.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2024
Seven Hills Beats Tippecanoe in State Team Tournament
It was a quiet evening as high school football kicked into gear. Football is another sport that is played in the fall. Matches from last night included: Hudson defeated St. Joseph Academy; Turpin beat Loveland; and Seven Hills defeated Tippecanoe. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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London - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is London. They are coached by Alisha Nolan. They are led by Calleigh Cameron and Alaina Tate. London is west of Columbus.
Wish I could check out some matches today, but we are off to work at our Findlay farm. It will be a beautiful day to do that, too.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (A) versus New Albany and Perrysburg and Magnificat (T) versus Canfield. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2024
Highland Beats Kenston | Indian Hill Defeats Oakwood | Photo Friday
More great weather yesterday meant a time-consuming OTZ update this morning. There were 41 scores added. Since high school football begins tonight, there will be very few matches reported tomorrow. In the biggest matches of the evening, Highland defeated Kenston and Indian Hill beat Oakwood. The close, 3-2 matches included: Ready defeated Grandview; Seven Hills beat Seton; Thomas Worthington defeated Canal Winchester; Bexley beat Buckeye Valley; and Olentangy Liberty defeated Worthington Kilbourne. This is generally the time of the season where there are more one-sided league matches. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Coffman's Lauren Burkett - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Indian Hill's Martha Thompson defeated Oakwood's Mila Gelbart; Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett beat Watterson's Julia Caravella; Badin's Caroline Boyle defeated Chaminade-Julienne's Ansley Violette; Kenston's Brooke McNeal beat Highland's Ally Haynes; St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon defeated Mount Notre Dame's Charlotte Scharfenberger; North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil beat Brecksville's Sophia Liu; Upper Arlington's Alexa Roth defeated Olentangy's Harshini Mallipeddi; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard beat Marysville's Linnea Olofsson; Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco defeated Toledo Central Catholic's Jordan Traver; Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler beat Olentangy Liberty's Ferritto; Notre Dame Academy's Nora Johnson defeated Ottawa Hills' Bryn Tangeman; Miamisburg’s Sophie Jovanov beat Archbishop Alter’s Annie Schaefer; Pickerington Central's Sasha Bondartsuk defeated Columbus School For Girls' Priya Mehta; Seven Hills' Daniela Alper beat Seton's Bain; and Canal Winchester's Ava Griggs defeated Thomas Worthington's Neela Ramachandran. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is an OTZ Photo Friday. More photos will be added throughout the day. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (H) versus Tippecanoe. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2024
Mason Beats Indian Hill | Hathaway Brown Defeats Magnificat
In the marquis matches of the evening, Mason defeated Indian Hill; Hathaway Brown beat Magnificat; and Centerville defeated Chaminade-Julienne. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Lakota East; Bloom-Carroll beat Canal Winchester; and St. Joseph Academy defeated Beaumont. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Reynoldsburg - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Reynoldsburg. They are coached by Les Somogyi. They are led by Riley Elliott, Kayla Kitchen, and Zebeba Hassan.
For teams that purchased OTZ Team Memberships, the Player Profiles have been created for these players. Setting up profiles for individual members will be on the agenda today. If the profiles have not been setup for your team, please email me.
Today's matches include: Oakwood (H) versus Indian Hill; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Watterson; and St. Joseph Academy (A) versus Hudson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2024
Orange Defeats Solon | By-Court Report
The ideal weather continues. Among the better teams, Orange defeated Solon. The close, 3-2 matches included: Madison Senior defeated Eaton; Lancaster beat Worthington Kilbourne; Oak Hills defeated Turpin; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy beat Hudson; and Hilliard Bradley defeated Grove City. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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By-Court Report- Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard defeated Columbus School For Girls' Priya Mehta; Highland's Ally Haynes beat Medina's Megan Nuske; Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya defeated Olentangy Liberty's Sophia Mattis; Hudson’s Emma Liu beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe; and Orange's Ivy Berlin defeated Solon's Victoria Dai. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The OTZ By-Court Report is now operational for the season. It provides a list of the players with the best performance at each court position. This report is used to help identify the top players.
Today will be consumed with setting up OTZ Player Profiles. If you have purchased a Player Profile and it is not setup by the end of the evening, please submit a Feedback.
Today's matches include: Indian Hill (A) versus Mason; Chaminade-Julienne (H) versus Centerville; and Magnificat (A) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2024
Massillon Jackson Beats North Canton Hoover
Players welcomed fall temperatures and a full match schedule yesterday. There were 23 matches recorded. Massillon Jackson defeated North Canton Hoover in one of the better matches. Other 3-2 matches included: Archbishop Alter defeated Beavercreek; Summit Country Day beat Loveland; Northmont defeated Troy; Eaton beat Bellbrook; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin defeated Solon; and Granville beat Whetstone. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Massillon Jackson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Massillon Jackson. They are coached by Brett Marlowe. They are Team Members. They are led by: Ashley Helle, Halle Smith, and Isha Nagajothi.
Finding more time to work on OTZ has been difficult to do, but a little more time is starting to be freed up now that the Cincinnati Open is over and the PickleballZone.com league has finished for the season. We had to work at the Findlay farm yesterday where we picked up a baby kitten that had been abandoned. OTZ dog, Zoey, is pretty excited about it.
Today's matches include: Solon (H) versus Orange; Hudson (A) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (A) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OTZ-Enhanced Girls State Team Draws
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws are now available. The goal is to keep these updated through-out the season by giving fans an easy way to provide updates.
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State Team Tournament Draws - Click to go to draws |
A link to the draws is available at the top of this page and it will remain there throughout the season. As with everything else on OTZ, the goal is to enable high school tennis fans to quickly obtain the information they need rather than to maximize OTZ clicks and page views. For those new to this report, make sure that you are familiar with the information / tools listed in the red call-outs. For the best experience, sign-in to OTZ first.
While there is an overall downward trend on the number of participating schools in the tournament, there are four more teams this year (110) versus last (106). While the other Districts had the same or lower number of teams, the Northeast District has five more teams.
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State Team Tournament Participation- Click to enlarge |
As shown in the graph, Southwest and Northeast have the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 373 (up from 372 last year) OHSAA girls tennis teams, 29.4% of the teams are competing in this tournament. Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing.
This year, the Central District teams will play the Southwest teams in the first round of the State Team Tournament, while the Northeast will play the Northwest. If there are insufficient courts available for all teams to play (likely), Division I will go on court first.
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Columbus-area weather |
Ohio tennis will get a break from the weather this week. Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus North Canton Hoover; Hudson (A) versus Copley; and Solon (H) versus Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2024
Anthony Wayne Wins Eagles Invitational
Yesterday was a big tournament day. Lancaster won the Watkins Memorial Invite and Watkins Memorial came in second. The Eagles Invite was won by Anthony Wayne and New Albany was second. There was just one dual match reported - Upper Arlington-B defeated Centerville-B. To view the results recorded in graphical form from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Stearns in '16 - Click to enlarge |
Stearns in '24 |
It is always fun to compare players from past to present. The first photo of Peyton Stearns is from the Midwest Close Qualifiers in Upper Arlington from July 2016. The second (and the larger image below) is from her match on Wednesday. Sadly there is no longer a need for the Qualifier because the low participation numbers no longer require it, and this happened before the pickeball craze.
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Peyton Stearns - Click to enlarge |
The draws for the OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament are listed above. There will be more on that tomorrow.
Emails are coming at me like bullets in The Matrix. I hope to start making a dent with replies beginning tonight.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2024
Anthony Wayne Beats New Albany
Weather impacted high school play as well as at the Cincinnati Open yesterday. In the biggest match of the day, Anthony Wayne defeated New Albany. Other matches included Copley defeated North Royalton; St. Joseph Academy beat Lake Ridge Academy; and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Geneva. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Sycamore's Andrew Wittenbaum - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Anthony Wayne's Mara Boyd defeated New Albany's Airi Clements; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe beat Geneva's Zheng; and Copley's Cassandra Komlanc defeated North Royalton's Fronee. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Volunteers contribute immeasurably to the success of the Cincinnati Open. In today's photo, Sycamore grad, Andrew Wittenbaum served as a ball runner and helped with after match activities.
Today's matches is going to be a big tournament day. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2024
Wooster, HB, Hudson, and IH Earn Wins | OTZ Photo Friday
In the biggest matches of the evening, Indian Hill defeated Columbus Academy; Hathaway Brown beat Hawken; Wooster defeated North Canton Hoover; and Hudson beat Massillon Jackson. The close, 3-2 matches included: Brecksville defeated Avon; Ready beat Franklin Heights; Big Walnut defeated DeSales; Marysville beat Delaware Hayes; Dublin Scioto defeated Thomas Worthington; and Wheelersburg beat Chillicothe. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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UA's Alice Hawley - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Indian Hill's Martha Thompson defeated Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya; Hawken's Dani Forte beat Hathaway Brown's Anna Mills; Wooster's Ava Mathur defeated North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming beat St. Joseph Academy's Melanie Statsevych; Centerville's Elise Hedrick defeated Miami Valley School's Ginevra Muratori; Loveland's Marlee Fleming beat Anderson's Marlo Regan; Hudson’s Emma Liu defeated Massillon Jackson’s Ashley Helle; and Indian Hill's Caroline Brown beat Columbus Academy's Ella Tsao. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. Note that there were a few adjustments made yesterday to the lists.
This is an OTZ Photo Friday. There were 19 photos added yesterday. These and other photos will be posted soon so that they can be purchased by caring parents and grandparents. In an attempt to try something new that will promote more photo sales, purchasers can take off an extra 10% off an already low price if they purchase photos within one week of the posting. Despite the high inflation, OTZ photo prices have not changed for a decade. Sign-in first and click the following link to view the Most Recently Added Photos.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Hawken and St. Joseph Academy (H) versus Lake Ridge Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2024
Magnificat Beats Solon | CSG Defeats Pick. North
It looks like the weather will hold for today, but the rest of the week looks dicey. Hopefully this will not greatly impact the Cincinnati Open. In two of the bigger matches from yesterday, Magnificat defeated Solon and Columbus School For Girls beat Pickerington North.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Troy defeated Beavercreek-B; Hilliard Bradley beat Delaware Hayes; DeSales defeated Grove City; Archbishop Hoban beat St. Joseph Academy; and Newark defeated Cambridge. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Newark - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay defeated St. Joseph Academy's Melanie Statsevych; Magnificat's Anna Mancino beat Solon's Isabella Liu; Wooster's Ava Mathur defeated Highland's Ally Haynes; Columbus School For Girls' Priya Mehta beat Pickerington North's Poeppelman; Copley's Cassandra Komlanc defeated Chippewa's Kirkhart; Orange's Ivy Berlin beat Beachwood's Zoller; and Hilliard Bradley’s Shriya Reddy defeated Delaware Hayes' Tavi Steffel.Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. They are led by Maria Arnold, Lydia Sears, and Julia Fitterer. The Newark area is playing a big role with the new Intel plant.
Tomorrow is an OTZ Photo Friday. Photos from high school matches from last weekend and the Cincinnati Open will be included.
Today's matches include: Indian Hill (H) versus Columbus Academy; Wooster (A) versus North Canton Hoover; and Hudson (A) versus Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2024
Mason Beats Anthony Wayne | Magnificat Defeats NDCL
Teams continue to crank through as many matches as they can prior to school starting. The marquis matches of the night included: Mason defeated Anthony Wayne and Magnificat beat Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and Solon defeated North Canton Hoover. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hilliard Darby beat Big Walnut; Westlake defeated St. Joseph Academy; Nordonia beat Lakeside; Columbus Academy defeated St. Ursula Academy; and Hawken beat Massillon Jackson. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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North Canton Hoover - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Mason's Addison Cassidydefeated Anthony Wayne's Mara Boyd; Hawken's Dani Forte beat Massillon Jackson's Ashley Helle; Orange's Genevieve Hayden defeated Hudson's Emma Liu; North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil beat Solon's Isabella Liu; Olentangy Berlin's Soleil Cordell defeated Pickerington Central's Sasha Bondartsuk; Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya beat St. Ursula Academy's Maddie Rueve; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Magnificat's Anna Mancino; Sycamore's Lisa Kai beat Walnut Hills' Irisa Poompanit; Chaminade-Julienne's Ansley Violette defeated Bexley's Gabby Theile; St. Joseph Academy’s Melanie Statsevych beat Westlake’s Paige Hradek; Gahanna's Daniela Guzman defeated Reynoldsburg's Riley Elliott; Mason’s Pratyusha Chaudhuri beat Anthony Wayne's Cora Langenderfer; North Canton Hoover's Ema Papcke defeated Solon's Ioffe; and Sycamore's Allison Sayles beat Walnut Hills' Goodman. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is North Canton Hoover. They are coached by Kay McHolm. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Addison Sheil, Ema Papcke, and Maria Wadley.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Solon; Columbus School For Girls (A) versus Pickerington North; and Highland (H) versus Wooster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024
Centerville Beats Oak Hills
The weather was perfect again as Centerville defeated Oak Hills in one of last night's bigger contests. The close, 3-2 matches included: Watkins Memorial defeated Gahanna; North Canton Hoover beat St. Joseph Academy; Centerville-B defeated Butler; and Chaminade-Julienne beat Summit Country Day. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Orange - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Orange. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are Team Members. They are led by Genevieve Hayden, Ivy Berlin, and Lily Guiler. Hayden and Berlin are players who were featured on the Top Incoming Freshman list.
Today's matches include: Chaminade-Julienne (A) versus Bexley; Columbus Academy (A) versus St. Ursula Academy; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Hawken; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Solon; and Magnificat (H) versus Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2024
First Full Week of Play
Coaches will scramble to play as many matches as they can before school begins. Thankfully, the weather will cooperate for at least some of the week. To view all of the results recorded from Saturday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Chaminade-Julienne - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Chaminade-Julienne. They are coached by Jim Brooks. They are Team Members. They are led by: Paige Harsman, Ansley Violette, and Francesca Gongora.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Oak Hills; Chaminade-Julienne (A) versus Summit Country Day; Copley (H) versus Cloverleaf; and Highland (A) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Columbus-area weather |
Many teams travel to Mason to watch the Cincinnati Open and to play Cincinnati-area teams this week. OTZ is going to the tournament today. Please say "hi" if you see me.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2024
Orange Beats New Albany | Sycamore Defeats Magnificat
It was an especially busy day for tournaments along with a few interesting dual matches thrown into the mix. Hathaway Brown won the highly competitive Columbus School for Girls dubs tournament. Gilmour Academy was second. Delaware Hayes won its own tournament, and Marysville was second. Chaminade-Julliene won the CJ Invite, and Seven Hills came in second place. Reynoldsburg had a doubles tournament, and Watkins Memorial, Westerville Central, and Gahanna all tied for first.
In the big dual matches, Orange defeated New Albany; Magnificat beat St. Ursula Academy; Upper Arlington defeated North Canton Hoover; and Sycamore beat Magnificat. To view all of the dual match results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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NCH's Addison Sheil - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Orange’s Genevieve Hayden defeated New Albany's Airi Clements; North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil beat Upper Arlington's Alexa Roth; Magnificat's Anna Mancino defeated St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon and Sycamore's Lisa Kai; North Canton Hoover's Ema Papcke beat Upper Arlington's Alice Hawley; Wooster's Ava Mathur defeated Columbian's Leah Weinberg; and Worthington Kilbourne's Tyra Butler beat Marysville's Linnea Olofsson.
OTZ still needs plenty of changes before it is fully operational for the 2024 season. It will be soon enough though. Yes, yes, it will.. (Click for demo.) Going to the CSG tournament, the UA versus North Canton Hoover match, and NA versus Orange match did not help in this effort. I also now have about 700 photos to review, including perhaps some of your likely wonderful daughter.
Today's photo is of North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil that was taken during their match against Upper Arlington.
Speaking of tournaments - today is our last big event for our PickleballZone.com league. It is an end-of-season tournament for players who have not had many opportunities to play during the regular season. It is being hosted by Paddle Taps. After we wrap this up, my time can shift more into high school tennis-mode.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
Hathaway Brown Beats New Albany
The interesting (and challenging) part about the girls season is that it beats a Tesla in a 0-60mph comparison. Things started with a flurry yesterday. Among the marquis teams, Hathaway Brown defeated New Albany and Centerville beat Notre Dame Academy.
Other matches included: St. Joseph Academy defeated Aurora; London beat Grandview; Brunswick defeated Copley; and Marysville beat Grove City. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. |
Marysville - Click to team page |
Among the top players, New Albany's Airi Clements defeated Hathaway Brown's Anna Mills; Centerville's Elise Hedrick beat Notre Dame Academy's Nora Johnson; Hathaway Brown's Ava Kamensky defeated New Albany's Ella Smith; and Chaminade-Julienne’s Ansley Violette beat Northmont’s Bradwell.
Today's featured team is Marysville. They are coached by William Romine. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Linnea Olofsson, Natalie Fair, and Mae Archy.
There are numerous system-related changes that need to be made now that the girls season is "live". It will take a couple of days to make the transition.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Sycamore and St. Ursula Academy and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2024
Match Play Begins Today
The season begins under perfect weather conditions today. There are a few matches scheduled today and numerous tournaments taking place tomorrow.
This is the "ugly duckling" portion of the season for OhioTennisZone because last year's data will soon be removed. This will cause the site to look rather empty. Last year's graduates will also soon be removed.
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Oakwood - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Oakwood. They are coached by Christy Heppner. They are Team Members. While line-ups are likely still in flux, early season contributors for Oakwood are expected to be Lilly Rich and Niobe Beiersdorfer.
Oakwood was also the first team to take advantage of a new utility to upload team photos. All OTZ Member coaches now have the ability to do this.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Notre Dame Academy; Copley (A) versus Brunswick; and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Lexington and Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
The Season Started.. Today!
The OHSAA Girls Season started today with coaching, and matches begin next Friday. It has been a quick summer.. Today's posting includes a variety of items. It provides: the key dates for the season; OTZ member information; why Top 10 teams are encouraged to be OTZ Team Members; and why graduates are still included on team rosters.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Aug. 1 (Th): First Day of Coaching |
| Aug. 9 (F): High School Match Play Begins |
| Aug. 3 (Sa) - 11 (Su): USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 16-18 National Championships |
| Aug. 24 (Sa): SAT Test Date |
| Sep. 3 (T): Non-Interscholastic Date |
| Sep. 14 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
| Sep. 16 (M): Waiver Extension Ends |
| Oct. 2 (W) - 4 (F): Rosh Hashanah |
| Sep. 22 (Su): Sectional Draw |
| Sep. 30 (M) - Oct. 5 (Sa): Sectional Tournament |
| Oct. 5 (Sa): SAT Test Date |
| Oct. 7 (M) - 12 (Sa): District Tournament |
| Oct. 11 (F) - 12 (Sa): Yom Kippur |
| Oct. 17 (Th) - 18 (F): State Tournament |
| Oct. 19? (Sa): State Team Tournament |
| Oct. 26 (Sa): HS Season Ends |
| Oct. 26 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
The key dates for the season are included in the table. It also includes testing dates, holidays, and, of course, the key OHSAA dates. This calendar will remain in the right-side navigation bar during the entire season. Note that this is not the official schedule -- always check with your coach on the most important dates.
If you are currently an OTZ Member, there is no need to go through the sign-up process again for OhioTennisZone. Please just mail or PayPal your payment to OhioTennisZone.com. Click the link for the OTZ PayPal info.
OTZ will soon post its Pre-Season Top 10 Team lists after it is clear where players are going to attend school and which girls are playing high school tennis.
It is highly encouraged that the OTZ Top 10 teams become OTZ Team Members. OhioTennisZone provides the teams in the Top 10 with a great deal of recognition and coverage. This recognition is very helpful because many middle school kids follow OTZ and they want to be a part of a program which has a winning tradition. It is a complete no-brainer for private schools to be team members because attracting strong tennis players also means more tuition dollars for the school, but it also makes sense for public schools, too. Consider an OTZ Team Membership as the cheapest and most effective advertisement that you can buy, plus it is focused on the absolute perfect audience for your program. Click on Join OTZ for more information about being a team, coach, or individual OTZ member.
Note that graduates are still included on rosters. Many fans like to see which players have graduated. Note to coaches - OTZ will remove the graduates as match play begins. It is unnecessary for coaches to remove them.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024
Top Incoming Freshman Girls
This is the annual list of Ohio's best incoming freshman girls. Most of these players will start to make an impact on their varsity teams tomorrow.
Using TennisRecruiting.net (TRN), OTZ has identified the top 20(ish) freshman graders in Ohio. Of course, it is also important to know which schools these players are attending. It is normally easy to identify a few schools based on player names, but many of these players do not have older sisters (or brothers) who play tennis. This is where you jump in and help out. (You can do this.) Please submit a Feedback with your valued information. Note that this list includes an update date at the top of the table because this table will be updated frequently.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | Incoming School |
| Ivy Berlin - 2 | Cleveland (NE) | Orange |
| Makenzie Fearon - 2 | Massillon (NE) | Massillon Perry |
| Isabel Fusonie - 4 | Columbus (C) | 8th Grader |
| Renee Harper - 4 | Cincinnati (SW) | Oak Hills |
| Genevieve Hayden - 4 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | Orange |
| Rithi Hegde - 2 | Hudson (NE) | Hudson |
| Caroline Koch - 4 | Gates Mills (NE) | Gilmour Academy |
| Emma Liu - 3 | Hudson (NE) | Hudson |
| Elle Mikula - 2 | Cincinnati (SW) | |
| Nayonika Mittal - 1 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Grier Peckham - 3 | Hunting Valley (NE) | Gilmour Academy |
| Vanmayi Podili - 2 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Meher Rao - 4 | Powell (C) | Olentangy Liberty |
| Paige Schlageter - 2 | Sylvania (NW) | 8th Grader |
| Ava Scott - 4 | Worthington (C) | |
| Bhavana Singidi - 2 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Jillian To - 2 | Maumee (NW) | Anthony Wayne |
| Ella Tsao - 2 | Columbus (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Ansley Violette - 3 | Dayton (SW) | Chaminade-Julienne |
| Ella Workinger - 3 | Shaker Heights (NE) | Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin |
| Jenna Zhang - 2 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
The list is sorted alphabetically and the Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
In comparison to the class of 2027 (currently sophomores), this group has better skills on average. The TRN average star ranking is 2.64 versus 2.36 last year and 2.68 the previous year. The number of tournament played averages 17.5 this year versus 13.75 last year and 14.64 during the previous year's group.
TRN has to make guesses on class years unless a player has entered this information on the TRN system. Some are likely be to rising eighth graders.
While there are some players / parents who believe that participating in high school tennis is not worthwhile, none of the players on the list are in that super elite (i.e. Caty McNally) category. Hopefully all of these players will be included on a team.
Of the 22 players on the list, the Central District has four, Northeast - eight, Northwest - two, and Southwest - eight.
Speaking of Tennis Recruiting.net, now is always the time to update player contact information on TennisRecruiting.net. This is the service that many college coaches use to reach out to prospective recruits.
TUESDAY,
OHSAA Tournament Championship Points
All of the championship points were captured this year, but it was close. . It is difficult when matches end at about the same time. I was setup for D1 Doubles to finish first, but D1 Singles did instead. D1 Singles finished at 2:04 and D1 Dubs at 2:10.
The vantage points were not ideal. Another camera with a different camera lens was used this year during this boys championship. The same setup was used during the girls last fall. It provided a wider perspective versus last year's States. Next year, I hope to equip my camera setup with a missile system to stop others from wandering in front of the camera. (Hopefully I don't get in other people's way when I take images. I try hard not to do so. That's one reason why I normally sit on the actual court.)
Player photos were included at the end of the videos. There was also an extra point added when possible.
For best results, use full screen mode and increase the resolution to HD (for high definition)..
Crank up the volume so that co-workers (or neighbors) stop by your office cube to see what is going on.
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Division I Singles: St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer defeated New Albany's Abhinav Dandu. |
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Division I Doubles: Sycamore's Nicholas Choo - Chase Klugo beat St. Xavier's Chase Homan - Nihal Narisetty. |
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Division II Singles: Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Pepper Pike Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu. |
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Division II Doubles: Lexington's Dylan Catanese - Ethan Remy beat Pepper Pike Orange's Gabi Kalir - Ace Bloom. |
There are always some scoring snafus found by coaches as they begin to print off their end-of-season reports. If results are incorrect, please provide:
- the *incorrect* match information. The error first needs to be located in the database and there are a zillion scores. Please include the date, the name(s) of all of the player(s) and their schools, and the score.
- then provide the correct match information which includes all of the above, but with the correct information
If the commentary is incorrect, please provide *when* the commentary was in error, the erroneous comments, and what it should be. Screen shots are always helpful.
Please keep in mind there are quite a few moving parts. The players could have reported the wrong score, the coach could have recorded it incorrectly, the newspaper may have posted it incorrectly, or maybe, just possibly, OTZ could have made an error.
I now switch to photo-processing mode.
SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2024
State Team Champions: Sycamore D1 | Indian Hill D2
Congratulations to Sycamore and Indian Hill for winning the State Team Tournament for Division I and Division II, respectively. Sycamore beat Olentangy Orange in the finals while Indian Hill defeated Orange. This was the third in a row for Sycamore. Indian Hill last won the championship in 2022. Indian Hill also won the Girls Team Tournament last fall.
In the 3rd / 4th match-ups, Columbus Academy defeated Lexington and Massillon Jackson beat Anthony Wayne. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
After an amazing run, Sycamore's great group of seniors is graduating. The other D1 teams are no doubt happily wishing them a fond farewell.
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Sycamore D1 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Indian Hill D2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
Surprising everyone, the weather did not force the tournament indoors. Rain had been expected on Saturday throughout the week.
While it was great for the fans, the hot sunny weather certainly took its toll on the players. Many were exhausted after the third day in a row of grueling competition and hot temperatures. (Ok. Again. Next year don't wear black shirts even though they look great.)
The photos will be processed soon but not today. We are once again about to leave for Findlay to work on the farm.
SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2024
Congratulations to the State Champions
Congratulations to all of the players who competed yesterday and especially to the State Champions. Conditions were perfect for playing and watching. Play finished at approximately 3:00pm. (The finish times for previous years were 2:25pm in 2023 and 3:15pm in 2022.)
Click for the final OTZ Enhanced State Tournament Draws.
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St. Xavier's Dwyer - Click to enlarge |
Sycamore's Choo-Klugo |
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Bexley's Lessard |
Lexington's Catanese-Remy |
The State champions and the finalists are:
Division I Singles: St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer defeated New Albany's Abhi Dandu.
Division I Doubles: Sycamore's Nicholas Choo - Chase Klugo beat St. Xavier's Chase Homan - Nihal Narisetty.
Division II Singles: Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu.
Division II Doubles: Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese beat Orange's Gabi Kalir - Ace Bloom.
The State Team Tournament takes place today. Last year's State Team Tournament took place on Sunday. That provided a welcomed rest for the players who competed during the second day of the State Tournament. Hopefully the players hold up ok today. Fingers are crossed with the weather.
Pictures from the State Tournament will be available for viewing soon.
FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2024
States Day #2
The weather was as perfect yesterday as it was rainy for most of the season. There was some great tennis yesterday.
In the "My District is Better than Your District" Compeition, this was not a Kentucky Derby-like photo finish. The Southwest led the pack of semi-finalists by a horse or two. They were: Southwest: 8 (50%), Central: 4 (40%), Northeast: 3 (14%), and Northwest: 1 (8%). In the paratheses are the the semi-finalists divided by States Spots. For example, Southwest received 16 spots for States and eight of those spots yielded semi-finalists.
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Hudson's Henrique Sa - Click to enlarge |
Of those still in the singles competition, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Shawnee's Gabe Burke and Hudson's Henrique Sa; St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer beat GlenOak's Dylan Wiles and New Albany's Jackson Clements; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Hawken's Axel Neely and Heartland Christian's Cooper Grim; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu beat Bryan's Landon Bassett and Columbus Academy's Nason Lo; Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Perkins' Chase Young and Northwestern's Aiden Yeager; New Albany's Abhi Dandu beat Avon's Luke LeMaster and Springboro's Rishi Dore; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand defeated Revere's Finn Keenan and Sycamore's Dhruv Kota; and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak beat Lexington's Cooper Remy and Marietta's Max Navarro Steffen.
The players in the semi-finals are:
Division I Singles:
New Albany's Abhi Dandu, Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer, and Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers.
Division I Doubles:
Sycamore's Nicholas Choo - Chase Klugo, Sycamore's Andrew Wittenbaum - Arjun Rajagopala, St. Xavier's Chase Homan - Nihal Narisetty; and Westlake's Rohit Jain - Xander Jhaveri.
Division II Singles:
Bexley's Henry Lessard, Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak.
Division II Doubles:
Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Lucas Xue; Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger - Neelan Gandhi; Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese; and Orange's Gabi Kalir - Ace Bloom.
I am about to leave from Columbus. See you at States.
THURSDAY,
Ready to Roll for States
On with the show, this is it. As the season starts each spring, getting to States was the goal. For those who made it, congratulations. Now let's see if you can make it to Day 2..
The OTZ draws are ready to roll and they will be updated throughout the day. To make things more convenient, save OhioTennisZone.com/draws on your smart phone now.
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OTZ Draws - Click to draws |
This is the first season for the boys to be at Wooster. Wooster did a very good job with the girls last fall when it was not raining, and the Aspen Racquet Club turned out to be a great, rain day solution. Hopefully rain will not be an issue today. The grass parking lot; however, may be a problem today if it rained too much last night. Sensible shoes may be a better choice today.
Even though the boys have had an opportunity to get acclimated to the heat this spring, include a light colored shirt in your son's tennis bag. There have been too many times when players have had to withdraw due to heat-related issues. In almost all of these cases, the player was wearing a black or dark shirt.
I will be taking action photos today. If you want a photo of your son, please email me or send me a Feedback. It is unclear how much demand there will be so please contact me quickly.
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Wooster-area weather |
The competitors today are:
State Qualifiers (seed order)
Central Division I
Singles: New Albany's Abhi Dandu, New Albany's Jackson Clements, Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand, and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough.
Doubles: New Albany's Ben Bilenko - Tyler Thomas; Olentangy Liberty's Krish Badri - Arya Badri; Olentangy's Sujan Sriram - Gavin Cheung; and Upper Arlington's Keshav Goyal - Jackson Lloyd
Central Division II
Singles: Bexley's Henry Lessard and Columbus Academy's Nason Lo.
Doubles: Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Lucas Xue and Bexley's Sam Lessard - Oscar Ramsden.
Northeast Division I
Singles: Hudson's Henrique Sa, Revere's Finn Keenan, Solon's Zach Krantz, Avon's AJ Sidoti, GlenOak's Dylan Wiles, and Avon's Luke LeMaster.
Doubles: Westlake's Rohit Jain - Xander Jhaveri; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram, - Shiv Nagajothi; Walsh Jesuit's Charlie Kealy- Michael Vallone; Massillon Jackson's Ishan Tripathy - Larson Sutula; North Royalton's Arnav Gopinath; and Archbishop Hoban's Jack Slay - Jeremy Hammel.
Northeast Division II
Singles: Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu, University School's Dean Kirchick, Heartland Christian's Cooper Grim, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Ben McKnight, and Hawken's Axel Neely.
Doubles: Orange's Gabi Kalir - Ace Bloom; Orange's Gabriel Guiler - Adam Saab; University School's Rohit Talasila - Vishwum Kapadia; University School's Cole Kirchick - Lucas Weidenbecher; and Hawken's Tyler Snyder - Anthony Piazza.
Northwest Division I
Singles: St. Francis DeSales' Nick Miller and Shawnee's Gabe Burke.
Doubles: Sylvania Southview's Isaac and Landon Vens and Findlay's Sam Swisher - Aaron Miller.
Northwest Division II
Singles: Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse, Lexington's Cooper Remy, Perkins' Chase Young, and Bryan's Landon Bassett.
Doubles: Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese; Ontario's Hector Sanchez Vidal - Pablo Sanchez Vidal; Lexington's Karl Etzel - Owan Gongwer; and Ottawa Hills' Savith Vijendra - Chris Thompson.
Southwest Division I
Singles: St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer, Springboro's Rishi Dore, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers, and Sycamore's Dhruv Kota.
Doubles: Sycamore's Nicholas Choo - Chase Klugo,; Sycamore's Andrew Wittenbaum, - Arjun Rajagopala,; St. Xavier's Chase Homan - Nihal Narisetty; Springboro's Drew Baumgartner - Peyton Nelson.
Southwest Division II
Singles: Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, Indian Hill's Jack Pollock, Seven Hills' Adi Nayak, and Northwestern's Aiden Yeager.
Doubles: Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger - Neelan Gandhi; Seven Hills' Gavin Isakov - Chinmay Machavaram; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce, and Indian Hill's Michael Ryu - Eshaan Gandhi.
Southeast Division II:
Singles: Marietta's Max Navarro Steffen
Doubles: Unioto's Lucas Hanes - Mason Thornsberry.
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4 Equal State Spots for States Wrestling |
Wrestling has had four equal State spots for each District forever. It is time to ask the wrestlers for help in figuring out tennis. The two sports are extremely similar from a seeding perspective and from a competitor versus competitor standpoint. The unequal State spots situation is bad for the kids and bad for tennis. Obviously, having one spot for a major metro area, such as Columbus, makes less than zero sense. Note the 106# weight class for D1 wrestling where each District (HD-Central, HO-Northeast, KF-Southwest, and PB-Northwest) have four seeds. Having five, number one seeds in D2 tennis never made any sense.
The field is set for the State Team Tournament that takes place on Saturday in Wooster. In the first round, Central District teams play the Northeast District, and Southwest plays the Northwest. D2 takes the court first. The teams are:
Central D1 / D2:
Olentangy Orange and Columbus Academy
Northeast D1 / D2:
Northwest D1 / D2:
Southwest D1 / D2:
Sycamore and Indian Hill
See you at States.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Video of Its Top Picks for the State Championships
It is time for another OhioTennisZone video. This video recognizes the players who are OTZ's top picks for States. The video uses a combination of OTZ action photos and videos that were taken over the last two years. Hope you find it to be interesting and informative. This will also help match a name with a face for those who attend States.
Click for OTZ Top Picks for States - Click for video |
Time frames are always super tight in creating these videos. This video was hammered out last night and super early this morning. Taping began at about 9:00pm, and it was done in one take. The player photos and videos were added after that. I doubt that I ever will, but I would like to get to a 95% ok video level. This one is probably about 80-90%. It is really hard to become proficient in something that is done just three or four times a year, but I will keep trying...
The goal was to make this a five minute video, and amazingly, it came in at 4:50.
Normally there are a few more photos of Southwest District players, but the AP tests delayed the start times of numerous matches with some starting after 4pm. At one point, OTZ traveled to the Northeast District D2 tournament, but when that outdoor tournament became more of an indoor tournament, I stopped going. Photos taken indoors are pretty bad.
For a better viewing experience, please click on the little gear thingy and select 1080p60 HD. The screen can also be enlarged by clicking on the partially completed "square".
Google will likely include advertisements with this and other OTZ videos. I do not have any control over who advertises, nor does OTZ benefit financially from these advertisers.
Please let me know if there are any inaccuracies - there always are and you always do. I do not purposely try to say names incorrectly. Really. I don't. I should establish some sort of prize for the player with the most mangled name. For consideration, please enter a Feedback. Personally, I would like to submit Massillon Jackson's Shiv Nagajothi. (This is what I meant to say.) The 2023 OTZ Girls Season Video Mangled Name Champion was Ema Papcke.
It is fun to review older videos. Here are a few from both prior girls and boys seasons. Click for Girls 2020, Boys 2021, Girls 2021, Boys 2022, Girls 2022, Boys 2023, and Girls 2023. At one point, I created "hype" videos for States but Google eventually prevented professional music from being used. That eliminated my interest. Perhaps with AI generated music, this will be possible again in the future. Here is one from Girls 2019. Tennis fans will recognize a few of these high school players.
The OTZ-Enhanced State Draws are still missing a few photos. Thanks to those who contributed photos of their players. It is not too late to add your player's photo..
TUESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Sycamore's Nick Meyers | Massillon Jackson Earns Final Final Four Spot
Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers is hoping for a State Championship this year. It may happen in singles, with the Sycamore team, or possibly both. (Neither is also a possibility, but let's not go there.) States is a familiar place for him. Meyers placed third last year in singles. He was a State Doubles Finalist in 2022, and he placed fourth in dubs in 2021.
"My main goal is to win team states and complete the three-peat which we’ve only done one time before. I’ve been very lucky to have the team I have with our depth. It’s very rare to have seven guys that can all play Court 1 at 90% of the other schools in Ohio. My other goal is to win individual States in singles as well. Definitely haven’t proved I’m a clear favorite by any means, but I hope to get my revenge on Carson Dwyer and Rishi Dore at States this week."
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Meyers at SW Districts - Click to enlarge |
Meyers started playing tennis early on. "I started playing tennis when I was about five and a half. I got started because my dad played squash and racquetball so we tried out tennis one time and never stopped since then."
Meyers has been a top junior player and his national rankings for his class have ranged from 117 on TennisRecruiting.net (as a sophomore) to 157 (as a junior). He currently has a national ranking of 142. He sports a 10.85 UTR which is essentially his high point (10.86). His UTR range is here.
In terms of Meyers' strategy and strengths, "My forehand is definitely my favorite shot. I love running kids side to side with it and using it to dictate every point I play. I also enjoy serving a ton, too, because it allows me to win free points and there isn’t a better feeling for me than hitting an ace." Meyers' average serve speed clocks in at 105mph. His high is about 125mph.
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At 2023 States - Click to enlarge |
For college, Meyers is staying in Ohio. "I picked Denison which is about 30 minutes to the right of OSU. I liked the team and especially the coach, David Schilling. He coached at OSU for 20 years as an assistant coach and has been at Denison for four years. He is all in for tennis and he loves helping everyone he knows get better at tennis. He has done a ton for me and my future teammates. I also like the campus and the smaller setting because I don’t enjoy colleges with 10,000+ students. Also, the academics are great and I will be able to make a ton of connections for a job when I get out of college. I was also considering Xavier, Cleveland State, and Case Western but none really felt like the right fit compared to Denison."
Meyers is an OTZ-approved math / science guy. His favorite AP was Stats. He has also taken BC Calc, Physics 1, and Micro and Macro Economics. He hopes to study financial economics at Denison.
His father is Ron and his mother is Lidija. Ron works for Phillips Edison. Meyers' mother plays tennis in a league. His brother, Jake, and sister, Natalie, are twins who are sophomores at Sycamore. They are involved with non-tennis activities (rock climbing for him and playing cello and harp for her).
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In 2021 - Click to enlarge |
As for the obligatory response about OhioTennisZone, Meyers stated, "I personally like reading the updates every day. It gives an easy way to know what happened with all the big matches around the state and what is upcoming for the rest of the season.".
Why play high school tennis? "Team aspect for sure. I play USTA the rest of the year where it’s only about me and nothing else and sometimes the tournaments can get lonely. However, with high school you can lose your match and still win as a team which I think is awesome. You have something to fight for other than yourself, and you're constantly surrounded by all your friends who are all trying to make each other better every day."
Coach Mike Teets shared this about Meyers. "Nick is an extremely hard worker who puts in hours every day. After our practice, he frequently hits serves or goes to a lesson. His dedication to being the best player possible is impressive! Along with his work ethic, Nick is a great teammate and seems to truly enjoy being a part of the team. He's got a great sense of humor and treats the younger players like friends, just like the guys his own age. We are lucky to have Nick and we wish him well as he continues his career at Denison!"
Meyers starts his trek at States on Thursday. Good luck!
Massillon Jackson defeated Avon to earn the last remaining Final Four spot for the State Team Tournament. The match was decided by a 3-0 score. Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram beat Avon's A.J. Sidoti to clinch the win. Click for the State Team Tournament Draws.
The Central District plays the Northeast in the first round while the Southwest plays the Northwest. If there is a court conflict, Division II will go on court first.
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024
State Draws Released
The OTZ-Enhanced State Draws were posted online last night. A link will be included at the top of this page throughout the tournament. Photos are included for 79 of the 96 players, and that number will increase throughout the week. These draws will be updated with results during States.
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OTZ Draws - Click to draws |
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Southwest D1 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
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Southwest D2 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
On the surface, it was good news that the OHSAA released the State Draws yesterday. The downside is that the OHSAA normally makes errors with the draws. It is better to have correct draws rather than quick draws so it will be interesting to see what happens this time. During Girls States, the draws were not correct until the first day of States (Thursday). (I was making changes to the draw in my vehicle in the States parking area, using my iPhone and Mrs. OTZ’s help in Columbus.) It was also disappointing to see that a version number (or date) was not included on the draws. This means that fans have to review all of the draws to look for changes. The new OHSAA administrator this season is John Kronour. Kronour has an extensive (actually massively extensive) background in sports and education.
The race is on. Losing a day during States week (since States starts on Thursday rather than Friday) means that there is a plenty of content to share that has to be compressed into fewer days. That also means that there is less time to prepare the content.
Thanks go to Sycamore coach, Mike Teets, for providing the Southwest District group photos.
The Massillon Jackson versus Avon match date for the Northeast D1 Final Four spot has not been reported. Getting the player names on the t-shirts already has tight time frames, and these late matches makes it even more difficult.
SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
District Seeding Finished
The weather was perfect as players finished the District seeding rounds. The results are available via the links above. The OTZ database has been updated to include the Central, Southwest, and Northwest (D2) results.
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Central D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer defeated Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers and Springboro's Rishi Dore; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan beat Northwestern's Aiden Yeager and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock; Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Columbus Academy's Nason Lo; New Albany's Abhi Dandu beat Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough and New Albany's Jackson Clements; Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse defeated Lexington's Cooper Remy. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
While a "facing the sun" photo always looks better, this image of the Central D1 qualifiers tested the limits of how long players could look into the sun. Mike Teets provided photos of the Southwest District State Qualifiers so those images will also be going online.
Today is the only day in which we will be going to the Findlay farm this week. After this 14+ hour day, I can switch back into Ohio tennis mode. Unfortunately, that is about 14 hours that would have been spent on Ohio tennis.
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024
Columbus Academy in Final Four | District Seeding Rounds
In another great match yesterday, Columbus Academy beat Bexley, 3-1, to earn its Final Four spot. This leaves just one more spot to be determined - the Northeast D1. Click for an updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Central D2 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Good luck in today's seeding round. There are also a few more State Qualifier spots to be determined.
The Ohio State Mens Team is competing in the NCAA semi-final against TCU at noon today.
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024
State Qualifiers | Ohio Tennis Versus AP Tests
Even though the weather cooperated yesterday, it was Ohio HS tennis versus Advanced Placement Tests. These tests require three hours and 45 minutes. Test takers must also wait for the full time that is allocated for the test before leaving. This led to awkward start times. Some matches at the Southwest District were delayed until noon while a couple more could not start until after 4pm.
Because of the large amount of data entry required, only the Central and Southwest District results are included in this early version of the update. OTZ Player Profile links are also not included for numerous players. [Updated: 1:30pm] Note that due to the AP Tests, some of the SW District Qualifier spots have not yet been determined.
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Northwestern's Aiden Yeager - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Springboro's Rishi Dore defeated Moeller's Clayton Arnett and Mason's Daniel Tonkal; St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer beat Sycamore's Kyle Friedrich and Centerville's Luke Edwards; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Cincinnati Country Day's Nikhil Shah; Indian Hill's Jack Pollock beat Chaminade-Julienne's Sam Wendling and Summit Country Day's Tyler Lammers; Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand beat Chillicothe's Noah Flores and Olentangy Orange's Zach Haar; New Albany's Abhi Dandu defeated Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula and Olentangy Orange's Nikhil Bhimireddy; New Albany's Jackson Clements beat Upper Arlington's Owen Hawley and Watkins Memorial's Liam Grennan; Columbus Academy's Nason Lo defeated Bexley's Max Almasanu; and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak beat Miami Valley School's Arjun Jain. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
State Qualifiers (alphabetical by school)Central Division I
Singles: Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough, New Albany's Jackson Clements, and New Albany's Abhi Dandu, and Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand.
Doubles: Olentangy's Sujan Sriram - Gavin Cheung; Olentangy Liberty's Krish Badri - Arya Badri; New Albany's Ben Bilenko - Tyler Thomas; and Upper Arlington's Keshav Goyal - Jackson Lloyd
Central Division II
Singles: Bexley's Henry Lessard and Columbus Academy's Nason Lo.
Doubles: Bexley's Sam Lessard - Oscar Ramsden and Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Lucas Xue.
Northeast Division II
Singles: Bryan's Landon Bassett, Lexington's Cooper Remy, Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse, and Perkins' Chase Young.
Doubles: Lexington's Karl Etzel - Owan Gongwer; Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese; Ontario's Hector Sanchez Vidal - Pablo Sanchez Vidal; and Ottawa Hills' Savith Vijendra - Chris Thompson.
Southwest Division I
Singles: Springboro's Rishi Dore, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer, Sycamore's Dhruv Kota, and Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers.
Doubles: St. Xavier's Chase Homan - Nihal Narisetty; Springboro's Drew Baumgartner - Peyton Nelson; TBD; and TBD.
Southwest Division II
Singles: Indian Hill's Jack Pollock, Northwestern's Aiden Yeager, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak.
Doubles: Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger - Neelan Gandhi; Indian Hill's Michael Ryu - Eshaan Gandhi; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce; and Seven Hills' Gavin Isakov - Chinmay Machavaram.
Northwestern's Aiden Yeager has been one of the leaders on the OTZ By-Court Report all season. It was nice to finally see him play yesterday. He is featured in today's photo.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Columbus Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024
Indian Hill & Olentangy Orange in Final Four
Two more of the Final Four spots were claimed yesterday when Indian Hill defeated Oakwood and Olentangy Orange beat Olentangy Liberty. Final Four spots remaining are: NW D1, NE D1 / D2 and Central D2. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Olentangy Orange - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Olentangy Orange. They are coached by Matthew Rutherford. They are led by Shailen Patel, Zach Haar, and Nikhil Bhimireddy.
The Central and Southwest Districts start their D1 / D2 tournaments today. The Northeast has their D1 tournament, and the Northwest plays their D2. I am preparing to leave for the Southwest District now. It begins at 9am, but some of the AP test taker matches will begin at 7:30. Good luck. This is a big day.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024
Lexington in Final Four | Rain Rained out Rainy Central Districts
Congratulations to Lexington. They are in the Final Four after their victory over Ottawa Hills. There are still six Final Four spots to be decided. Click for the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws
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Avon - Click to team page |
The Central D1/D2 tournaments were to be played today, but they got rained out. The Northwest D1 District tournament was also expected to be played. It is unknown what its status is.
OTZ will be going to the Southwest Districts at Mason tomorrow where both the D1 and D2 teams will play. In previous years, this tournament was held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, but it is undergoing construction. It is unknown if the McNasty Food truck will be in attendance.
Of course, it is too early to be looking at weather forecasts for the State Tournament in Wooster, but if you did, you would not like it.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for the Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest Districts.
Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are led by A.J. Sidoti, Luke LeMaster, and Jay Kneiss.
Olentangy Liberty (A) is slated to play Olentangy Orange today to determine the D1 District Final Four spot. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2024
Sycamore in Final Four
Many of the teams remaining in the State Team Tournament took advantage of the great weather yesterday to continue their march to the State Team Final Four. Sycamore defeated Springboro to earn the state's first final four spot. University School beat Hawken, and they will meet Orange in the NE final. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Indian Hill - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Indian Hill. They are coached by Wade Ward. They are Team Members. They are led by Jack Pollock, RJ Poffenberger, Ethan Camp, and Senuka Abeysinghe.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus St. Xavier and Hudson (H) versus Western Reserve Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2024
Ready for Districts
The District draws have been posted for all Districts except for the Southwest. If I recall, the Southwest is re-seeding for the Districts. (Is that correct? Please submit a Feedback.) If that is the case, that might explain the delay. [Update at 11:10am: The Southwest District is not re-seeding. Their draws are still not posted.]
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Columbus Academy - Click to team page |
This week's OTZ plans are: Central D1 at Upper Arlington on Wednesday, Southwest Districts in Mason on Thursday, and D1 Seeding at UA on Saturday. We are blasting up to Findlay to work on the farm on Friday.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Columbus Academy. They are coached by Preston Eberlyn. They are Team Members. They are led by Nason Lo, Lucas Xue, Jacob Khvalsky, and Rowen Lo. Academy will be hosting Bexley in the Central DII final on Thursday.
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Columbus-area weather |
After working in Findlay yesterday, today is catch-up day.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (H) versus Springboro and Lexington (H) versus Ottawa Hills. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024
Sectional Seeding Rounds Completed
The seeding round finished late at some locations. That was due to a late start and long matches. In Central D1, 12 of the 31 (39%) matches were three-setters. Click the above links for all of the results. The Central District results are also on OhioTennisZone.
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Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
Among the top players, New Albany's Abhi Dandu defeated New Albany's Jackson Clements and Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand; Bexley’s Henry Lessard beat Bexley's Max Almasanu; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough beat New Albany's Jackson Clements; Columbus Academy's Nason Lo defeated Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula and Watterson's Tommy O’Brien; Watkins Memorial's Liam Grennan defeated Big Walnut's Jeevan Kondura; and Upper Arlington's Owen Hawley beat Olentangy Orange's Nikhil Bhimireddy. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Will Thieman. They are Team Members. They are led by Owen Hawley, William Abouhassan, Keshav Goyal, and Ford Clark.
Mrs. OTZ and I left for Findlay late yesterday in order to see the northern lights. We thought that we would have a better opportunity to see them at the farm rather than in Columbus. The stars were brilliant without Columbus' light pollution, but we had no luck with the northern lights. We tried at 1am and 3am.
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2024
Indian Hill, Massillon Jackson, Olentangy Orange, and Oakwood Advance | Sectional Seeding Rounds
Yesterday was a busy day for State Team Tournament matches. Indian Hill defeated Seven Hills; Olentangy Orange beat Upper Arlington; Massillon Jackson defeated Solon; and Oakwood beat Cincinnati Country Day. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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DeSales - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is DeSales. They are coached by Tom Snyder. They are led by Gabe Arbona, Brandon Heil, Preston Thai, and Brendan Ballard.
Today is the Sectional seeding round. Good luck!
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2024
More Rain
There were a few scores reported from the Northwest District Sectional, but yesterday was largely a rain-out. Tomorrow's seeding round looks relative good, weather-wise for the Central and Southwest Districts, but rainy for the Northwest and Northeast. To view the dual match results recorded from earlier in the week, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws
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Watterson's Tommy O'Brien - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Lexington's Cooper Remy defeated Willard's Mason Dawson and Galion's Ben Rinehart. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is a Photo Friday. Today's photo is of Bishop Watterson's Tommy O'Brien. Click for the Most Recently Added Photos.Today's matches include: Big Walnut (A) versus Olentangy Berlin; Oakwood (H) versus Cincinnati Country Day; and Olentangy Orange versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2024
Central District Sectionals Finish under Sunny Skies
In what was expected to be a dismal, rainy week, the Central District finished their Sectionals under sunny skies yesterday. The Sectional Seeding rounds on Saturday might be a completely different story..
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Central District Sectional Results - Click to enlarge |
The Central District data is in the process of being added online on OTZ now, but the results are posted under the CDAB link above. There are also some Sectional results listed under the Northwest and Southwest Districts.
To view the dual match results recorded from previous days, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
More will be added to this update after OTZ has included the Central District Sectional data to the team and player records. The estimate is around 2pm. [This was completed at 3:30pm.]
Among the top players, Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand defeated Dublin Coffman's Tomoya Akiyama; New Albany's Jackson Clements beat Olentangy's Shreyas Dave; Marysville's Gianni Russo defeated Dublin Jerome's Aarush Gupta; Olentangy Orange's Nikhil Bhimireddy beat Upper Arlington's William Abouhassan; Watterson's Tommy OBrien defeated St. Charles' Will Kennedy; St. Charles' Victor Roscoe beat Dublin Jerome's Cayden Stratford; Westerville North’s Shrey Shyamalan defeated Olentangy Berlin's Zach Heister; and Columbus Academy's Sujay Billakanty beat Granville's Sam Pfau. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's matches include: Big Walnut (A) versus Olentangy Berlin and Oakwood (H) versus Cincinnati Country Day.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2024
Central / Southwest District Sectionals Begin
Rainy weather and teams competing in Sectionals means that there were no new scores reported yesterday. The Central and Southwest District Sectionals begin today. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. To view all of the results recorded from Monday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Watterson - Click to team page |
The Northeast District is reporting scores from their Sectionals. Click the above link to view. As is normally the case, many of the early round matches are one-sided for the top-ranked players.
The State Team Tournament draws have been updated. Click to view.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Watterson. They are coached by Tyler Johnston. They are Team Members. They are led by Tommy O'Brien, Franco Kader, and Will Carrier.
The only match scheduled for today is Lakeside (A) versus Harvey. Click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2024
Sycamore Beats St. Xavier
In the biggest match of the evening, Sycamore defeated St. Xavier to advance in the State Team Tournament. Tippecanoe also beat Milton-Union. There were just six matches recorded from state-wide play as Sectional preparation and rain slowed down dual match play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 2, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. Another close, 3-2 match was Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Revere. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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St. Charles - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is St. Charles. They are coached by Costas Alevizopoulos. They are led by Victor Roscoe, Will Kennedy, Andrew Kane, and Brogan Rogers. They are Team Members.
OTZ is computing from afar (again) - this time in a Findlay Starbucks. Typos will be corrected after returning to headquarters. But for now, it is time to weed-whack attack, mow, and power spray. And, of course, I'm getting weed-whack elbow, right before tennis season..
Today's matches include: Ottawa Hills (H) versus Findlay; Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Upper Arlington; and Lakeside (H) versus Geneva. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2024
Sectional Week
This is a huge week for Ohio high school tennis, and at this point, all of the players are still in the State tournament. Since the field is so large, it is critical to finish the first day outdoors since no indoor facility can handle that many players. Sectional play begins today at the Northeast District Solon site, and their weather looks good.
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Sydni Ratliff - Click to enlarge |
Maddie Atway - Click to enlarge |
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Dani Schoenly - Click to enlarge |
Megan Basil - Click to enlarge |
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Ohio State Women's team finished their season yesterday when they lost to Vanderbilt. Photos to the right are of the Ohio high school players who now play for Ohio State. Photos of Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff and Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway are during competition. The Megan Basil (Upper Arlington) and Dani Schoenly (Olentangy Liberty) photos were taken during warm-ups.
The Ohio State Men's Team will host #15 Mississippi State in the NCAA Super-Regional on May 11 (Saturday) at noon.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Badin (H) versus LaSalle; Big Walnut (H) versus Worthington Christian; and Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Marysville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2024
Rain Hampers Play
Tomorrow is the beginning of Sectional week. Hopefully things will go more smoothly than what it did yesterday. There was just one score submitted as rain hampered play. Chaminade-Julliene defeated the Beavercreek-B team. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hudson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hudson. They are coached by Tim Morgan. They are Team Members. They are led by Henrique Sa, Zelin Shen, and Frederick Li.
Once again, OTZ is out of town so today's update is (very) brief.
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2024
Mason Beats Tippecanoe
The weather provided dodgy rain yesterday, which was better than expected. At least 10 matches were recorded. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Northmont defeated Sidney; Big Walnut beat Delaware Hayes; and Columbus Academy defeated Upper Arlington. In the State Team Tournament, Mason defeated Tippecanoe. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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End-of-Year Report - Click to enlarge |
There are several tournaments today. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
As the end of the season nears, coaches find the Season-to-Date Report (or End-of-Year Report) to be very beneficial in summarizing player stats. It lists all of the matches of all of the varsity players. This report is available in the OTZ Personalized Report page under OTZ Tools. Please sign-in to view.
The Ohio State Women’s team plays against the University of Toledo today in the first round of the NCAA’s. In addition to Ohio State’s four Ohio high school players (Columbus Academy's Sydney Ratliff), Olentangy Liberty's Madeline Atway and Dani Schoenly, and Upper Arlington's Megan Basil), Pickerington North’s Cassie Alcala will be competing for the University of Toledo. The match is at 1:00pm. Hopefully it will be outdoors. Admission and parking are free.
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2024
University School Beats Massillon Jackson | Columbus Academy Defeats Coffman
Normally there are not mid-80 temps and sunny skies until the first day of States, and cramping is a common occurrence at States. Yesterday’s temperatures should help acclimate players. There were also several great match-ups. They included University School defeated Massillon Jackson and Columbus Academy beat Dublin Coffman.
There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 9, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Pickerington Central defeated Big Walnut; Ottawa Hills beat Avon; Northwestern defeated Bellefontaine; Newark beat Bloom-Carroll; Hilliard Darby defeated Jonathan Alder; Olentangy Berlin beat Worthington Kilbourne; Watkins Memorial defeated Westerville North; Moeller beat Loveland; and Delaware Hayes defeated Thomas Worthington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lexington's Ethan Remy - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram defeated University School's Dean Kirchick; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat New Albany's Abhi Dandu; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Centerville's Elliot Galbraith beat Beavercreek's Michael Page; Avon's A.J. Sidoti defeated Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse; Watkins Memorial’s Liam Grennan beat Westerville North’s Shrey Shyamalan; and Watterson's Tommy O'Brien defeated DeSales' Gabe Arbona. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Sectionals
With Sectionals coming up next week, here are a few reminders to the coaches who are OTZ members who wish to have their Sectional results on OhioTennisZone. Please use this format exactly. Exactly means absolutely exactly. Please no shortcuts. No additional spaces or letters. No first names. If there are players with the same last name, look to see how the data is currently included on OhioTennisZone. For example, Ethan Smith should be E.Smith and Cooper Smith should be C.Remy with no spaces after the initial. Spell out the team names as they are included on OhioTennisZone. For example, no "Jeff" should be used for Jeffersonville. No extra lines are necessary to indicate "First Round", "First Doubles", etc. The format is:
Federer (Bloomingburg) def. Nadal (Jeffersonville) 6-0, 6-2
S.Williams-V.Williams (New Holland) def. Parker-Barrow (Greenfield) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
All that said. OTZ will enter the Sectional data for Central District players. I have a complex process that I have honed over the last decade to do this relatively quickly. Of course, "doing it quickly" means that I just finished spending hours of time setting up the process for this season.
Most coaches do not provide the Sectional data because it is such a time consuming process.
Will OTZ accept data from non-OTZ members? No.
Today's photo is of Lexington's Ethan Remy. The plan was to post quite a few additional photos, but there just was not enough time.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Upper Arlington; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Westlake; and Seven Hills (H) versus Turpin. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024
Mason Beats Springboro | Olentangy Orange Defeats Columbus Academy
Taking advantage of the great weather yesterday, Mason defeated Springboro and Olentangy Orange beat Columbus Academy. Weather conditions should be good again today, but they will get dicey after that. There were 24 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 4, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Big Walnut defeated Hilliard Bradley; Chillicothe beat Teays Valley; Bellefontaine defeated Bluffton; St. Johns Jesuit beat Ottawa Hills; Westerville South defeated Thomas Worthington; and Worthington Kilbourne beat Dublin Scioto. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Big Walnut - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Big Walnut. They are coached by Ryan Balaz. They are led by Jeevan Konduru, Garrett Hartsook, and Gavin Ewing.
Tomorrow will be an OTZ Photo Friday.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus University School; Centerville (H) versus Lakota West; and DeSales (H) versus Watterson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2024
Indian Hill, Olentangy Liberty, and Seven Hills Were Winners
Teams took advantage of the great weather yesterday to squeeze in more matches before Sectionals begin next week. Several teams in the Top Ten matched up. They included: Indian Hill defeated Mason; Olentangy Liberty beat New Albany; and Seven Hills defeated Cincinnati Country Day. As normal, it is necessary to review the line-ups to see who was playing.
There were 31 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bexley defeated Olentangy; Ready beat Westland; and Delaware Hayes defeated Hilliard Darby. High school tennis has continued to trim the match backlog and we are now down just 14% versus last year.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Worthington Kilbourne - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Worthington Kilbourne. They are coached by Stephen Metzmaier. They are Team Members. They are led by Luka Young, Joey English, and Zach Beck.
Today's matches include: Springboro (A) versus Mason; Columbus Academy (A) versus Olentangy Orange; and Lexington (H) versus New Albany. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2024
Oakwood, Orange, and New Albany Get Big Wins
In yesterday's play, Oakwood defeated Centerville; Orange beat Solon; and New Albany defeated Dublin Coffman. The NA vs Coffman match was to advance in the State Team Tournament. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Chillicothe defeated Circleville; Big Walnut beat Westerville Central; Ready defeated Central Crossing; and Northwestern beat Jonathan Alder; St. Charles defeated Worthington Kilbourne; and Grandview beat Whetstone. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws
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Mason - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Mason. They are coached by Mike Reid. They are Team Members. They are led by Greg Bernadsky, Daniel Tonkal, Shreyas Mantha, Connor Buckingham, and Aron Dornhecker.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Olentangy; Dublin Jerome (A) versus Upper Arlington; and Massillon Jackson (A) versus Hudson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024
Sectional Draws | OTZ Photos
The Central and Southwest District have most of their Sectional draws available. Hopefully Northeast and Northwest will be available by tomorrow.
The OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws have been updated. There are no major surprises thus far.
To view all of the results recorded from Saturday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTZ Photos for Purchasing - Click to SmugMug |
OhioTennisZone digital photos that are available for purchase are now available to view on SmugMug. Photos are emailed to the purchasers and they can be printed, added to Tennis-Recruiting.net and UTR, shared on social media, put in a digital picture frames, etc. They also make great Mother's Day (and Grandmother's Day) presents.
Some of the images will also be shown on OTZ under the player's profile.
The great majority of these images have *not* been "enhanced" by OTZ. The final purchased photos will be color-corrected, cropped, and straightened. All will be in 5x7 dimensions unless asked to do otherwise.
The SmugMug service has been very helpful to display the photos that are available for purchase. It is; however, not inexpensive for OTZ to use. Hopefully parents and players will purchase numerous photos.
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File Name - Marcus Bode - Click to enlarge |
To get started, simply provide the name of the image file(s) in a Feedback message to OhioTenniisZone. For example, the file name on the Marcus Bode image is in the bottom left portion of the image in "red". Click on the image to the right to enlarge.
There are substantial quantity discounts. Click for pricing at Buy an OTZ Tennis Photo. The pricing is in the right-side navigation bar.
The entire weekend was devoted to getting caught up with OhioTennisZone. I still have a few more days of work before that happens. It is still not possible to purchase a new OTZ Membership.
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Columbus-area weather |
The weather looks somewhat positive this week. Fingers are already crossed that the first day of Sectionals has good weather.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (A) versus New Albany and Oakwood (A) versus Bellbrook. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches, but note that most of these schedules were added before the season. The near constant rain-outs may have changed this.
SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024 - 6:30PM
Sectional Draws
As normal, the Central District was the first to release their Sectional draws. Click on the image below or the link above to view them. Note that the class years are provided for all of the players.
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Central Sectional Draws - Click to view |
The links above will take fans to the other district draws when they eventually become available.
It is not that the Central District is just better than the other districts, it's faster and better..
SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024
Sycamore Wins Coaches' Classic | Lex and NA Tie for Lex Invite Championship
Today is the all-important Sectional Draw day. Who is after a singles title? Who is teaming up in dubs? Answers to these questions and more will be released today. The Central District normally leads the way in quickly making its information available. Central also does a great job in providing the player class years which is extremely helpful to college coaches as they look to recruit players.
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OTZ Top Players - Click to view |
Teams used tournaments yesterday to help finalize their Sectional line-ups, especially in doubles. Sycamore won the Coaches Classic Flight A group. Lexington and New Albany tied for the Lex Invite crown. Some of the tournament results are online on OTZ.
In dual match play, St. John's Jesuit defeated Columbus Academy and Columbus Academy beat Ottawa Hills. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Indian Hill's Jack Pollock, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Mason's Greg Bernadsky; Indian Hill's Jack Pollock beat Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan and Mason's Greg Bernadsky; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Mason's Daniel Tonkal, Seven Hills' Adi Nayak, and Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger; New Albany's Abhi Dandu beat Walsh Jesuit's Casey Miller and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Mason's Daniel Tonkal defeated Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak; Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger beat Seven Hills' Adi Nayak; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Bexley's Max Almasanu; and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue beat St. John’s Jesuit's Jack Oswald and Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There was a major update to the OTZ Top Players and Watch Lists. These lists will continue to be tweaked today. Note that high school player results are needed to make this list work. While non-HS results are known, these lists are for HS tennis.
This will hopefully be a productive day after my pesky (but cute and fluffy) dog gets her walk.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Lexington Beat Centerville
In the biggest match yesterday, Lexington defeated Centerville. Both of their players will have an opportunity to compete against each other today at the Lexington Invitational.
There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Carlisle defeated Miamisburg; Thomas Worthington beat Worthington Christian; Delaware Hayes defeated Westerville North; Bellefontaine beat Sidney; Chillicothe defeated Hillsboro; and DeSales beat St. Charles. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Orange - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Orange. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are OTZ Team Members so all of their player information can be viewed. They are led by Chika Nwaozuzu, Gabi Kalir, and Ace Bloom.
For those awaiting replies to email, feedbacks, etc., things are still really far behind. The hope is to make a dent in those tasks today.
The Lexington Invite takes place today. OTZ will be there briefly during the morning before zooming back to Columbus. The Cincinnati Coaches' Classic is also today. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Sycamore, Springboro, and Olentangy Orange Get Big Wins
In the big matches last night, Sycamore defeated Mason; Springboro beat Centerville; and Olentangy Orange defeated Bexley. Always review the line-ups to better understand the results.
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Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu - Click to enlarge |
More favorable weather allowed teams to make a dent in their match backlogs. Two weeks ago Ohio tennis had played 43% fewer matches than the previous year. Now it is down just 23%. There were 39 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 18, Southwest - 15, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Westerville North defeated Westerville Central; Westlake beat University School; Archbishop Alter beat Bellbrook; Chillicothe defeated Jackson; Cincinnati Country Day beat Lakota East; Lakeside defeated Brush; Newark beat Franklin Heights; Pickerington Central defeated Dublin Scioto; Miami Valley School beat Valley View; Western Reserve Academy defeated Lake-Uniontown; Delaware Hayes beat Westerville South; and Ready defeated Groveport. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Mason's Greg Bernadsky defeated Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers; Springboro's Rishi Dore beat Centerville's Elliot Galbraith; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Olentangy Orange's Shailen Patel; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram beat Avon Lake's Grozav; Marysville's Gianni Russo defeated Olentangy's Sujan Sriram; Westlake’s Xander Jhaveri beat University School's Dean Kirchick; Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula defeated Hilliard Davidson's Dylan Murlin; Westerville North’s Shrey Shyamalan beat Westerville Central’s Isaac Choo; Watterson's Tommy O'Brien defeated St. Charles' Victor Roscoe; and Pickerington Central's Quinn Jones beat Dublin Scioto's Sreenath Kunapuli. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
For those who have been waiting for me to get back to them on various issues, steps were taken yesterday to free up more time. The OhioTennisZone sign-up program was turned off so no one else can join OTZ. New members, especially Coach Members, take quite a bit of time to on board. Plus, they normally enter numerous matches that were played earlier in the season which all have to be processed. I have more things going on this spring than ever, and I will be trying to find other ways to reduce the amount of time spent on OTZ. However.. If a coach signed up for a Team Membership earlier in the season, those parents / players can still sign-up. Questions? Please submit a Feedback. It is unclear if the sign-up process will be re-opened this season.
Today is an OTZ Photo Friday. The sun was slightly better for this group of photos. The high winds at the Columbus Academy / Indian Hill led to awkward player / ball spacing though. While there will likely be plenty of changes in the Top 10 Boys Photos for 2024, click the link for the photos..
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Findlay; Lexington (H) versus Centerville; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Olentangy Liberty Beats Olentangy Orange | Oakwood Defeats Tippecanoe
Chilly but dry weather yielded 30 matches yesterday with many being highly competitive contests. The most noteworthy 3-2 matches were Olentangy Liberty defeated Olentangy Orange and Oakwood beat Tippecanoe. Other 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; North Royalton beat Solon; Perrysburg defeated Sylvania Southview; Westerville South beat Dublin Scioto; Bellbrook defeated Ross; Dayton Christian beat Chaminade-Julienne; Bexley defeated Upper Arlington; Delaware Hayes beat Jonathan Alder; Columbus Academy defeated Olentangy; Marysville defeated Hilliard Davidson; and Dublin Coffman beat Dublin Jerome.
The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 11, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 2. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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New Albany - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Springboro's Rishi Dore defeated Beavercreek's Rishi Mankala; Solon's Zach Krantz beat North Royalton's Arnav Gopinath; New Albany's Abhi Dandu defeated Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand beat Olentangy Orange's Shailen Patel; Tippecanoe’s Nick Von Krosigk defeated Oakwood's Arick Baldwin; Centerville's Elliot Galbraith beat Miami Valley School's Jain; Oakwood's Noah Boyce defeated Tippecanoe's Cameron Davis; Sylvania Southview’s Isaac Vens beat Perrysburg's Jevin Mullins; Glenoak’s Dylan Wiles defeated Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat Hilliard Davidson's Dylan Murlin; Dublin Coffman's Tomoya Akiyama defeated Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula; Lakota East's Ethan Vass beat Oak Hills' Daniel Miller; Loveland's Beckett Zappin defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Julian Guitron; and Bexley's Max Almasanu beat Upper Arlington's Ford Clark. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Findlay projects, as well as other projects, are taking a toll. I am max'd out now. If you are awaiting an email, text, or a dog walk, please give me a few more days.
Today's featured team is New Albany. They are coached by Marc Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Abhinav Dandu, Jackson Clements, Tyler Thomas, and Ben Bilenko.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (A) versus Mason; Bexley (A) versus Olentangy Orange; Solon (H) versus Hawken; and Watterson (A) versus St. Charles. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
Chaminade-Julienne Defeats Archbishop Alter
Rain hampered play again, especially in northwest Ohio where the entire OTZ staff was at on Tuesday. There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central – 12, Southwest – 12, Northeast -1, and Northwest – 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Chillicothe defeated Washington CH; Jonathan Alder beat London and Northwestern; and Waynesville defeated Valley View-B. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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University School - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is University School. They are coached by Adam Atwell. They are Team Members. They are led by Dean Kirchick, Cole Kirchick, and Vishwum Kapadia.
Today’s on-the-road update took just three times longer than doing it at headquarters, which is considered a plus. Today’s update was also gnarly with a few too many results entered from earlier in the season. Plus, there were some results without opponents which always get pushed aside. There are two snafus (double scores) that will need to be corrected back in Columbus. Gotta run before the Findlay Starbuck bouncers kick me out.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (H) versus Dublin Jerome; Oakwood (H) versus Tippecanoe; and Ottawa Hills (H) versus Sylvania Northview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2024
Mason, St. Xavier, and Olentangy Liberty Get Big Wins
In three of the bigger matches of the evening, Mason defeated Centerville in the State Team Tournament. Plus, St. Xavier defeated Springboro and Olentangy Liberty beat Bexley.
Despite playing 26 matches, Ohio HS tennis still lost ground to last year. The rain expected today may set matches back further. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Worthington Christian defeated Watterson; Lakeside beat Madison; and Grove City defeated Franklin Heights. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Centerville - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Centerville. They are coached by Scott Long. They are Team Members. They are led by Elliot Galbraith, Vibhu Rola, and Luke Edwards.
Today's matches include: Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Olentangy Orange; Solon (A) versus Westlake; and Sylvania Northview (A) versus Anthony Wayne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024
Off to a Good Start
Except for Tuesday, this week's weather looks promising. Hopefully teams will be able to reduce their match backlog. To view all of the results recorded from Saturday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Whetstone - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Whetstone. They are coached by Bucky Walters. They are led by Alessio Bergamini, Max Johnson, and Avi White.
In addition to our time-consuming work at the Findlay farm, our family is getting geared up for the fourth year of our PickleballZone.com summer travel league. Click the above link if you are a pickleball playing adult and live in Central Ohio. Our league went from 24 teams to 40 last year. We expect solid growth again this year with the addition of 50+ Men's and 50+ Women's leagues.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Springboro (H) versus St. Xavier; Bexley (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; and London (A) versus Jonathan Alder. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2024
Indian Hill Beats Columbus Academy and Bexley
The high winds led to some very interesting points yesterday. A fan at the Columbus Academy versus Indian Hill match was preparing to catch an "out" ball while sitting in the stands only to see the ball get redirected by the wind to land "in". The good news is that playing in the high winds yesterday will acclimate players just in case there are high winds at Wooster.
There were 10 matches recorded and most of those matches took place in the Central District as strong teams from throughout the state traveled to central Ohio. In two of the biggest matches, Indian Hill defeated Columbus Academy and Bexley, but essentially all of the matches were noteworthy. Note that Orange made the trip to Columbus without two of their key players. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Massillon Jackson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Massillon Jackson. They are coached by Brett Marlowe and Louie Thomas. They are valued OTZ Team Members. They are led by Rohan Sriram, Shiv Nagajothi, and Roshan Patel.
OTZ is now in massive catch-up mode, and out-of-town work today is only going to make this worse.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Indian Hill Beats Mason | Bexley Defeats Massillon Jackson & Orange
There were more big matches played between the state's top teams. Indian Hill defeated Mason, and Bexley defeated Massillon Jackson and Orange. Sycamore also beat Olentangy Orange.
There were 31 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 12, Northeast - 6, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Chaminade-Julienne defeat ed Bellbrook; Valley View-B beat Stivers; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Green; Jonathan Alder beat London; and St. Charles defeated Thomas Worthington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Bloom-Carroll - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Bloom-Carroll. They are coached by Joe Sarsfield. They are led by Ryan Bender, Joe Brown-Borden, and Rennick Foreman.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Lexington and Indian Hill; Columbus Academy (H) versus Lexington and Indian Hill; and Massillon Jackson (A) versus Dublin Coffman. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
Bexley Defeats Columbus Academy | Solon Beats Aurora
It was another huge match night with plenty of close matches with the biggest being Bexley's win over Columbus Academy. The other 3-2 matches included Kettering Fairmont defeated Archbishop Alter; Perrysburg beat Sylvania Northview; Hilliard Darby defeated Thomas Worthington; Milton-Union beat Chaminade-Julienne; Watkins Memorial defeated DeSales; Westerville South beat Franklin Heights; Chillicothe defeated Hillsboro; Olentangy beat Dublin Jerome; Ottawa Hills defeated St. Francis DeSales; Dublin Coffman beat Upper Arlington; and Wooster defeated Lake-Uniontown.
In a State Team Tournament match, Solon beat Aurora. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
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Dublin Scioto's Sreenath Kunapuli - Click to enlarge |
Ohio tennis continues to try and catch up from all of the rain-outs. There were 18 matches recorded from the Central District and Southwest had 13, Northeast - 6, and Northeast - 2. Compared with last year, there have been 34% fewer matches and some of those will not be rescheduled. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Moeller's Clayton Arnett; Bexley's Henry Lessard beat Columbus Academy's Nason Lo; Solon's Zach Krantz defeated Aurora's Vincent Cannata; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand beat Hilliard Davidson's Dylan Murlin; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough beat Upper Arlington's Owen Hawley; Olentangy's Sujan Sriram defeated Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula; University School's Dean Kirchick beat Shaker Heights' Jaylon Jamal; Watkins Memorial’s Liam Grennan defeated DeSales' Preston Thai; Olentangy Orange’s Nikhil Bhimireddy beat Hilliard Bradley’s Craig Dixon; Lake-Uniontown's Carson Craig defeated Wooster's Henry Pozefsky; St. Francis DeSales’ Nick Miller beat Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse; Milton-Union’s Levi Brumbaugh defeated Chaminade-Julienne’s Christopher Frank; Loveland's Beckett Zappin beat Kings' Harmon; and Big Walnut’s Jeevan Konduru defeated Dublin Scioto’s Dublin Scioto's Kunaal Karnani. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There have been 15 photos added to the Most Recently Added Photos page. More photos will be added latter today. There might even be enough photos to begin the OTZ Top Ten(ish) for 2024.If you have requested something from OTZ (i.e. post a team photo, gain access to OTZ) more than two days ago, please send an email or submit a Feedback. In addition to processing action photos, many OTZ Player Profile photos will be added today as well.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Massillon Jackson and Orange; Perrysburg (A) versus Anthony Wayne; and Sycamore (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024
Seven Hills Defeats Walnut Hills
Storms in central and northwest Ohio limited the number of matches played. Other parts of the state fared better. In the biggest match of the evening, Seven Hills defeated Walnut Hills. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bellefontaine defeated Greenville; St. Xavier-B beat Centerville-B; Valley View defeated Archbishop Alter; Westerville Central beat Westerville South; and Massillon Jackson defeated Massillon Perry.
The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 8, and Northeast - 3. There were 13 matches recorded from state-wide play. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Oakwood - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Oakwood. They are coached by Christy Heppner. They are Team Members. They are led by Arick Baldwin, Noah Boyce, and Grant Zhou. Baldwin and Boyce were last year's D2 State Doubles Finalists.
Tomorrow will be the first legitimate photo Friday of the season.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Columbus Academy; Sylvania Northview (H) versus Perrysburg; and Lake (Uniontown) (A) versus Wooster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2024
Perrysburg Beats Findlay | Olentangy Orange Defeats Upper Arlington
In the two marquis matches of the evening, Perrysburg defeated Findlay and Olentangy Orange beat Upper Arlington. The Perrysburg match was a 3-2 match with Perrysburg winning 58% of the games. The other close, 3-2 matches included: Chillicothe defeated Athens; Big Walnut beat Westerville North; Valley View defeated Carlisle; Gahanna beat Westerville Central; and Jonathan Alder defeated Bellefontaine.
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Westerville South - Click to team page |
After two great days of weather, teams are starting to make a dent in the back-log of matches. There were 39 matches played yesterday, and we are now 35% behind where we were last year. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 15, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 2. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
There were numerous updates in the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws
Among the top players, Mason's Greg Bernadsky defeated Lakota West's Quinn Cooper; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Lakota East's Ethan Vass; Lexington's Ethan Remy defeated Wooster's Henry Pozefsky; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram beat Revere's Finn Keenan; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Hilliard Davidson's Dylan Murlin; Olentangy Orange’s Shailen Patel beat Upper Arlington's Keshav Goyal; and Findlay's Sam Swisher defeated Perrysburg's Caleb Stein. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Westerville South. They are coached by David Schultz. They are led by Sammy Gurgiolo, Andrew Fyock, and David Simms.
Today's matches include: Springboro (H) versus Mason; Columbus Academy (H) versus New Albany; Seven Hills (H) versus Walnut Hills; and Sycamore (H) versus Oakwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2024
Columbus Academy Beats Wellington
Can we have more than one great weather high school match day in a row? There were 30 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 8, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 3. In matches involving the top teams, Columbus Academy defeated Wellington and Olentangy Orange beat Olentangy. The close, 3-2 matches included: Zanesville defeated Newark; Worthington Christian beat Worthington Kilbourne; Valley View-B defeated McNicholas; and Green beat Lake-Uniontown. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Ready - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Ready. They are coached by Dan Skuce. They are led by Kenny Kight, Nathan Bennett, and Sam Carney.
Today's matches include: Oakwood (A) versus Springboro; Lexington (A) versus Wooster; and Perrysburg (H) versus Findlay. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2024
Starting the Week Off Right
Boys HS tennis is 46% behind where it was last year in terms of the number of matches played. The good news is that the week will start with a nice weather day.
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OSU's Cash - Click to enlarge |
OSU's Kingsley - Click to enlarge |
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OSU's Tracy - Click to enlarge |
OSU's Boulais - Click to enlarge |
The OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws have been updated. There have been no major surprises yet.
Due to the lack of matches played, it has been difficult to make widespread changes to the OTZ Top Player Lists. A few changes have been made, but these are still very much influx. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
More good news is that every team photo that has been received by OTZ is posted online. If that is not the case for your team's photo, please send an email.Ohio State (#1) beat TTUN (#35) decisively yesterday on a beautiful, but windy day. The wind created opportunities to see innovative shots and weird misses. There were numerous high school players and coaches in attendance. The sun cooperated for photos. Click to enlarge the images.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's matches include: Tippecanoe (H) versus Chaminade-Julienne; Columbus Academy (H) versus Wellington; and Solon (A) versus Brecksville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2024
Sycamore Beats New Albany | Olentangy Orange > Mass. Jackson > Olentangy Liberty
The weather was perfect for tennis yesterday. (That is one of the rarest sentences that Ohio tennis has seen this spring.) In the bigger matches yesterday, Sycamore defeated New Albany and St. Xavier-Louisville. Massillon Jackson beat Olentangy Liberty, but lost to Olentangy Orange. In a close, 3-2 match, Upper Arlington defeated Indian Hill, but IH did not have its full line-up. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Loveland - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Loveland. They are coached by Jennifer Kapszukiewicz. They are Team Members, and they are led by Beckett Zappin, Liam Amy, and Carter Watt. Coach Kapszukiewicz still has the highest-valued Scrabble name in sports.
The Ohio State Men’s tennis team is playing the TTUN at noon today. It should be a great day for outdoor tennis.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2024
Indian Hill Beats Springboro
There were a handful of matches played yesterday as more rain fell throughout Ohio. Indian Hill defeated Springboro and Centerville beat St. Francis DeSales. There was one 3-2 match - Anderson defeated Loveland. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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London - Click to team page |
cThey are led by Zack Wall and Isaac Cappell.
Matches today include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Olentangy Orange and Olentangy Liberty and Sycamore (H) versus New Albany and St. Xavier-Louisville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2024
Chillicothe Beats Miami Trace
As the rain continued, there were just five matches recorded. There will be absolutely no recognition for Chillicothe’s win over Miami Trace (because Trace is the OTZ alma mater). In other matches, Seven Hills defeated Wyoming; Wooster beat Ashland; Walnut Hills defeated Loveland; and Mason beat Oak Hills. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Click to enlarge |
Today’s photo is of Oakwood’s Arick Baldwin. This is from the Oakwood versus Upper Arlington match played last Saturday. This was the only day that there was decent sunlight for action photos (except for the solar eclipse day).
OTZ is on the road doing projects in Findlay. This is the first full update done on an iPad. It probably took four times longer than normal than on the beefy OTZ desktop, but it is nice to see that it is doable. Much of the time was spent dealing with the differences between iPad and Windows file management capabilities. It helped that the update was brief today.
There are numerous matches slated to take place today. They include: Lexington (A) versus Orange; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Bexley; and Oakwood (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2024
Sycamore Beats Seven Hills | Walnut Hills Defeats Mason
More rain or threats of more rain dampened play yesterday. There were just 10 matches recorded. In the biggest matches of the evening, Sycamore defeated Seven Hills and Walnut Hills beat Mason in a tight, 3-2 match. In the Walnut Hills/Mason match, both teams won 48 games. In the other 3-2 matches, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Walsh Jesuit and Andrews Osborne beat Lakeside. The breakdown by District was Central - 3, Northeast - 4, and Southwest - 3. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Franklin Heights - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Franklin Heights. They are coached by James Wassmuth. Congratulations to Coach Wassmuth for winning the 2024 OTCA Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity (SEI) Award. They are led by Vaughn Chum, Eric Martinez, and Noah Mitchell.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (H) versus Bexley; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Olentangy Orange; and Hudson (A) versus Westlake. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2024
Seven Hills beat Cincinnati Country Day | Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Coffman
Despite the spotty rain, there were a large number of matches played yesterday. There were 36 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 15, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 2. The marquis matches included Seven Hills beat Cincinnati Country Day and Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Coffman. The close, 3-2 matches included: Mason-B defeated Centerville-B; Bellefontaine beat London; Lakota West defeated Lakota East; Valley View-B beat Lehman Catholic; and Perrysburg defeated Bowling Green. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Coffman - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Dublin Coffman. They are coached by Brett Hundertpfund. They are valued Team Members. They are led by Nik Shough, Tomoya Akiyama, and Samrat Juvvigunta.
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Columbus-area weather |
Playing conditions do not look promising over the next few days, but Upper Arlington is hosting a doubles tournament today with Lexington, Columbus Academy, and Olentangy. Plus there is Sycamore (H) versus Seven Hills; Sylvania Northview (A) versus Sylvania Southview; and Springboro (H) versus Indian Hill. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2024
Ohio Celebrates Solar Eclipse
Last Wednesday was a state-wide rain-out of high school tennis matches. That's fairly rare. Yesterday's state-wide solar-eclipse-out offered a whole different perspective of rarity. As per the Akron Beacon Journal, the last total eclipse viewed in Ohio was in 1806. The next one will be in 2099. Hopefully there will still be a few Ohio HS players around who get to witness that one, too. They would be in their 90's.
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OTZ Solar Eclipse - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; Perrysburg (H) versus Bowling Green; and Thomas Worthington (H) versus Dublin Jerome. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2024
Today is the Day for Darkness (hopefully just briefly)
Today's update will be as brief as the solar eclipse.
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Marysville - Click to team page |
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Sunspot 3628 - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Marysville because they will be in the totality zone. They are coached by Brian Ash. They are Team Members. They are led by Gianni Russo, Noah Burhanna, and Will Nuspl.
Things are ready to roll at OTZ for the eclipse photos.. With the recent cloudy, rainy, dismal weather, it has been difficult to test my current camera / lens / sun filter combination. The skies finally cleared on Saturday afternoon and I was able to get a clear(ish) image of the Sun. I was hopeful that there would a sunspot that I could use to insure that everything was in focus. That turned out to be the case. The big sunspot on my photo is of 3628. Even though the orientation is different, use SpaceWeatherLive to view the current sunspots.
Obviously, be careful and wear protective eye gear. Do not try taking a photo unless you are sure that you are following all of the guidelines. It will absolutely fry your camera sensor if you do it incorrectly.
Hopefully the skies will be clear today.
SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024
Bexley and New Albany Get Two Big Wins
Teams took advantage of the great weather to compete in great matches. Kudos to the teams that traveled out of their districts for strong competition. There were 13 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 9, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Upper Arlington defeated Tippecanoe; St. Xavier beat Lexington; New Albany defeated Indian Hill; Columbus Academy beat Massillon Jackson; New Albany defeated Orange; and Elder beat Loveland. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Tippecanoe - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Tippecanoe. They are coached by Kaci Matthews. They are led Nick Von Krosigk, Cameron Davis, and Alex Darner.
Coaches, When you don’t report scores, it hurts your players and it hurts your tennis program. You know that, right? Can you possibly imagine what would happen if your football and basketball teams didn’t report scores? You can’t, because that would never happen.
Parents, you are the customers. After first expressing your concerns to the coach, make sure you drop a note to your athletic director if this continues. Your tennis player deserves the same level of recognition as the football and basketball players do. If you are concerned that this could negatively affect your player, don't be. If you want OTZ to act as an intermediary with your coach and/or athletic director, I would be more than happy to do so. Drop me a Feedback message.
Me, Yes, I know that you are super ticked off because you wanted to get an early start on today's update last night, because you have a zillion things to do today. Unfortunately, since you were waiting for scores, that didn't happen. It's ok though. Chill. It's not like the Sun is going to disappear tomorrow..
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2024
Sycamore > Indian Hill | University School > Solon | Columbus Academy > Olentangy Liberty
It was chilly but that did not prevent some good match-ups yesterday. Sycamore defeated Indian Hill and University School beat Solon. In the 3-2 matches, Franklin Heights defeated Westerville North; Gahanna beat Marysville; Avon defeated North Royalton; and Columbus Academy beat Olentangy Liberty. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 4, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Westerville Central - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Westerville Central. They are coached by Bradley Baker. They are led by Isaac Choo, Carsten Weidner, and Timmy Shieh.
Oakwood and Tippecanoe are in Columbus to play Bexley and Upper Arlington. Other matches include: Lexington (A) versus St. Xavier; Massillon Jackson (H) versus Columbus Academy; and Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Indian Hill. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024
Indian Hill Beats Bexley | New Albany Defeats Jerome | Orange Beats Hudson
Even though much of the state was impacted by the rain, there were still numerous high-level matches played. They included: Indian Hill defeated Bexley; New Albany beat Dublin Jerome; and Orange defeated Hudson. The Indian Hill match was tightly contested on the singles courts and on second dubs. IH won 57% of the games.
In comparison to last year's results, Ohio tennis has played 52% fewer matches. There were nine matches recorded from state-wide play yesterday. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 4. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Scioto's Kunaal Karnani - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Bexley's Henry Lessard defeated Indian Hill's Jack Pollock; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu beat Hudson's Henrique Sa; Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Orange's Gabi Kalir beat Hudson's Zelin Shen; New Albany's Abhi Dandu defeated Dublin Jerome's Rudy Anumula; New Albany's Jackson Clements beat Dublin Jerome's Cayden Stratford; Massillon Jackson’s Shiv Nagajothi defeated Uniontown-Lake’s Carson Craig; and Wooster’s Henry Pozefsky beat Shaker Heights’ Jaylon Jamal. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OTZ plans are to get to more matches today and tomorrow to take photos, and hopefully the weather will cooperate. Today's photo of Dublin Scioto's Kunaal Karnani was taken during his match against Westerville Central's Isaac Choo on Monday.Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Tippecanoe; Columbus Academy (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; Solon (A) versus University School; and Lexington (A) versus Ottawa Hills. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2024
New Albany Beats Bexley
Despite the adverse weather, there were still numerous matches played. In the marquis matches of the evening, New Albany defeated Bexley and Massillon Jackson beat North Canton Hoover. In the only 3-2 match, Chillicothe defeated Circleville. Overall, there were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 5. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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By-Court Performance Report - Click to view |
New Albany's Jackson Clements defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram beat North Canton Hoover's Hunter Holloway; Solon's Zach Krantz defeated Stow-Munroe Falls' Alimov; Orange's Gabriel Guiler beat Chagrin Falls' Walker; Loveland’s Beckett Zappin defeated Kettering Fairmont’s Zachary Lehman; Westerville Central’s Isaac Choo beat Thomas Worthington’s Juhno Baker; and Harvey’s Owen Updike defeated Lakeside’s Matthew Surbella. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Now that a few matches have been recorded, the OTZ "By Court" Player Performance report is now operational. This report looks across all teams and identifies the top players on Court 1 Singles, Court 2 Singles, Court 3 Singles, etc. The best teams will have dominant Court 3 players and strong Court 2 Doubles players. As in all OTZ reports, it is easy to "drill down" to get more team and player information (especially for those players who have OTZ Player Profiles). The location of this report is under the Tennis Statistics / Info drop-down menu.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Indian Hill; Hudson (A) versus Orange; Seven Hills (A) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus New Albany. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2024
Rain Defeats Ohio HS Tennis
It does not happen very often, but yesterday was a state-wide rain-out. There was some hope that a few matches were played indoors, but that did not appear to be the case.
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Newark - Click to team page |
There have been a few matches played in the State Team Tournament. Click for OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. Newark is east of Columbus, and they will be heavily impacted by the new Intel plant. Newark is led by Will Woughter and Evan Devries.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus New Albany; Centerville (A) versus Oakwood; and Seven Hills (H) versus Summit Country Day. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2024
Westerville Central Beat Dublin Scioto
The weather was dicey yesterday, but there were still a reasonable number of matches completed. There were 16 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 4, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. In comparison to last year, Ohio HS tennis has played 46% fewer matches than last year, but there is also a spring break factor to consider. The close, 3-2 matches included: Watkins Memorial defeated Bexley-B and Westerville Central beat Dublin Scioto. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Bexley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Bexley. They are coached by Will Gingery. They are Team Members. They are led by Sam Lessard, Henry Lessard, and Oscar Ramsden.
The weather is expected to be more of a problem today, but matches include: Perrysburg (A) versus Anthony Wayne; Hudson (A) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Solon (H) versus Orange; and Marysville (H) versus Dublin Coffman. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2024
No OTZ Payment - No Sun
While I would rather not do this, it is clear that action must be taken..
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Before the Sun Goes Away - Click to enlarge |
Eagle-eye viewers will note that the photo of the Sun includes three bonus sunspots.
Of course, even if the Sun did go away for a few days, no one would notice. The weather looks damp for this week.
Today's pre-postponed matches include: Dublin Scioto (H) versus Westerville Central; Lakeside (H) versus Madison; and Lexington (H) versus Glenoak. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Columbus-area weather |
Happy Holiday.
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2024
Sycamore & Seven Hills Beat Bexley | Jackson Defeats SJJ
Happy Easter.
Bexley went on the road yesterday to play Sycamore and Seven Hills, the D1 and D2 defending state team champions, respectively. Bexley got beat in both matches, but facing this level of competition will help them as the season progresses. Massillon Jackson traveled to and then defeated St. John's Jesuit. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. |
Ohio Pros - Click to College |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Bexley's Henry Lessard who then beat Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram defeated St. John's Jesuit's Jack Oswald; and Seven Hills' Adi Nayak defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There are numerous professional players with Ohio ties. Several even played Ohio HS tennis (as noted by the "HS" designation). This list of professional players is updated occasionally and it is listed on the same page as the College Report. Click the player links to go to the various pro ranking sites. The player with the strongest recent performance is Northeast Ohio's Dalayna Hewitt. She reached a new "best ranking" in February.
SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2024
Ottawa Hills Defeats Maumee
It was a quiet tennis day due to Good Friday. Just one match was recorded. Ottawa Hills defeated Maumee. Click to view the To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Bexley's Sam Lessard - Click to enlarge |
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Bexley is going on the road to play Sycamore and Seven Hills. Massillon Jackson travels to St. Johns Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024
Bexley Beats Dublin Coffman
More teams hit the courts yesterday as weather conditions slowly improved. In the biggest match of the evening, Bexley defeated Dublin Coffman in a 3-2 match. Other 3-2 matches included: Bexley-B beat Marysville; Unioto defeated Chillicothe; and Dayton Christian beat Valley View.
There were 14 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Southwest - 5, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 3. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Coffman's Tomoya Akiyama - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Turpin's Charlie Co; Lexington's Ethan Remy beat North Royalton's Arnav Gopinath; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat Bexley-B's Max Almasanu; Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse defeated Clyde's Justin Clark; Hilliard Davidson's Dylan Murlin beat Marion Harding's Alexander Lisiecki; and Perrysburg's Jevin Mullins defeated Whitmer's Sam Jost. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Last night's match between Bexley and Coffman was the first match of the season that I finally got to attend. We have been painting my grandparents' old farm house, and that work has been eating up most of my schedule. Mrs. OTZ and I have been zooming back and forth between Columbus and Findlay to do the work. I won't be happy if I end up with paint roller elbow..Just one match is included on the schedule today - Ottawa Hills (H) versus Maumee. To view matches scheduled over the next few days, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024
Sycamore Beats St. Xavier | Bexley Defeats Dublin Jerome
Brisk weather conditions did not prevent some great matches from being played. In the biggest matches of the evening, Sycamore defeated St. Xavier; Bexley beat Dublin Jerome; and Massillon Jackson defeated Walsh Jesuit. The close, 3-2 matches included: Centennial defeated Beechcroft; Hilliard Davidson beat St. Charles; Newark defeated Logan; and Worthington Kilbourne beat Grove City. There were 16 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 4, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTZ Personalized Report - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer defeated Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat St. Xavier's Nihal Narisetty; Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram defeated Walsh Jesuit's Michael Vallone; Bexley’s Henry Lessard beat Dublin Jerome’s Rudy Anumula; Northwestern’s Aiden Yeager defeated Springboro’s Jack Siehl; and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough beat Dublin Scioto's Kunaal Karnani. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
All OTZ members have the ability to keep a list of their favorite teams in their OTZ Personalized Report. This report is automatically presented each time a member logs onto OTZ. It quickly provides users with the win / loss records of the teams that they follow and each team's average performance on each court. To include a team in your OTZ Personalized Report, simply go to that team's Team Report and click on the link in the upper-right hand corner. As with just about everything on OTZ, I needed this report to help me follow HS tennis so I created it for myself, but I am making it available for everyone.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (H) versus Bexley; Wooster (A) versus Copley; and Lexington (H) versus North Royalton. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2024
Chaminade-Julienne Beats Carlisle
Rain affected play in much of the state. There were just four matches recorded. All were from the Southwest District. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Perrysburg - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Perrysburg. They are coached by Patrick Giammarco. They are Team Members. Likely contributors this year include: Jevin Mullins, Aiden Bielefeld, and Caleb Stein.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (A) versus St. Xavier; Bexley (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Walsh Jesuit.. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
Coaches, please email your high-resolution team photos into OTZ so that they can be used online.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024
Great Weather Day
Thanks to some great spring weather, thirteen matches were recorded from yesterday's play. Matches included Marysville defeated Hilliard Bradley; Wooster beat Glenoak; and St. Charles defeated Bexley-B. So much for homework - the St. Charles / Bexley-B match included four 3-setters. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Thomas Worthington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Thomas Worthington. They are coached by Les Somogyi. They are led by Eli Nisthauz and Cam Stengel.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Dublin Jerome; Massillon Jackson (H) versus Walsh Jesuit;. Hilliard Davidson (H) versus Lancaster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Columbus-area weather |
Today's weather will be challenging, but hopefully things will clear up during the rest of the week.
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024
OTZ Enhanced Boys State Team Draws
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws are now available. Click link above to view.
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State Team Tournament Draws - Click to go to draws |
The draws are available at the top of this page and they will remain there throughout the season. As with everything else on OTZ, the goal is to enable high school tennis fans to quickly obtain the information they need rather than to maximize OTZ clicks and page views. As indicated in the four features that are circled: 1) the most recent update date is included; 2) the navigation links allow users to quickly jump throughout the draw; 3) the Team designation means that a Team Membership was purchased and that all of the individual player information is available via their OTZ Player Profiles; and 4) the team links are "click-able" to enable fans to do more research. For the best experience, sign-in to OTZ first. The goal is to keep the draws promptly updated throughout the season. Please click on Feedback if you are aware of a result that is not yet posted.
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State Team Tournament Participation- Click to enlarge |
The number of boys teams that enter the tournament varies from year to year. The trend is downward but there was one more team added this year versus last. This year, there are 113 teams participating. The number of boys teams participating by year is: 2015 - 148; 2016 - 128; 2017 - 126; 2018 - 125; 2019 - 119; 2020 - 128, 2021 - 110, 2022 - 122, 2023 - 112, and 2024 - 113. As shown in the graph, Southwest and Northeast have the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 378 OHSAA boys tennis teams, 29.6% of the teams are competing in this tournament. Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing.
As shown in the graph, Southwest and Northeast have the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 378 OHSAA boys tennis teams, 29.9% of the teams are competing in this tournament. Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing.
This year, the Central District teams will play the Northeast teams in the first round of the State Team Tournament, while the Northwest will play the Southwest. If there are insufficient courts available for all teams to play (likely), Division II will go on court first.
SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2024
Cold, But There Was Tennis
With colder than normal temperatures, there were a couple of matches recorded from yesterday's play. Chillicothe and Valley View both recorded wins. To view the results in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mount Vernon - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Mount Vernon. They are coached by Steve Tier. Based on their records last year, key contributors for this year are likely to be Quinn Hoffman, Andrew Conway, and Pete Lawhon.
There is still major prep work necessary to get OTZ up-to-speed for 2024. This will happen today.
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 2024
Rain for the First Day of Match Play
It surprised no one that the Ohio high school boys tennis season started out with a rainy day. Thankfully for tennis enthusiasts, there was still tennis played indoors at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center. The Ohio State Men's team played Northwestern to start the Big Ten season.
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NW's (and Sycamore's) Chad Miller - Click to enlarge |
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NW's (and Mason's) Saiprakash Goli - Click to enlarge |
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Miller in 2022 |
Goli in 2017 - Click to enlarge |
While OTZ normally gets plenty of photos of OSU players who played Ohio HS tennis, there was an opportunity to take photos of two Northwestern players who once played for their HS teams. Sycamore's Chad Miller partnered with Mason's Saiprakash Goli. After that, Miller played against OSU's Preston Stearns, which did not finish, and Goli was defeated by JJ Tracy, 6-2, 6-0. In dubs, Miller and Goli got beat 6-3 by Tracy and Cannon Kingsley. Ohio State won the overall match, 4-0.
The photos to the right are from last night's match and from their high school years when Miller and Goli competed. All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
Today's matches include: Chillicothe (H) versus Logan and Watterson (H) versus Fisher Catholic. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Match Play Begins Today (Hopefully)
After a month of good weather (at least for the boys season), match play begins today. Unlike the girls season where all teams hit the ground running, many of the boys teams are juggling spring break interruptions before things get underway. Many schools will have no scores at all for a week or two.
This is the "ugly duckling" part of the season for OhioTennisZone as the 2023 results roll off of the system to make way for the 2024 data. This will occur through out the day today.
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Jonathan Alder - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Jonathan Alder. They were the first team to provide OTZ with a team photo. They are coached by Ryan Swinehart. Players likely to make an impact this season include: Isaac Banks, Gideon Sullivan, and Josh Weakley. Jonathan Alder is located northwest of Columbus.
As she always does, Diane Spagnuolo, the photographer, did a great job with Jonathan Alder's photo.
Today's matches include: Lexington (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Badin (H) versus Madeira; Jonathan Alder (A) versus Hilliard Bradley; and Thomas Worthington (H) versus DeSales. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
OTZ plans are to be at the Thomas Worthington / DeSales and the Ohio State versus Northwestern Men's matches today. Northwestern's roster includes Mason's Saiprakash Goli and Sycamore's Chad Miller. Also on NW's team is Presley Thieneman who is Cracked Racquet's Dalton Thieneman's brother.
Coaches, please enter your schedules on OhioTennisZone as soon as you can.
MONDAY,
The Boys Season is Underway
This is the 104th year for the Boys tennis season, and there could not be a better day to start the season. Today's weather is like the girls' tennis season.
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Kicking off the season |
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Let's have more days like today |
Recall that the boys tennis calendar will reside in the right-side navigation bar for the remainder of the season. The biggest change this year is that the OHSAA Boys Tournament will be held at Wooster this spring, rather than at Ohio State or the Lindner Family Tennis Center. As was done last spring, the tournament will take place on Thursday and Friday.
There are always documentation and rules changes. Click for the OHSAA Boys Tennis Manual for 2024, OHSAA Tennis Regulations for 2023-24, and OHSAA Tournament Regulations for 2023. For a listing of all of the OHSAA tennis documents, click OHSAA Tennis.
Even though the weather was great today, the rest of the week will likely resemble the rest of a typical boys season.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY
OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Teams for Division I / II (beta release)
There are familiar names at the top of the OhioTennisZone Pre-Season State Top Ten rankings. Sycamore looks solid to repeat in Division I. And yes, it helps that they are getting all of their starters back from last year. Division II will be harder to predict.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 3. New Albany◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| 4. Springboro◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 5. St. Xavier◄TEAM | Bexley◄TEAM |
| 6. Olentangy Orange | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 7. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 8. Olentangy Liberty◄TEAM | University School◄TEAM |
| 9. Avon◄TEAM | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 10. Centerville ◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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As for the favorites, Sycamore and Mason are a step or two above the other teams in D1. Division II has four major contenders -- Indian Hill, Orange, Columbus Academy, and Seven Hills. All of these teams have highly skilled players at the top of their line-ups, and they have the depth to win in doubles.
In addition to the OTZ data, TennisRecruiting.net and Universal Tennis Ratings were used as a resource to create the rankings. As part of this effort, the top five players based on UTR are: Mason's Greg Bernadsky, Springboro's Rishi Dore, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers, and Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan (in UTR order). They will also be highly ranked in the OTZ Top Players List as the season progresses.
The lists are subject to tweaking if players decide not to play (or to play) Ohio high school tennis this spring. "Thank you" to the fans who provided feedback on these rankings.
The teams likely to get to Team States are the ones who fill their schedules with great matches.
Division I
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Sycamore 2023 Championship Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 State Champion Sycamore starts where it left off in 2023 (and 2022). They return Nicholas Meyers (a Denison recruit), Nicholas Choo, Arjun Rajagopala, Andrew Wittenbaum, and Andrew Mao. They also pick up TennisRecruiting 4-star Chase Klugo and 2-star Abinav Dinesh.
#2 Mason got hammered by graduations last year but they have reloaded. Returning are Greg Bernadsky, Daniel Tonkal, Aron Dornhecker, and Connor Buckingham. Lost to graduation are Eric Xu and Kyle Brackenridge. Mason picks up Shreyas Mantha, a 3-star.
#3 New Albany will likely represent the Central District in the Final Four this year. They return Jackson Clements, Abhi Dandu, Ben Bilenko, Tyler Thomas, and Jackson Goodman. They lost Dhruv Chavan to graduation.
#4 Springboro's lost no players to graduation. Players returning include: Rishi Dore, Jack Siehl, and Drew Baumgartner. They also pick up freshmen, Brady Mullins (3-star) and Peyton Nelson (2-star).
#5 St. Xavier returns Carson Dwyer (2023 D1 Doubles Champ), Beckett Enscoe, Chase Homan, Conor Lynch, and Henry Brandt. They lost Drew Evans (now playing for Western Michigan) and Joe AbouKhalil to graduation. [Update 3/15: St. X also picks up Nihal Narisetty, a four-star.]
#6 Olentangy Orange returns Nikhil Bhimireddy, Zach Haar, Shailen Pate, Devan Patel, and Eric Tang. They lost Kallan Arledge to graduation. They pick up 2-star, Luke Rutherford.
#7 Massillon Jackson lost the final Altman (Alvin) to graduation (now playing for Western Michigan). Returning for Jackson are: Rohan Sriram (Kenyon recruit), Shiv Nagajothi, Lucas Vassas, and Larson Sutula.
#8 Olentangy Liberty is a team of brothers, Returning are Liam Hand and Shane Hand and Krish Badri and Arya Badri. Also returning is Marcus Bode. They graduated the State Doubles team of Jay Ramakkagari and Hummza Ali.
#9 Avon returns a strong team that includes: A.J. Sidoti, Luke LeMaster, Jay Kneiss, and Franco Gallo. They lost Logan DeHaven to graduation..
#10 Centerville returns a strong squad for the final spot in the Top Ten. Returning are Elliot Galbraith, Luke Edwards, Vibhu Rola, and Vivek Akella. They lost Sanjay Shankar and Kevin Xiao to graduation.
Many of the previous top teams lost key graduates, but some Honorable Mentions should surface early in the season.
D2 is always tough to determine because many of the teams do not travel outside of their district. Columbus remains the perfect place to meet to hold dual matches among Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest District teams so hopefully more teams will take advantage of this. Many of the top players are accustomed to going out-of-state for matches once or twice a month so traveling is not an issue for them.
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Indian Hill Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 Indian Hill starts the season at the #1 spot. They have retained most of their players from last year's #3 ranked team including: RJ Poffenberger (2022 D2 Dubs Champion), Jack Pollock (Bowdoin recruit), Ethan Camp, Senuka Abeysinghe, and Michael Ryu. They lost Max Berghausen to graduation. They also pick up 4-star Neelan Gandhi.
#2 Orange lost their 2X D2 Singles Champion, Ben Pomeranets, to graduation. He is now playing for Virginia Tech. They still; however, return most of their team from last year. They include: Chika Nwaozuzu (2X State Doubles Champion and Denison recruit),Gabi Kalir (2023 State Doubles Champion), Gabriel Guiler, Ace Bloom, and Ishan Bhatt.. They also lost Krish Mehra to graduation.
#3 Seven Hills, last year's D2 Team Champion, returns a strong team with depth. Returning are: Avi Mahajan (Wash U. recruit), Ethan Blatt, John Corbett, Adi Nayak, Gavin Isakov, and Chinmay Machavaram. They lost Cole Cozens to graduation. Cozens is playing for the University of Toledo.
#4 Columbus Academy returns Lucas Xue, Nason Lo, Jacob Khvalsky, and Rowen Lo, and Saagar Arya. The Lo brothers finished third in D2 State Dubs last year. They lost Saagar Arya and Cory Wu to graduation.
#5 Bexley lost several key players to graduation including Stefan Schiff, Austin Flamm, and Blake Simons. Bexley will be in the battle to be the Central District Final Four rep. They return Sam Lessard, Emmett Pliskin, and Oscar Ramsden. They gain the state's only 5-star freshman, Henry Lessard.
#6 Hawken returns their top players from last year including Axel Neely, Zach Forte, and Berend Diderich. They also return Anthony Piazza and Tyler Snyder. They lost Ashwin Balakrishnan and Rohan Desai to graduation. They pick up Billy Beseth, a 3-star.
#7 Lexington returns most of their Final Four team from last year. Returning are: Ethan Remy, Karl Etzel, Dylan Catanese, Owan Gongwer, and Cooper Remy. They lost Jake Chilcote to graduation.
#8 University School returns their top three singles players. They are: Dean Kirchick, Cole Kirchick, and Vishwum Kapadia. Also returning are their Court 1 dubs team of Connor Barragate and Rohit Talasila. They lost Raaghav Lele and Rohan Sethi to graduation.
#9 Oakwood returns a solid group of players from last year including their State Doubles Finalist team of Arick Baldwin and Noah Boyce. Also returning are Rohan Haack, Jack Smallwood, and Eli Rhodes. They lost Max McCloskey and Michael Ritschel to graduation. Freshman, Grant Zhou, a 2-star, will join the fray.
#10 Wellington completes the Top 10 for D2. They return Sanjan Shanker, Luca Mlicki, and Eric Carter. They lost Hundson McConnell to graduation.
Note that there are additional details for players with high-lighted links. Teams with the green "team" designation will include information (or they soon will have) about all of their players.
Those with additional insights on why a team should be ranked differently or included on one of these lists are welcome to submit a Feedback. Please include specific reasons and player names.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024
OHSAA / OTZ Boys Season Calendar
The unseasonably warm weather is already revving up OTZ usage. The season is less than one month from now so it is worthwhile to include a few key dates on your calendar now. The OTZ calendar includes a few additional dates that are important to tennis players, such as the dates of several major USTA tournaments and the ACT / SAT test dates. While these dates are believed to be correct, always check with other sources before planning the rest of your life. The tennis dates should mimic the OHSAA Tennis Sports Calendar.
OhioTennisZone.com |
| Feb 10: ACT Test Date |
| Feb. 24-25: OTCA Coach Clinic (Cleveland) |
| Mar. 2-3: USTA Level 4: B14, B16, B18 |
| Mar. 4: 1st Day of Coaching |
| Mar. 9: SAT Test Date |
| Mar. 15: Coach to Enter Match Schedule on OTZ by.. |
| Mar. 20: Coach to Enter Roster on OTZ by.. |
| Mar. 22: HS Season Begins |
| Mar. 23 - Mar. 30: Easter Bowl |
| Mar 31: Easter |
| Apr 1: Coach to Provide Team Picture to OTZ by.. |
| Apr 2: Pay OTZ for Coach, Team, or Individual Mem. by.. |
| Apr. 8: Non-Interscholastic Date AND SOLAR ECLIPSE |
| Apr. 13: ACT Test Date |
| Apr. 21: Waiver Extension Ends |
| Apr 28: Sectional Tournament Draw |
| May 4: SAT Test Date |
| May 6-11: Sectional Tournament |
| May 13-18: District Tournament |
| May 23-24 (Th-Fr): State Tournament (Wooster) |
| May 25 (Sa): State Team Tournament (Wooster) |
| May 27: Memorial Day Observed |
| June 1: Season Ends |
The boys season calendar is normally chaotic because of the weather and the timing of spring breaks. That will likely be the case again this year. The boys get far more time to prepare for the season than the girls, but the inclement weather always reduces the number of days that can be spent outdoors.
For those of you who are calendar geeks, normally dates shift one day, year-to-year. Since this year is a leap year, the key dates shift by two days. For example, Memorial Day was celebrated on Monday, May 29, last year.
There will be no shortage of high school tune-up opportunities for players competing in USTA tournaments. Click for the Midwest Junior Tournament Schedule. Click to view the USTA National Tournament schedule. As normal, there are no high level tournaments in Central Ohio.
The boys can use waivers to play non-HS tennis during the season. The waivers should enable most boys to start the season on time (rather than waiting to play in a key tournament). Click for the OHSAA Waiver Request. Always (always, always) work with your coach, athletic director, and the OHSAA to insure that this waiver is completed well in advance and is done absolutely positively correctly.
Coaches, please do not remove players who have graduated from your roster. Fans like to see those who are no longer on the team as they compare this year's team versus last year's. This will be done by OTZ near the beginning of the season.
This calendar will remain in the right sidebar throughout the season.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Top OTZ Photos for 2023
With this week's warming temperatures, there is more focus on the upcoming boys season. Before looking too far ahead, OTZ is closing out the 2023 calendar year with its favorite photos. This video slideshow series was paused after 2020 for a number of reasons, and it is time to hopefully restart it. As in the past, there are photos from professional, college, and high school tennis players included, but there are also a few photos from the PickleballZone Adult Summer league and from the Central Ohio Platform Tennis Association league. Click for the video.
Click for OTZ Top Photos Video - Click for video |
These slideshows make a nice time capsule of each year. Click for the Top OTZ Photos of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. I needed to refresh my memory on a few names so I watched each video twice, and I frequently hit the pause button to better read the player names.
Sorry about the rather drab music for the last few years. The most popular musical artists gradually stopped YouTube from allowing their music to be used in these types of videos. TikTok had been given a reprieve from the artists, but Grammy watchers from Sunday night may recall that this reprieve may soon be coming to an end. OTZ does not earn any advertising dollars from YouTube from these videos.
The high school photos of your player are available for purchase. Click Buy an OTZ Photo for more information.
Please contact OhioTennisZone via Feedback with any questions.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2024
College Tennis Matches Now Underway
The college indoor season is well underway. For the complete list of Ohio high school players who are competing at a collegiate level, click on OTZ's College Tennis Report. This page includes the profile photos of OhioTennisZone.com members when they played high school tennis. It also includes links to each college tennis homepage. Please scroll down the page to see the college players who were not OTZ members. Just to be forward thinking, high school players who are recruits are also listed.
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OTZ's College Report - Click to enlarge |
Those who came late to Ohio State matches over the weekend found that the Ty Tucker Indoor facility had reached its capacity. I went to the OSU Men's match against Virginia, and I got there after doubles play had completed. I had to stand outside until enough people left before I was permitted to enter.
While the #1 ranked Ohio State Men's and #12 ranked women's team are fun to watch in their great new facility, there are plenty of opportunities to watch college tennis throughout the state. There are also a zillion Division 3 matches. Currently, the Case Western Men's team is #1 in the nation, Denison's men's team is #9, and Kenyon's men's team is #23. These matches make great team bonding trips, plus they provide high school players with insight on what skills they need to acquire to play at a collegiate level. Ohio State does not charge for admission and it is doubtful that there are admission fees for other schools. As always, if your team goes to a college tennis match and I am there, please let me know and I will take your team's photo. (OTZ's Kyle Gerber played for Case.)
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OSU's Ratliff - Click to enlarge |
OSU's Siemers - Click to enlarge |
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OSU's Stearns - Click to enlarge |
OSU's Yakubov - Click to enlarge |
The OhioTennisZone camera shutter has been clicking away at OSU matches and several of the better photos are listed to the right.
For more information about college teams, Cracked Racquets does a nice job and so does the Intercollegiate Tennis Associate's WeAreCollegeTennis.com. Two great college tennis sites that were OTZ favorites, CollegeTennis-Today.com and Division3tennis.com, are no longer active.
THURSDAY,
Top Freshman Boys - Class of 2027
Listed below is the list of top freshman players who are expected to play high school tennis this spring. The core of this list is from TennisRecruiting.net, and the District and school information were largely gathered from previous knowledge and tennis fans. This information will soon be incorporated into OTZ's Pre-Season Top Ten Team lists after their high schools have been determined.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | School |
| Rudratej Anumula - 3 | Dublin (c) | Dublin Jerome |
| Billy Beseth - 3 | Pepper Pike (ne) | Hawken |
| Levi Brumbaugh - 2 | West Milton (sw) | Milton |
| Abinav Dinesh - 2 | Blue Ash (sw) | Sycamore |
| Neelan Gandhi - 4 | Cincinnati (sw) | Indian Hill |
| Cooper Grim - 4 | East Palestine (ne) | Not playing HS |
| Owen Hawley - 2 | Columbus (c) | Upper Arlington |
| Jaylon Jamal - 2 | Shaker Heights (ne) | Shaker Heights |
| Finnegan Keenan - 4 | Akron (ne) | Revere |
| Aditya Khanna - 3 | Cincinnati (sw) | In CA (?) |
| Chase Klugo - 4 | Montgomery (sw) | Sycamore |
| Henry Lessard - 5 | Bexley (c) | Bexley |
| Shreyas Mantha - 3 | Mason (sw) | Mason |
| Brady Mullins - 3 | Wilmington (sw) | Springboro |
| Peyton Nelson - 3 | Springboro (sw) | Springboro |
| Liam O'Farrell - 2 | Uniontown (ne) | Green (?) |
| Luke Rutherford - 2 | Lewis Center (c) | Olentangy Orange |
| Zelin Shen - 2 | Hudson (ne) | Hudson |
| Jack Slay - 3 | Canton (ne) | Archbishop Hoban |
| Landon Vens - 4 | Sylvania (nw) | Sylvania Southview |
| Pugal Vijayakumar - 2 | Dublin (c) | |
| Beckett Zappin - 2 | Loveland (sw) | Loveland |
| Grant Zhou - 2 | Oakwood (sw) | Oakwood |
Some, but not all, of these players will be able to contribute to their teams immediately. As we all know though, high school tennis can be a challenge for incoming freshmen as they face seniors, windy spring days, and coaches (who are actually coaches rather than their tennis pros). These players are also still growing and while growth spurts are welcome, they can also add clumsiness to strokes and foot work.
As is often the case, the strongest Ohio teams also get a nice influx of high quality players. That will be the case with Henry Lessard (Bexley), Chase Klugo (Sycamore), Neelan Gandhi (Indian Hill), and Shreyas Mantha (Mason).
It is also important to note that Sycamore returns all of their top seven players from last year's championship team.
This alphabetized list should be solid, but please let OTZ know if it is missing players who are currently listed as eighth graders or who are coming in from other states. This list may also include a player or two who are currently sophomores.
Know of any changes? Please submit a Feedback.
The Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
Of the 23 players on the list, the Central District has five (seven in 2023), Northeast - seven (six in 2023), Northwest - one (zero in 2023), and Southwest - ten (same as 2023).
SATURDAY,
College Tennis Commitments
Many of Ohio's high school players have already committed to college programs to continue with their tennis careers. The number of players who have committed is lower than in previous years but this year's group of 19 recruits (Updated 3/16/2024: Now 26 recruits) will likely continue to grow as more committments are announced.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - Girls | High School / College |
| Brooke Arington | Indian Hill / Butler University |
| Yasemin Bilgin | Columbus Academy / Case Western |
| Amara Brahmbhatt | Westlake / Michigan State University |
| Tess Bucher | North Canton Hoover / University of Kentucky |
| Arya Chabria | Columbus Academy / Stonehill College |
| Sarah Clark | Turpin / Coastal Carolina University |
| Lilly Dwyer | Indian Hill / Davidson College |
| Claire Emanuel | Olentangy Berlin / Bryn Mawr College |
| Lydia Foster | Dublin Jerome / Youngstown State |
| Hayley Garber | Hawken / Longwood University |
| Denver Johnson | Avon / Western Illinois University |
| Morgan Lint | Oak Hills / University of Missouri-St. Louis |
| Clara Owen | Centerville / Xavier University |
| Catherine Rhegness | Ottawa Hills / University of Toledo |
| Meredith Riley | South Point / Marshall University |
| Natalie Smitek | Avon / Xavier University |
| Player - Boys | High School / College |
| Arick Baldwin | Oakwood / Allegheny |
| Vincent Cannata | Aurora / Baldwin Wallace |
| Jacob Eddingfield | Elder / Thomas More |
| Avi Mahajan | Seven Hills / Washington University St. Louis |
| Nicholas Meyers | Sycamore / Denison University |
| Chika Nwaozuzu | Orange / Denison University |
| Jack Pollock | Indian Hill / Bowdoin College |
| Rohan Sriram | Massillon Jackson / Kenyon |
| Cayden Stratford | Dublin Jerome / Findlay |
| Tyler Wood | St. Johns Jesuit / Ohio Northern University |
High school tennis players with and without OTZ Player Profiles are included in the table on the right. Click on the player names to view their OTZ Player Profiles.
To see the complete list of Ohio high school players who are currently competing in college (or have committed to playing at a college next fall), click on College Players from Ohio or by using the drop-down above (off of Tennis Statistics / Info). There are 20 freshmen, 28 sophomores, 29 juniors, 27 seniors, and three grad students / red shirts competing this season.
The OTZ College Report requires a ton of time to produce. If your player was never a paying OTZ member (or team member) while in high school, it is not appropriate to ping OTZ now and ask that your player be included in this report. The time necessary to run OTZ needs to decrease.
Please send a Feedback or email if you are aware of changes to this list.
This information was sourced by TennisRecruiting.net and OhioTennisZone.
SUNDAY,
Final OTZ Team Rankings
The season wrap-up continues. Listed below are the OTZ final team rankings for the season.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM 3 Final 4 | Indian Hill◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 2. N. C. Hoover◄TEAM 3 Final 4 | Hath. Brown◄TEAM 1 Final 4 |
| 3. Upper Arlington◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Col. Academy◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 4. New Albany◄TEAM 1 | Hawken◄TEAM 2 |
| 5. Centerville◄TEAM 2 | Bexley◄TEAM 1 |
| 6. Avon 1 | Mariemont 1 |
| 7. St. Ursula Academy 0 | Archbishop Hoban 2 |
| 8. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM 2 | Tippecanoe 0 |
| 9. Anthony Wayne◄TEAM 2 Final 4 | Archbishop Alter 1 |
| 10. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM 1 | Ottawa Hills 1 Final 4 |
| HM: Perrysburg◄TEAM 0 | Orange◄TEAM 1 |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. State Spots 3 - Denotes Number of Spots at States. Final 4 - Denotes State Tournament District Representative. |
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The Division I rankings are pretty solid because match information is available for almost all of the teams. Mason earned the top spot and North Canton Hoover came in second. Mason had a young team, but they came on strong at the end of the season. Mason returns their entire starting line-up next year.
In Division II, Indian Hill was the dominate team all season - even beating Mason twice. Hathaway Brown got the nod over Columbus Academy. The other Division II teams are harder to pin down because there is insufficient match information for some of the teams.
To compare all of the Top Ten teams and their game winning percentages, click on the Top Ten Girls Team report.
The number of State Spots that each team had is included in gray.
As always, there were situations when Team A was better than Team B which was better than Team C which was better than Team A.
There were also situations when teams were experimenting with their line-ups or they did not have key players at a match.
FRIDAY,
Top OTZ Girls Photos for 2023
It was a busy fall for taking tennis photos. The Most Recently Added Photos area is now updated to include almost 150 photos from the girls season. (Please Sign-in to view.) Of course, if the team and player profile photos were counted in that total, there were a zillion more photos processed than the 150.
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Sarah Clark - Click to enlarge |
The top photos for the season are also now available by clicking on Top OTZ Girls Photos. These are my favorites and many of them have been featured on the Home page during the season. Most of them include: great eye-on-ball, action, an interesting or clean background, good coiling, etc.
I think they compare favorably with the top photos from previous years. Click to view 2022, 2021, and 2020 images. Note that photos from previous years going all of the way back to 2014 are included in the drop down menu in the header.
If you are looking for a thoughtful, memorable holiday gift that can be purchased from OhioTennisZone, click SmugMug to view.
Photos are emailed to buyers and they can be printed, added to TennisRecruiting.net and UTR, shared on social media, put in digital picture frames, etc.
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Tess Bucher - Click to enlarge |
Amiya Bowles |
Some of the images that are purchased will also be shown on OTZ under the player's profile. Click to view the profile for Turpin's Sarah Clark.
The great majority of the SmugMug images have *not* been "enhanced" by OTZ. The final purchased photos will be color-corrected, cropped, and straightened. All will be in 5x7 dimensions unless asked to do otherwise.
There are substantial quantity discounts. Click for pricing at Buy an OTZ Tennis Photo.
