Sectional/District Draws |
Ohio High School Tennis
WEDNESDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Summit Country Day
Spotty weather led to a few cancellations yesterday. In one of the bigger matches, Olentangy defeated Wellington. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Seven Hills defeated Summit Country Day; Hudson beat Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and Upper Arlington-B defeated Olentangy Liberty. 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 Marc Wurtzman. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Arya Chabria, Grace Philip, and Tamanna Arya.
On our way back from Cincinnati on Sunday, it seemed as if there was a "tree trimmer truck" parade as they headed south on I-71 to work on hurricane damage. It will be interesting to see how much the hurricane affects Ohio. Hopefully it will not impact the Sectionals.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Laurel and Seven Hills (A) versus Ursuline Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats SUA | Centerville Defeats Turpin
The Southwest District finals are now set for the State Team Tournament after Mason defeated St. Ursula Academy and Centerville beat Turpin. Mason and Centerville are expected to play next week.
There were just six matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3 and Southwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Archbishop Alter defeated Tippecanoe and Ready beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Westerville South - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Westerville South. They are coached by Macie Kercsmar. They are led by Natalie Ma and Leanne Ngo. I think Coach Kercsmar is the first OTZ player who has become a coach. See photo of Coach Kercsmar playing for Big Walnut.
Today's matches include: Archbishop Hoban (H) versus North Canton Hoover; Perrysburg (T) versus Anthony Wayne; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Gahanna. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Sectional Draws Available (for some)
Great job, Central and Southwest District people. The complete Sectional draws are now available for these two Districts. Normally, Central leads the pack by getting their draws up by Sunday evening, and then it is quickly followed by a Sectional or two from the Southwest. This is the first year that all of the Southwest draws have been live by Monday morning. Expect the Northeast to be next, followed by the Northwest. Both may take a few days.
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Jordan Thompson - Click to enlarge |
College coaches really appreciate having player school years on the draws. It really helps them with recruiting. The Central and Southwest do a great job with this, and it is great that they help their kids by doing it.
Some early observations..
Eaton's Macy and Mallory Hitchcock will be playing doubles this year. Macy was the State Singles Champion for the last two years. Mallory was the state doubles champion last year with Grace Murphy. They will be one of the teams to beat. Another strong team will be Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula and Addison Cassidy.
Bexley's Amiya Bowles is seeded second in her Sectional but it is unlikely that she will finish second at her Sectional or at Districts. With other players switching to (or playing) doubles, Bowles will be a favorite along with Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Orange's Alexis Nyborg, and Indian Hill's Brooke Arington.
Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw and Clara Owen are once again teaming up. They are the defending D1 doubles champs and they will be the team to beat.
Click below for the current draws that are available.
The OTZ State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. Aware of other updates? Click on Feedback.
I zoomed back to Columbus from Lexington on Saturday to take photos at the ATP Challenger. It was won by the U.K.'s Jordan Thompson (see photo above). The photo was taken during his match with OSU's Cannon Kingsley.
On Sunday, Mrs. OTZ and I attended an Open House at the GE Aviation Additive facility where our daughter, Lauren, works. This is where they "print" jet engine parts using specialized powders and lasers. Mrs. OTZ and I are both big proponents of STEM programs. The U.S. needs more people who make things that others want to buy, rather than people who have no idea how to make anything, but they think that it must be easy to do..
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Mason and Magnificat (A) versus Hudson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Mason Wins GCTCA Flight A | Centerville is Lex Invite Champ
Yesterday was a big tournament day. Hopefully the results will answer a few player skill-related questions for seeding purposes at today's Sectional Draws. Mason was the big winner of the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches' Association Flight A group. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy came in second. Sycamore won the Flight B. Centerville won the Lexington Invitational, and Magnificat was the runner-up.
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Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Click to enlarge |
The weather caused a change in plans yesterday. The OTZ intent was to go to Mason for Flights A and C, but an audible was called at 7am for a switch to the Lexington Invite. I needed to back in Columbus at 1:15pm so the rain delay at Mason made that unworkable. The Southwest District will be the next opportunity to see the Cincinnati-area teams.
In Flight A, court 1 singles, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated St. Ursula Academy's Elle Schuermann; Indian Hill's Brooke Arington; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula; and Mason's Nishi Gandra. A six game pro-set was used. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo was taken at Lexington yesterday and it is of Caroline Hinshaw. She is a senior at Centerville. Hinshaw and her partner, Clara Owen, won first doubles at Lexington yesterday. They are also the defending State D1 doubles champions.
Hopefully the Sectional draws will be posted on OTZ for at least a few Districts today.
SATURDAY,
Mag Beats SJA
In yesterday's play, Centerville defeated Lexington; Magnificat beat St. Joseph Academy; and in a tight, 3-2 match, Hilliard Bradley defeated Hilliard Darby. To view all of the graphical results, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Roger - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw defeated Lexington's Jade Adkins; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Copley's Shria Kavaturu and Revere's Maddie Kavenagh; Magnificat's Anna Bennett defeated St. Joseph Academy's Ella Kowalski; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai beat Hilliard Darby's Carrlene Webb; Centerville's Clara Owen defeated Lexington's Eva Mumford; and Highland's Jo Oberhaus beat Copley's Cassandra Komlanc. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It was an amazing career for Roger Federer. It is also nice to see him move on after this great career. This photo was taken at the Western & Southern in 2018.
The Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Classic Tournament begins today. This is a great tournament with a great format. At this point in the season, I want to see players competing in what they are going to be doing in Sectionals (singles or doubles). OTZ will be traveling to Mason for Flights A and C. Some of the best OTZ photos have been taken at this tournament thanks to the great competition and outdoor setting. (The rain may throw a monkey wrench into everyone's plans though..)
Lexington also has its tournament today. Schools participating in this tournament include: Lexington, Dublin Coffman, Perrysburg, Magnificat, Columbus Academy, Centerville, and Canfield.
FRIDAY,
Turpin Beats SUA | CSG Defeats Wellington | Photo Friday
And just like that, it is time to figure out where the snowblower is in the garage.. In the most noteworthy matches of the evening, Turpin defeated St. Ursula Academy, Columbus School For Girls beat Wellington, and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Seven Hills.
There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12 and Southwest - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland beat Mason-B; Hilliard Bradley defeated Reynoldsburg; Olentangy Berlin eat Grove City; Oak Hills defeated Lakota West; London beat Ready; and Olentangy defeated Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Thomas Worthington's Kayla Lu - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Turpin's Sarah Clark defeated St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon; Oak Hills' Morgan Lint beat Lakota West's Leah Schleibaum; Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai beat Reynoldsburg's Olivia Cox; Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte defeated Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya; Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope beat Chaminade-Julienne's Paige Harsman; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard; Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder beat Grove City's Gabriella Hougland; and Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This is the first really big Photo Friday of the season. There have been 93 action photos added this season. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to see all of them. The OTZ Top Ten'ish photos are also now available. These are the OTZ favorites and they are always subject to change. There will be a utility added soon to allow parents to view and to hopefully buy photos.Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Lexington; Magnificat (H) versus St. Joseph Academy; and Copley (T) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats CHCA
Mason defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the marquee match of the night. There were 17 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Oak Hills defeated Ursuline Academy; Centerville-B beat Badin; Lancaster defeated Grove City; Columbus Academy beat Olentangy Orange; Medina defeated Copley; and New Albany beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mayfield - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Mayfield. They are coached by David Cole. They led by Hailey Inmon and Danielle Prilepsky.
The Columbus Challenger event is underway. Click to view the results of the Tennis Ohio Championships.
Today's matches include: Hathaway Brown (A) versus Massillon Jackson; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Seven Hills; and Centerville (A) versus Oakwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Magnificat Beats Solon | Coffman Defeats Jerome
Now things are really starting to get interesting as play gets further into the State Team Tournament. Magnificat defeated Solon to advance to the semis. They will play Avon next.
There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Delaware Hayes defeated Marion Harding; Reynoldsburg beat Westerville Central; Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Scioto; Dublin Coffman beat Dublin Jerome; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin defeated Shaker Heights. 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 Bennett, Caroline Moritz, and Anna Mancino.
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Indian Hill; Centerville (H) versus Eaton; and Hathaway Brown (A) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats Centerville | Orange Defeats Hawken
OTZ #1 Mason defeated #4 Centerville, and #5 (D2) Orange beat #6 (D2) Hawken in the State Team Tournament. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Wooster defeated Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; Centerville-B beat Mason-B; and Loveland defeated Mount Notre Dame. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Archbishop Alter - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Archbishop Alter. They are coached by Charlie Painter. They are Team Members. They are led by Maggie Shope, Annie Gayonski, and Annie Schaefer.
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Springboro; Magnificat (H) versus Solon; Hathaway Brown (H) versus North Canton Hoover; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Archbishop Hoban. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Updated OTZ Rankings
With the Sectional Draw coming this Sunday, it is time to review the OhioTennisZone Top Ten Teams. Since the OTZ Pre-Season rankings were released in early August, a few teams have been impacted by injuries to key players. Other teams messed up by winning when they should not have. (Yes, this was rude.)
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM |
| 2. N. Canton Hoover◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 3. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM | Cinc. Hills Chr. Acad. ◄TEAM |
| 4. Centerville◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 5. Magnificat◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 6. St. Ursula Academy | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 7. Avon◄TEAM | Archbishop Alter◄TEAM |
| 8. New Albany◄TEAM | Kenston |
| 9. Sycamore◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| 10. Mass. Jackson◄TEAM | Mariemont |
| HM: Solon◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| HM: Highland◄TEAM | Tippecanoe |
| HM: Upper Arlington◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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North Canton Hoover is this season’s Rosetta Stone team because of the large number of top teams they have played from throughout the state. By comparing all of the teams that have played Hoover in the OTZ Matrix Report, it becomes clearer how they all compare.
If teams were viewed as “tied”, the team which had the most matches against other strong teams was given the higher ranking.
The big “up” movers in D1 include: Avon, New Albany, and Sycamore. The D2 “up” movers are Orange and Hawken.
As always, there are situations when Team A is better than Team B which is better than Team C which is better than Team A.
There are also situations when teams were experimenting with their line-ups or they did not have key players at a match.
There have been many scores entered over the last few days as teams have caught up on entering scores that were not submitted earlier. Please do not enter scores that are already online. (A few duplicates have been noticed and they will be removed.)
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Mason; Orange (A) versus Hawken; Worthington Kilbourne (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Copley (A) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Centerville Is the Coaches' Cup Champ | Columbus Academy Beats Hawken and Mag
It was a busy Saturday with tournaments and dual matches. Centerville won the Miami Valley Coaches' Cup (A1 Division) and Springboro was the runner-up. Gahanna was the champ of the Hilliard Davidson dubs tournament with Worthington Kilbourne coming in second.
In dual matches, Columbus Academy went on the road and defeated Hawken and Magnificat. Massillon Jackson beat Highland and Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald - Click to enlarge |
I took the long way to Hilliard Davidson for their doubles tournament yesterday.. I started bright and early to head up to Lexington for their invitational. I was about two-thirds of the way there when I received a call from Centerville’s Scott Long. An alert Centerville parent had noticed in yesterday's entry that I was zooming up to Lexington. That parent then contacted Scott to tell him that I was off by a week. Many thanks to Scott and to the Centerville parent. I got to Davidson at 8:50am and took quite a few photos there so that worked out well.
Yesterday was a big photo processing day. More will be done today.
SATURDAY,
Mason Beats Sycamore | Hawkens Defeats Avon
Mason defeated Sycamore in both a league and State Team Tournament match yesterday. Since it was a Comets versus Aviators match, the event was coined as “Battle of the Skies”.. Nice. In other matches, Hawken defeated Avon and Notre Dame Academy beat Walsh Jesuit. 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 |
Today's featured team is North Canton Hoover. They are coached by Ryan Shaffer. They are Team Members. They are led by Tess Bucher, Claire Wood, and Angelina Koinoglou.
Hilliard Davidson and Lexington are both having tournaments today. OTZ will be leaving for Lexington in a few minutes. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
NCH Coach Shaffer with 1,000 Wins | Sycamore Beats Centerville
Congratulations to North Canton Hoover Coach Ryan Shaffer. Coach Shaffer reached the 1,000 Career Wins milestone with North Canton Hoover's victory over Solon last night. He has been coaching for 35 years and he has a 1000-166 (86%) record. In addition to Hoover, he has also coached at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Malone University. There is one more active Ohio high school coach with more than 1,000 wins -- Shaker Heights' Al Slawson has approximately 1,037 wins. Read Coach Shaffer's profile for more information.
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NCH's Ryan Shaffer - Click to enlarge |
This was the longest update of the year. While there were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play, many scores were posted from earlier in the season . The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Jerome; Sycamore beat Centerville; Eaton defeated Springboro; Loveland beat Milford; Olentangy Berlin defeated Pickerington North; and Westerville Central beat Granville. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw beat Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Magnificat's Anna Bennett; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein; Centerville's Clara Owen defeated Sycamore's Ivy Miller; New Albany's Richardlyne Francois beat Reynoldsburg's Kareen Meoko; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese defeated Wooster's Ava Mathur; Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson beat Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster; Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria defeated Wellington's Olivia Cencer; Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte beat Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt; and Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Perry's Lily Walker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
While I normally wake up much earlier on my own, I set the alarm clock at 5:30am as a safety measure. However, this time it was not set to 5:30am, it was set to 5:30pm. That is how this day is going so far..
There is just one match listed on the schedule for today. It is Avon (H) versus Hawken.
THURSDAY,
Avon Beats Jackson | Mason Defeats St. Ursula Academy
The quality of matches continue to increase as teams get further into the State Team tournament. Avon defeated Massillon Jackson in last night's tournament play. Mason also defeated St. Ursula Academy.
There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Tippecanoe defeated Eaton; Chaminade-Julienne beat Butler; Milford defeated Seven Hills; Pickerington North beat Dublin Scioto; Wilmington defeated Kettering Fairmont; Groveport beat Franklin Heights; Hilliard Darby defeated Lancaster; and Copley beat Tallmadge. 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, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein; Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw beat Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Hawken's Dani Forte; Bexley's Amiya Bowles beat Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri; Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald defeated Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard beat Pickerington North's Poeppelman; and Avon's Denver Johnson defeated Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Congratulations to Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin coach, Harvey Schrager. He just hit 833 career wins. This puts him in ninth place with wins among the coaches.
Today's featured team is New Albany. They are coached by Marc Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Richardlyne Francois, Paige Cornelius, and Airi Clements.
There is another ATP Challenger coming to Columbus next week. They need volunteer drivers and ball persons. Click this link for more information. The tournament runs from September 18-25 at the Tennis Ohio facility. (This facility will soon be called Pickle & Chill when Courts 5 and 6 of the old Ohio State Indoor Courts switch to six dedicated pickeball courts.)
The Ohio Tennis Coaches Association clinic will take place on February 25-26, 2023. The event moves from the Dublin, Ohio Marriott to the Chagrin Valley Athletic Club where they will have access to an indoor court. It will be interesting to see what this does to attendance.
Today's matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Solon; Centerville (A) versus Sycamore; Columbus Academy (A) versus Wellington; and Magnificat (A) versus Laurel. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Mag Beats Highland | Columbus Academy Defeats Coffman
This perfect weather is getting tiresome.. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 5, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Columbus Academy defeated Dublin Coffman; Magnificat beat Highland; Big Walnut defeated Buckeye Valley; Pickerington North beat Lancaster; Wooster defeated Madison Comprehensive; and Eaton beat Carlisle. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wellington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Wellington. They are coached by Tommy Haddow. They are Team Members. They are led by Katie Zerbi, Kate Thompson, and Olivia Cencer.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Hathaway Brown; Bexley (H) versus Dublin Coffman; Hawken (A) versus Laurel; and Olentangy (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats CHCA | Coffman Defeats Olentangy Liberty
Mason defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the biggest night of the match. Dublin Coffman also beat Olentangy Liberty in a state team tournament match. There were 24 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 8, and Northeast - 6. The close, 3-2 matches included: Chaminade-Julienne defeated Oakwood; Ready beat Groveport; Miami Valley School defeated Eaton; and Gahanna beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hathaway Brown - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hathaway Brown. They are coached by Greg Aten. They are Team Members. They are led by Summer Mu, Ally Mills, and Katie Mills.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (A) versus Columbus Academy; Highland (H) versus Magnificat; St. John School (H) versus Perry; and Archbishop Hoban (A) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Marysville Beats Lancaster | Season Half-way Point
The girls tennis season is now at the half-way point, but that is a little misleading for many teams. Most schools will wrap up their seasons at the Sectional tournament during the week of October 3-8 while a small number will continue onto Districts and States. The all-important Sectional Draw is on Sunday, September 25. There are likely discussions taking place right now as coaches and players try to determine if playing singles or doubles is the best path to States.
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Orange - Click to team page |
There was a dual match reported yesterday. Marysville defeated Lancaster.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Orange. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are Team Members. They are led by Alexis Nyborg, Blake Rothchild, and Daniela DeMata-Hiciano
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Mason; Turpin (A) versus Oak Hills; and Olentangy Liberty (A) versus Lexington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
North Canton Beats Toledo St. Ursula and Notre Dame Academy
It was quiet day for high school tennis yesterday. North Canton Hoover went on the road to the Northwest District where they beat Toledo St. Ursula Academy and Notre Dame Academy. In tournament play, Beavercreek won the Chaminade-Julienne Invitational.
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Worthington Christian - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Worthington Christian. They are coached by Stefanie Mayotte. They are led by Meghan Mayotte, Brooke Stone, and Ella Rouse.
I had an opportunity to go to the Ohio State game which was nice, but it hampered the OTZ catch-up plans. I will not mind if it rains today so that it forces me to stay indoors.
We sat on the east side of the stadium where we could see the incoming flights to Port Columbus. With yesterday being 9/10, it certainly crossed our minds how those incoming flights would have made it uncomfortable to be at the game if yesterday was 9/11. Take a few minutes to remember what happened 21 years ago. Click for a Youtube video.
SATURDAY,
Centerville Beats Magnificat | Orange Puts the Squeeze on Hawken
The best teams in the state kept their courts busy last night as they welcomed out-of-town teams. The match between #5 Centerville and #4 Magnificat match was a great one. Centerville started with a win on Court 4, and Mag responded with wins on Courts 5 and 1. Centerville then clinched with wins on Courts 3 and 2.
In other big matches, Orange defeated Hawken and North Canton Hoover beat Sylvania Northview. 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 Lauren Muniu and Sidney Choo. Their team photo is among the best in the state.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Centerville and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday | Hathaway Brown Beats Hawken | Centerville Defeats Bellbrook
This is the first OTZ Photo Friday of the season. There are 16 new photos included. When images of individual players are included on this Home page, they are normally photos of seniors. On Photo Friday's, the photo most liked by the OTZ staff is posted. These images will largely be posted chronologically. This group includes photos taken on or before August 13. Work on a mechanism is underway to make it easier for fans to find and to purchase photos that they like. Sign-in first and then click for the Most Recently Added Photos to view.
Remember how nice the weather is now, because it is not going to last. There were 29 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 10, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Summit Country Day defeated Seven Hills; Franklin Heights beat Centennial; Columbus School For Girls defeated Bexley; Butler beat Troy; Dublin Jerome defeated Watterson; and Wooster beat Medina. In other big matches, Hathaway Brown defeated Hawken; Centerville beat Bellbrook; and Solon defeated Westlake (State Team Tournament). To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Jerome's Madeline Lynch - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw defeated Bellbrook's Maya Brink; Turpin's Sarah Clark beat Loveland's Marlee Fleming; Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt; Solon's Niya Fried beat Westlake's Madison Shami; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese beat Hudson's Erica Liu; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu defeated Hawken's Dani Forte; Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay beat Revere's Maddie Kavenagh; Watterson's Sara Goodlive defeated Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster; Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya beat Buckeye Valley's Anna Lenhart; and Seven Hills' Sohana Thompson defeated Summit Country Day's Maya Hajjar. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Somewhat surprisingly, there are some really good matches scheduled for tonight. They include: Avon (A) versus Kenston; Centerville (A) versus Magnificat; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Sylvania Northview; Turpin (A) versus Mason; and Orange (A) versus Hawken. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Indian Hill | UA Defeats Dublin Jerome
It was one of the very busiest nights of the season with numerous great matches. In matches involving the highest ranked teams, Mason defeated Indian Hill and Upper Arlington beat Dublin Jerome. The UA match was a State Team Tournament match.
There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 8, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Newark defeated Watkins Memorial; Hilliard Bradley beat Grove City; Loveland defeated Ursuline Academy; Westerville Central beat Marysville; Chaminade-Julienne defeated Eaton; Notre Dame Academy beat St. Joseph Academy; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Wellington; and Wooster beat Mayfield. 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 Team Members. They are led by Kareen Meoko and Olivia Cox.
The only thing worse than hearing someone in the crowd say, "That dot in the sky that's getting bigger and bigger must be an asteroid", is "Tonight is senior night". That's because it eliminates any ability to get back to OTZ headquarters in a reasonable amount of time. However, last night's senior night was very well done, and it is fun to see the similarities between the kids and their parents. It is also nice to see teams have their senior night early in the season while the weather is still absolutely perfect.
The GoDaddy system is slower than normal. I called GoDaddy at 6:30am to find out what was up, but I had to abandon the call because I was on hold for too long.
I am behind in creating OTZ Player Profiles. The plan is to catch-up today.
Tomorrow will be the first Photo Friday of the season.
Today's matches include: Olentangy (H) versus Dublin Coffman; Bexley (A) versus Columbus School For Girls; and Perrysburg (H) versus Bowling Green. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Indian Hill Beats Sycamore
The season resumed at a brisk pace yesterday. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. In one of the bigger matches, Indian Hill defeated Sycamore. The close, 3-2 matches included: Grove City defeated Thomas Worthington; Big Walnut beat Westerville Central; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Worthington Christian; Gahanna beat Dublin Scioto; Olentangy defeated Olentangy Liberty; and Tecumseh beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Solon - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Solon. They are coached by Fredrik Nyborg. They are Team Members. They are led by Niya Fried and Sasha Gorbacheva.
Today's matches include: St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Columbus Academy (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
High School Play Resumes
After a busy (and wet) Labor Day weekend, it is time for Ohio high school tennis to get back in gear. Some of today's matches include: Perrysburg (A) versus Anthony Wayne; Archbishop Hoban (A) versus Laurel; and Dublin Jerome (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Avon - Click to team page |
OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws have been updated.
Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are Team Members. They are led by Natalie Smitek, Denver Johnson, and Amelia Tomak.
At the USTA BG16-18, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher (and the #7 seed) beat the #2 and #3 seeds on the way to the finals, but she got beat in the finals by the #1 seed. In doubles, Bucher and Laurel's Ellie Brotherton teamed up and won the dubs championship. Congratulations to them.
The plan was to work more on photos yesterday but the computer hard drives really needed to be backed up so that took precedence. Last week's lightning storms finally made it a priority. The "pro" with the new OTZ camera is better photos, but the "con" is that the higher frames per second and greater image resolution means more hard drive space is necessary, not only for the main computer, but also for the back-ups.
MONDAY,
USTA Level 4 Open at Grand Rapids
While high school tennis takes a break today, there are (were) numerous players competing in the Level 4 USTA tournament in Grand Rapids this weekend.
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NCH's Tess Bucher - Click to enlarge |
Girls competing this weekend in the G16-18's include (in alphabetical order): Badin's Caroline Boyle, Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Indian Hill's Caroline Brown, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming, Hawken's Dani Forte, St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris, Sylvania Northview's Madeline Peisley, St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon, Seven Hills' Sydney Schneider, and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay.
In match-ups of the Ohio players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Laurel's Ellie Brotherton. Bucher is also the only Ohio girl remaining in the front draw.
In boys' play, Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and St. Xavier's Drew Evans are still in their respective front draws.
To follow all of the action, click on USTA BG16-18.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SUNDAY,
Rainout
The plan was to share the results of the Magnificat versus New Albany and Mag versus Upper Arlington matches today. Even though Magnificat made the effort to travel to Columbus, the weather did not cooperate. Magnificat was ahead in the match when it rained out by winning Courts 2 and 3 singles, but New Albany was leading in dubs. It appeared that it was headed to a 3-2 match to be decided on Court 1 singles. Since it it uncertain if the team match will be finished, the Court 2 and 3 matches were entered as tournament matches.
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Grove City - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Caroline Moritz defeated New Albany's Paige Cornelius and Magnificat's Anna Mancino beat New Albany's Airi Clements. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Grove City. They are coached by Joshua Chandler. They are led by Gabriella Hougland and Julie Moore.
SATURDAY,
OTZ Update Info | Serena / JJ
While it was disappointing to see both Serena and JJ get beat last night, it is certainly going to help OTZ productivity. The goal is to get caught up over the weekend. Today's photo of Ajla Tomljanović is from the Western & Southern Open in August. A smiling photo is rather rare in tennis so it was nice to get this one of her.
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Ajla Tomljanović at W&S Open - Click to enlarge |
Even though there were no scores reported from yesterday's play, there were eight scores from coaches who submitted results after the cut-off for yesterday's update. The OTZ update can begin as early as 4:30am and at that point, no more scores are added. It is a lot like following a recipe. Raisins cannot be added to raisin cookies after they are already in the oven. Of course, that is a bad example because raisin cookies are awful. The only reason why anyone eats a raisin cookie is because they thought it was a chocolate chip cookie when they picked it up and someone is watching so they can't put it back.. The best way to insure a score is included in the following day's update is to submit the score before 9pm on the day on which the match is played.
To view all of the results recorded from Thursday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The OTZ Watch List is starting to get tweaked. Both the Top Players and Watch List will get more additions over the weekend. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Magnificat traveled down to Columbus yesterday to play New Albany and Upper Arlington today. Hopefully they can avoid the rain.
FRIDAY,
Hawken Defeats Solon | Jackson Beats Orange | CHCA Over 7 Hills
The week is winding down as everyone starts looking forward to the weekend. There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. Versus last year, the total number of matches is down 15%.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Brecksville defeated Wooster; Hawken beat Solon; Massillon Jackson defeated Orange; Magnificat beat Kenston; and Reynoldsburg defeated Pickerington Central. In another big Southwest District match, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Seven Hills. 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 |
Big Walnut had their grand opening of their new courts last night and they are today's featured team. They are coached by Ryan Balaz. Their tract of land will eventually allow them to build five more courts to add to their existing five. The Google Satellite map has not been updated, but the courts are in the northern most part of this map. Big Walnut is led by Molly McLane, Rosie Hartzler, and Jaden Nelson.
Today's matches are Columbus Academy (A) versus Upper Arlington-B and Hawken (A) versus Gilmour Academy.
THURSDAY,
Avon Defeats Solon | Alter Beats Eaton | Dublin Coffman Defeats Wellington
Northeast Ohio continues to gain on the Central and Southwest Districts in terms of reporting scores. The Northeast in second in terms of OTZ usage. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: St. Joseph Academy defeated Shaker Heights; Avon beat Solon; Copley defeated Cuyahoga Falls; Olentangy Berlin beat Pickerington Central; Dublin Scioto defeated Big Walnut; and Archbishop Alter beat Eaton. In another big match, Dublin Coffman defeated Wellington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy Liberty - Click to team page |
Click for updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Solon's Sasha Gorbacheva; Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer beat Oak Hills' Morgan Lint; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Pickerington North's Kanisha Thambyrajah; Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren; and St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein defeated Shaker Heights' Wilson. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Olentangy Liberty. They are coached by Will Thieman. They are Team Members. They are led by Kylie Wilson and Sophia Mattis.
Today's matches include: Hawken (A) versus Solon; Kenston (H) versus Magnificat; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Coffman Beats UA | Mag Defeats Hawken | Liberty Beats Jerome
Can we get to the long weekend from here? Yes, but there are quite a few good matches to take place before we get there.. There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 6, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Coffman defeated Upper Arlington; Chaminade-Julienne beat Milton-Union; Olentangy defeated Dublin Jerome; Olentangy Berlin beat Marysville; and Magnificat defeated Hawken. In another Northeast Ohio match, Massillon Jackson defeated Kenston. 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: Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, Dasha Chistyakova, and Lauren Burkett.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Solon; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Wellington; and Orange (H) versus Laurel. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Notre Dame Academy Beats Perrysburg
Rain interrupted play in some parts of the state, including where I was -- at the Worthington Christian versus Marysville match. Overall, there were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 8, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Pickerington North defeated Westerville Central; Worthington Christian beat Marysville; Notre Dame Academy defeated Perrysburg; and Wooster beat St. Joseph Academy. 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 report |
Among the top players, Solon's Niya Fried defeated Strongsville's Bhouya Anoop; Notre Dame Academy's Emma Nofziger beat Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco; Badin's Caroline Boyle defeated Oak Hills' Gabrielle Kadakia; Westerville Central's Lauren Muniu beat Pickerington North's Tasha Miller; and Butler’s Natalie Schoenherr defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
During storm delays, officials commonly ask participants to leave the courts when thunder is heard. At that point, everyone stands outside of the courts in the "perceived safe area" because lightning is only permitted to strike people who are standing on the court.. Last night, it was nice to see coaches urge everyone to leave the area to go to their cars, bus, or wait in nearby buildings until the storm had past.Now that many players have competed in a few matches, the "By Court" Player Performance report is starting to be populated. This report resides under the "Tennis Statistics / Info" dropdown. To appear in the report, players need to have competed in more than six matches and to have a winning percentage that is greater than 60%. This report is a great indication of a team's depth (i.e. North Canton Hoover), and yes, it is a great way to recognize players who are playing lower in a team's line-up.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Beavercreek; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Solon; Kenston (A) versus Massillon Jackson; Magnificat (H) versus Hawken; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Dublin Coffman. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
One More Week to Labor Day
This will be a busy week as teams race to get more matches played before Labor Day. Little to no activity is expected this weekend in high school tennis. Several players; however, will be competing in Grand Rapids at a USTA Level 4 tournament.
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Marysville - Click to team page |
It was not that many years ago that players had to sit out of high school play until they were finished with USTA tournaments. That was disruptive for the teams and players because they could not be used for early-season matches. This welcome change took place under Jerry Snodgrass.
Girls competing this weekend in the G16-18's include (in alphabetical order): Badin's Caroline Boyle, Indian Hill's Caroline Brown, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming, Hawken's Dani Forte, St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris, Sylvania Northview's Madeline Peisley, St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon, Seven Hills' Sydney Schneider, and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay. To follow all of the action, click on USTA BG16-18.
Today's featured team is Marysville. They are coached by William Romine. They are Team Members. They are led by Emma Pzedpelski and Paige Hobbs.
Today's matches include: Hathaway Brown (A) versus Laurel; St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Turpin; and Wooster (A) versus St. Joseph Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Sycamore and New Albany
Schools took advantage of the great weather to compete in dual and tournament matches yesterday. North Canton Hoover swept Sycamore and New Albany in their trip to Columbus. NCH went 3-0 on their southern trip -- they also beat Olentangy Orange on Friday. In other play, New Albany defeated Sycamore and Magnificat beat Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Next weekend is Labor Day weekend and play is likely to be sparce.
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Liberty's Kylie Wilson - Click to enlarge |
In tournament play, Avon won the Highland Invitational. Highland was the runner-up.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer and New Albany's Richie Francois; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Wooster's Ava Mathur and Highland's Sarah Sgambati; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett defeated Notre Dame Academy's Emma Nofziger; New Albany's Richie Francois beat Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer; and New Albany's Paige Cornelius defeated Sycamore's Ivy Miller. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo is of Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson. Wilson is a senior.
I am awaiting some coaches to complete their roster info before the OTZ Player Profiles can be setup. Today would be a great day to do this.
SATURDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Olentangy Orange | Avon Lake Defeats NDCL
As expected, it was a quiet evening for tennis. In the three matches that were reported, North Canton Hoover defeated Olentangy Orange; Avon Lake beat Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and North Royalton defeated Copley. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Newark - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. They are led by Natalie Breckenridge and Addi Taylert. Newark is close to the upcoming Intel computer chip facility which will be east of Columbus.
Some teams are hitting the road today to face strong competition. Highland is also having a tournament. Some of the dual matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Sycamore and New Albany; Dublin Jerome (A) versus Hathaway Brown and Solon; and Bexley (H) versus Lexington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Hawken Beats Jackson | Mag Defeats Solon | HB Beats Orange
It was a busy night. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 14, Southwest - 7, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Strongsville defeated Wooster; Loveland beat Walnut Hills; Hawken defeated Massillon Jackson; Dublin Scioto beat Delaware Hayes; Magnificat defeated Solon; Pickerington North beat Grove City; Eaton defeated Brookville; and Dublin Jerome beat Olentangy Berlin. Hathaway Brown defeated Orange in another big match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Highland - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; Mason’s Nishi Gandra beat Oak Hills' Morgan Lint; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Walnut Hill’s Angela Britton beat Loveland’s Marlee Fleming; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer defeated Lakota East's Reagan Gilbert; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Brecksville's Claire Martens; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai defeated Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster beat Olentangy Berlin's Claire Emanuel; Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Westerville Central's Lauren Muniu beat Gahanna's Frankie Nuss; Grove City’s Gabriella Hougland defeated Pickerington North’s Poeppelman; and Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman beat Hawken's Hayley Garber. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Highland. They are coached by Lisa Reynolds. They are Team Members. They are led by Sarah Sgambati and Jo Oberhaus.
Today's matches include: Copley (A) versus North Royalton; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Olentangy Orange; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (H) versus Avon Lake. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Indian Hill | Turpin Defeats 7 Hills
More top ranked teams clashed yesterday. Mason defeated Indian Hill and Turpin beat Seven Hills. There were 16 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 7. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. Please submit a Feedback or send an email to provide results that are not posted.
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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 Gabrielle Frischer and Ivy Miller.
The OTZ system appears to be running slower than normal. It is unclear why. Please give the system more time to respond when reporting scores or entering a feedback (i.e. don't push the button or link twice). OTZ purchases its hosting services from GoDaddy.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Columbus Academy; Magnificat (H) versus Solon; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Hawken; and Orange (H) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Magnificat Beats Hathaway Brown | Jackson Defeats Solon | Coffman Beats Orange
Great weather ushered in great matches yesterday. In contests involving the top teams in the state, Magnificat defeated Hathaway Brown; Massillon Jackson beat Solon and Dublin Coffman defeated Olentangy Orange.
There were 25 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 7, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: West Carrollton beat Xenia; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Big Walnut; and London beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Columbus School For Girls - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Kenston's Brooke McNeal; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett beat Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; Solon's Niya Fried defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman beat Big Walnut's Molly McLane; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Marysville's Emma Pzedpelski; Upper Arlington's Ava Richard beat Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson; and Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri defeated Olentangy Orange's Ananya Swarup. 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 Sean Delaney. They are Team Members. They are led by Lanie Klatt and Priya Mehta.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (A) versus Turpin; Findlay (H) versus Sylvania Northview; and Westerville Central (A) versus Westerville South. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Archbishop Alter Defeats Beavercreek
After a wet weekend, the state restarted the week with a modest number of matches. There were 13 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: DeSales defeated Delaware Hayes; Dublin Scioto beat Hilliard Davidson; Loveland defeated Summit Country Day; Ready beat Grandview; Upper Arlington-B defeated Worthington Christian; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat St. John School; and St. Ursula Academy defeated Milford. In another notable match, Archbishop Alter defeated Beavercreek. 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 Charles Brigode. They are Team Members. They are led by Penelope Giammarco and Allison Barry.
By the end of the morning, all of the team photos that have been emailed to (or taken by) OTZ should be online. If your team's photo is not, please reach out via email or Feedback. A couple of hours were lost last night due to a power outage - probably from a squirrel showing off to his friends..
There are numerous match-ups between great teams tonight. They included: Centerville (H) versus Miamisburg; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Olentangy Orange; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Magnificat; Orange (A) versus Kenston; Solon (A) versus Massillon Jackson; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Western & Southern | Columbus City Schools
Even though Ohio high school tennis is moving into its third week, many teams have not yet gotten fully engaged. Hopefully that will change this week.
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Taylor Fritz - Click to enlarge |
Unfortunately it is unlikely to change in a positive way for Columbus City School students. The teachers went on strike early this morning for the first time since 1975. With the pandemic and now the strike, these students cannot catch a break. About a decade ago, Gerber Analytics did extensive research on how all public and private schools performed on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). Cincinnati City schools outperformed the rest of the state, primarily due to Walnut Hills. Columbus City Schools did not fare well. In this analysis, all schools were ranked versus other schools and by subject within schools. The OGT was eventually discontinued. (Maybe because the weaker schools were not improving?) Click for Gerber Analytics Top Academy Ohio High Schools Analysis (2014) and the Major Metro School Analysis (2014).
After a two year, COVID-19 induced break from the Western & Southern Open photo blinds, it was great to be back this year. More photos will be posted, but here are a few from the Taylor Fritz / Daniil Medvedev match. [Click for Fritz backhand, running forehand, and forehand.]
Six years ago, Fritz competed at one of the OSU Challengers. [See Fritz Challenger photo.] Hopefully there will be more opportunities to watch Challenger matches in the future at Tennis Ohio even though some of the courts are being converted to pickleball. The facility is being renamed, Pickle & Chill.
While it was great that the Western & Southern Open tournament was a full go this year, it was perhaps too much of a diversion for OTZ. The good news is that I got numerous great photos, but there is a substantial amount of HS catch-up necessary. Waiting for an OTZ response on any issue? Please reach out via email.
Today's matches include: Highland (H) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (H) versus St. John School; Loveland (A) versus Summit Country Day; and Delaware Hayes (A) versus DeSales. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Dublin Coffman Wins Eagles Invitational
Yesterday was a big tournament day. Dublin Coffman won the Eagles Invitational and Big Walnut won the Watkins Memorial Dubs Tournament. No dual match results were reported from yesterday's play but a few coaches entered results from earlier in the week.
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NDA's Ellie Assenmacher - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, New Albany's Richie Francois defeated Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova, Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder, and Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya on her way of winning Flight A of the Eagles Invite. Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova defeated Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster and Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Trying to get good photos of doubles players is always frustrating because the players block each other *. Today's photo is no different but at least it is somewhat interesting. The blockee was Toledo Notre Dame Academy's Ellie Assenmacher and the blocker was Emma Nofziger [see photo]. Both are seniors.
* The exception is during the boys season because the points never actually start since the boys always double fault when playing doubles. The mental calculus that the boys use is that one ace is worth 10 double faults..
SATURDAY,
Orange Beats Magnificat | Perrysburg Defeats Sylvania Northview
As expected, it was a quiet night on the tennis courts with football taking the center stage. There were just three scores reported. Perrysburg defeated Sylvania Northview and Orange beat Magnificat. Both were 3-2 matches. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Jonathan Alder - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Magnificat's Bennett; Sylvania Northview's Maddie Peisley beat Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco; Orange's Blake Rothchild defeated Magnificat's Anna Mancino; and Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee beat Perrysburg's Allison Barry. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Jonathan Alder. They are coached by Bryan Deeken. They are led by Ella Sloat and Lauren Renner.
There are at least two big tournament today including at New Albany and Canfield. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Magnificat Beats Massillon Jackson
It is time for that other fall sport to begin so there will not be as many Friday matches going forward. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 9, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Magnificat defeated Massillon Jackson; Bexley beat Worthington Christian; Butler defeated Northmont; Wooster beat Hudson; Marysville defeated Hilliard Darby; and Eaton beat Madison Senior. Jackson was up 2-1 against Magnificat before Mag streaked back to win Courts 1 and 2 singles. 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 led by Marlee Fleming and Tahlia Little.
The match-ups are too good to pass up at the Western & Southern Open so I will be zooming down to Mason today.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Westlake; Orange (H) versus Magnificat; and Seven Hills (H) versus Miami Valley School. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
New Albany Beats Dublin Jerome | Academy Defeats Indian Hill
Pesky showers are still hampering play, but that is better than the rain that is expected this weekend. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. (The Northeast continues to gain new OTZ Coach Members.) The close, 3-2 matches included: Westland defeated Franklin Heights; Milton-Union beat Butler; Oak Hills defeated Lakota East; Poland Seminary beat Struthers; St. Joseph Academy defeated Medina; Middletown beat Xenia; Columbus Academy defeated Indian Hill; and Northwestern beat Chaminade-Julienne. New Albany defeated Dublin Jerome in another notable match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, 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 Allison Snyder and Claire Emanuel.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Kenston; and Solon (A) versus St. Joseph Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Orange Beats Solon | Sycamore Defeats Highland | W&S Open Notes
It was a busy day on the high school and professional tennis courts yesterday. The number of high school matches are ramping up. This will continue as players return to school. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. There were numerous close, 3-2 matches. They included: Reynoldsburg defeated Gahanna; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat Mayfield; Sycamore defeated Highland; Worthington Kilbourne beat Dublin Scioto; Bexley defeated Chaminade-Julienne; Kenton Ridge beat Jonathan Alder; Shaker Heights defeated Laurel; Orange beat Solon; and Archbishop Alter defeated Badin. (These matches are sorted by how close each match was.) In another noteworthy match, Hawken defeated Kenston. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Serena Williams - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer beat Highland's Sarah Sgambati; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman; Reynoldsburg's Kareen Meoko beat Gahanna's Frankie Nuss; Hawken’s Dani Forte defeated Kenston’s Brooke McNeal; Chaminade-Julienne’s Harsman beat Bexley’s Mia Ehrsam; Badin's Caroline Boyle defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; and Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It had just started to rain as I arrived at the Western & Southern late yesterday afternoon so I went to the media center to see where things stood with the matches. As I walked in the elevator, a professional player was already in it. When the elevator reached his floor, he graciously thanked the elevator operator as he left. While riding two more floors to the media center, I mentioned to the operator that the guy who thanked him seemed like a nice guy. He agreed. I then told him that the guy who thanked him was the #1 tennis player in the world, Daniil Medvedev [see photo]. He had no idea that was Medvedev, but he was quite happy after that. Because of a gracious thank you, Medvedev not only made the elevator operator's day but now thousands of OhioTennisZone readers like him just a little bit more.. Very nice and very smart..
The ball kids who help out at the Western & Southern are occasionally high school players and sometimes I recognize them. I noticed one athletic kid who was zooming around on Center Court snagging balls during the Medvedev match. It was Mariemont's Will Stephens. Click for photo.
The atmosphere at the Western & Southern was electric prior to and during the Serena / Emma Raducanu [see photo] match. It was great to see Serena one more time before she retires. While not as mobile as in the past, if the ball was hit close to her, Serena could absolutely drill it..
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Indian Hill; Dublin Jerome (H) versus New Albany; and North Canton Hoover (H) versus Wooster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Dublin Coffman Beats HB | Hoover Defeats Jackson | HB Beats NA
Schools continue to take advantage of the time before classes start to travel and play big matches. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Big Walnut defeated Worthington Christian; Dublin Coffman beat Hathaway Brown; Delaware Hayes defeated Hilliard Darby; Sycamore beat Turpin; Columbus School For Girls defeated Olentangy Berlin; Hathaway Brown beat New Albany; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin defeated Gilmour Academy.
In other big matches, North Canton Hoover defeated Massillon Jackson and Highland beat Olentangy Orange. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. |
Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Gilmour Academy's Rondini; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu beat Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova and New Albany's Richie Francois; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer defeated Bexley's Mia Ehrsam; Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri beat Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman defeated North Canton Hoover's Addison Shiel; and Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills beat New Albany's Paige Cornelius. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Shaun Stamps. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Ava Richard, Isabella Roth, and Alice Hawley.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Highland (A) versus Sycamore; Solon (H) versus Orange; and Dublin Scioto (A) versus Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Western & Southern Open Underway
Yesterday's rain forced numerous changes. Mason had planned to host Hathaway Brown in what would have been a great match but it got rained out. There were no matches results from yesterday's play.
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Peyton Stearns - Click to enlarge |
Mrs. OTZ and I had organized an end-of-season pickleball tournament as the final competition of our PickleballZone.com league, but it too, got rained out. On the bright side though, we were able to zoom down to Mason and watch afternoon matches at the Western & Southern Open.
There were numerous high school players at the W&S Open yesterday. If you are part of a group and you see me zooming around, stop me and I will take a group photo. I was fortunate enough to get media credentials so I hope to get down there two-three more times.
While videos are great, just a simple picture tells a great deal about a players' ability. Pros sprint to the best spot on the court that will enable them to hit the ball with the most power (and/or spin) they can impart on the ball. Before they hit the ball, their bodies are coiled to blast into the ball.. Of course, on top of that, they have the hand-eye coordination to hit the ball in the middle of the racquet. The image of Peyton Stearns is from her match yesterday against Taylor Townsend. Townsend won the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Sycamore; Hathaway Brown versus New Albany (A) and Dublin Coffman (A); North Canton Hoover (A) versus Massillon Jackson; and Highland (A) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
HB Wins CSG Dubs | Hoover Beats Wellington | Jackson Defeats UA
Yesterday was a big tournament day throughout Ohio. Hathaway Brown won the Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament and Olentangy came in second. Anthony Wayne won the Ottawa Hills Tournament and Gahanna was the Reynoldsburg Double Tournament champ. Highland was the champion of the Medina Doubles Tournament.
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Jackson's Madison Altman - Click to enlarge |
In dual matches, Massillon Jackson defeated Upper Arlington and North Canton Hoover beat Wellington. To view all of the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese beat Upper Arlington's Ava Richard; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman defeated Upper Arlington's Isabella Roth; and North Canton Hoover's Claire Wood beat Wellington's Olivia Cencer. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SATURDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Olentangy | Centerville Defeats NDA
Let's copy and paste yesterday's weather and use it for the rest of the season.. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Centerville defeated Notre Dame Academy; Shaker Heights beat Copley; Ready defeated Franklin Heights; Wooster beat Massillon Perry; and Big Walnut defeated Hilliard Bradley. In another notable match, North Canton Hoover defeated Olentangy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wellington's Katie Zerbi - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Upper Arlington and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Wellington. OTZ travels to CSG for their annual dubs tournament. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Jerome Defeats Wellington | Solon Beats Kenston | UA Defeated Canfield
There were several good early season match-up as some of the stronger teams competed against each other. Dublin Jerome defeated Wellington and Solon beat Kenston in 3-2 matches. Upper Arlington also beat Canfield, who traveled to Columbus to play. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 0, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Jerome - Click to team page |
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Brecksville's Claire Martens; Upper Arlington's Ava Richard beat Canfield's Whitney Miller; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese defeated St. Joseph Academy's Zari Newell; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster beat Wellington's Katie Zerbi; Kenston's Brooke McNeal defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Big Walnut's Molly McLane beat Delaware Hayes' Tavi Jeisel Steffel; and Worthington Kilbourne's Lilly Hershey beat Canal Winchester's Ava Griggs. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Dublin Jerome. They are coached by Jeremy Mokry. This was Coach Mokry's first high school match with Jerome. They are led by Adayla Coakley and Lydia Foster. They are OTZ Team Members.
Today's matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Lexington and Olentangy; Centerville (H) versus Notre Dame Academy; and Copley (H) versus Shaker Heights. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Centerville Beats MVS | Loveland Defeats Bellbrook
The girls high school season is off to a s l o w start but I think it can start to pick up steam this weekend. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Bellbrook; Canal Winchester beat Franklin Heights; and Olentangy Berlin defeated Lancaster. In other notable matches Centerville defeated Miami Valley School and Massillon Jackson beat Revere. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Copley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Copley. They are coached by Jodi Mirman. They are Team Members. They are led by Shria Kavatura and Cassandra Komlanc.
Today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (A) versus Wellington; Solon (A) versus Kenston; and Big Walnut (H) versus Delaware Hayes. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. (More and more scheduled matches are being into added to OTZ.)
WEDNESDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Avon | Woodridge Defeats Copley
It was another day of spotty weather. Most teams have not yet gotten fully engaged with the season, and just seven matches were recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 3, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: North Canton Hoover defeated Avon; Woodridge beat Copley; and Wooster defeated Ashland. To view all of the results recorded 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 Tea Ilic, Autumn Doughty, and Delaney Nelson.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus Revere; Bexley (H) versus DeSales; Highland (A) versus Medina; and Delaware Hayes (H) versus Jonathan Alder. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Highland Beats Westlake | Worthington Kilbourne Defeats Pick. Central
Even though the today's weather looks questionable, yesterday was a decent tennis day throughout most of the state. There were nine matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Northeast - 3, Southwest - 3, and Northwest - 1. In some of the more notable matches, Highland beat Westlake; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Pickerington Central; and Perrysburg beat Findlay. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lehman Catholic defeated Sidney; Wayne beat Bellefontaine; and Tecumseh defeated Xenia. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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PanCan Fundraiser - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Highland's Sarah Sgambati defeated Westlake's Madison Shami; Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren; Highland's Jo Oberhaus defeated Westlake's Nadia Milovich; and Worthington Kilbourne's Lilly Hershey beat Pickerington Central's Issyssis Hill. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
One of the OTZ summer tennis highlights is PanCAN, which is a fundraiser for pancreatic cancer research. This fundraising effort is provided by the Diaz Family. After a two year break due to COVID-19, the 16th annual tournament took place July 15-16. Enlarge the photo and you will likely see a few familiar faces. For more information, click on DiazTennis.org
Please start emailing *high-resolution" team photos to OhioTennisZone.com. OTZ Team Members also need to identify "which player is which" for OTZ Player Profiles. If a photo was taken by a professional, please double check with your athletic director that the photo can be used online. Need advice in taking a good team photo? Please click on How to Take a Team Photo.
Today's matches include: Copley (A) versus Woodridge; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Avon; and Wooster (H) versus Ashland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
PickleballZone.com League Playoffs
With pickleball getting extensive coverage on the Tennis Channel this weekend, it makes sense that OTZ sister site, PickleballZone.com, receives some attention today. The PickleballZone.com league playoffs were held yesterday, and yes, it rained. The Level-1 playoffs started outdoors at Elysium Tennis for the semi-finals but action moved indoors for the finals as rained moved into Central Ohio. The Level-2 (higher skilled players) were hosted by Wedgewood Golf and Country Club. The score was tied at 13-13 on the deciding court when the rain hit. After a robust squeegee effort, it rained again. (This is not the first time that this has ever happened.) Wedgewood could have finished the match by winning two more points (at 15-13), but it was not to be. When play resumed at Elysium, Kinsale won that game and the next to secure the championship. The Level-1 champion was New Albany and the finalist was Jefferson. Click on Results | Information for all of the detailed match information.
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Kinsale - Level-2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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New Albany - Level-1 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Kinsale's Gabe & Alexia Meyer - Click to enlarge |
Special thanks go to Elysium Tennis for hosting the Level-1 playoffs and for allowing the final game of the Level-2 playoffs to finish at their site.
In addition to the OTZ crew, Mrs. OTZ (Kathy) is greatly involved with PickleballZone.com. She primarily handles the interactions with the 12 clubs and 26 teams. She also helps complete the one billion thousand things that my mind dreams up but never has the time to finish (i.e. the meticulously-crafted PBZ medals [see photo]).
Just as pickleball has quickly grown, the same has happened with the PBZ league. There were twice the number of matches recorded this year versus in last year's inaugural year. Another big change from last year is that the first non-club-related site, Upper Arlington Parks & Recreation joined the fray.
Eagle-eyed tennis players may notice that PickleballZone.com (PBZ) greatly resembles OhioTennisZone. The code base is the essentially the same. The PBZ captain capabilities are very similar to the "coaching privileges" that OTZ provides. (The same goes for PlatformTennisZone.com.) The big benefit is that when new capabilities (such as a report) are added to one site, the same can benefit the other two sites without too much additional effort. The most recent example of this was the "By Court" report.
For those involved with high school tennis for more than a few years, a few may recognize Alexia Meyer [see action photo and 2015 State Qualifiers] (and her family) who played on the Kinsale team. Meyer played tennis for Olentangy Liberty (2016 grad) while her brother, Gabe, played lacrosse. Alexia went on and played college tennis for Missouri State. Alexia and Gabe won the deciding match against Kinsale.
While PBZ is currently a Central Ohio offering, it could also expand to other Ohio cities.
Today's matches include: Highland (H) versus Westlake and Newark (A) versus Logan. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Note that the schedules for many teams still need to be entered.
SUNDAY,
Worthington Kilbourne & Highland - Tournament Champs
While the weather predictions early in the week looked dire, Saturday turned out to be pretty good for tennis. Worthington Kilbourne won the Delaware Hayes tournament with Marysville coming in second. Highland won its own tournament and Westlake was the runner-up. There were no dual matches reported.
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JJ Wolf - Click to enlarge |
Cincinnati's JJ Wolf has been on a roll lately on the professional circuit. He has gone from 167 in the world in April to 99 in the most recent rankings update. It will be very interesting to see how well he does at the upcoming Western & Southern Open. The photo is of JJ at an exhibition at the Upper Arlington courts grand opening.
The list of pros with Ohio ties has been updated. This list resides on the College Report page. New to the list are Katrina Scott [photo] who trains in Columbus and Kyle Seelig [photo] who played for Ohio State. Scott and Cincinnati's Peyton Sterns recently played each other in the finals of the Ohio State ITF. Scott won that closely contested match. See the photo of both players.
It is time for the playoffs in the PickleballZone.com league! This is the Central Ohio pickleball league that Mrs. OTZ and I started last summer. Wedgewood Golf and Country Club is hosting the Level-2 league playoff and Elysium Tennis is hosting the Level-1 league.( Level-2 has the more advanced players). Both of the playoffs begin at 11:00am today.
SATURDAY,
Marysville Starts with a Win
Marysville now has more wins than any other program in the state this season after defeating Mount Vernon yesterday, 5-0. Unfortunately, that was also the only score reported as rain or the threat of rain kept other schools from getting out of the blocks.
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Upper Arlington Courts - Click to enlarge |
To view all the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The order of finish of the Marysville versus Mount Vernon match was 5-2-1-4-3. This means that first singles player, Marysville's Emma Pzedpelski, clinched the win for Marysville.
OhioTennisZone will be in ugly duckling mode over the next few days as it transitions from the 2021-22 to the 2022-23 season.
The Upper Arlington courts were finished for the girls season last year but the parking lot was still a work-in-progress. While there are still a few traffic cones preventing entry, it is very close to operational. It will be nice to have this site available for tournaments again. Hopefully this site will host the State Team Tournament for both Division I and Division II this year.
Delaware Hayes, Highland, Reynoldsburg have tournaments today.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2022 - UPDATED 10:15AM
Division II Rankings (beta release)
Hathaway Brown Starts Season as #1 in Division II (beta release)
No one at OhioTennisZone has ever lost a job by ranking Hathaway Brown as the D2 Pre-Season #1. Yet.
The Top Teams in Division I were ranked by OTZ yesterday. Today, it is Division II's turn. The rankings include a combination of teams with great depth and other teams with a strong group of 1-2-3 singles. It is normally the teams with great depth that win the championships, but it will be interesting to see how things turn out this year.
The rankings and the rational behind the rankings are listed below. They are all subject to tweaking if players decide not to play (or to play) Ohio high school tennis this fall.
Note that the Division II rankings are more difficult to create because D2 teams do not travel as well as Division I teams. Why they do not travel is a complete mystery because the same school will allow teams of other sports to travel. Plus, tennis players and parents are accustomed to traveling frequently to participate in USTA tournaments so they expect to do some travel in high school. Please remember that Columbus remains a perfect location for teams throughout the state to meet for dual matches. Schedule a match for 10:00, book another match at 1:00pm, eat Cane's Chicken at 3:00pm, and grab an ice cream cone at Graeters at 4:00pm.
Last year's seniors will be removed when this year's new results are posted.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division II | |
| 1. Hathaway Brown◄TEAM | |
| 2. Columbus Academy◄TEAM | |
| 3. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy◄TEAM | |
| 4. Indian Hill◄TEAM | |
| 5. Wellington◄TEAM | |
| 6. Archbishop Alter◄TEAM | |
| 7. Hawken◄TEAM | |
| 8. Kenston | |
| 9. Seven Hills◄TEAM | |
| 10. Laurel◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes Team Membership so extensive OTZ information is available | |
Last year's high-performer, Eaton, is not participating in the State Team Tournament this year.
Division II
#1 Hathaway Brown returns the core of last year's #1 team including Summer Mu, Ally Mills, Katie Mills, Alice Lin. They lost Alex Wolf to graduation.
#2 Columbus Academy returns to the courts with substantial depth. They lost no key contributors to graduation. Returning are Arya Chabria, Grace Philip, Yasemin Bilgin, Anna Chang, and Tamanna Arya. Out of the above listed five players, only Chang is a senior.
#3 Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy may end up at the top of the rankings as their freshman players get up to speed. Returning players are Payton Puryear, Mika Morris, and Tara Chalasani. They pick up 5-star Addison Cassidy and 3-star Martha Thompson. They lost Lynn Kader and Julia Filomenu to graduation.
#4 Indian Hill returns their entire team which includes: Brooke Arington, Caroline Brown, Hannah Pollock, and Lexi Larsen, and Cassie Larsen.
#5 Wellington returns another solid team. Players returning are Katie Zerbi, Kate Thompson, and Olivia Cencer. They lost Alexis Burkhalter, Olivia Vegas, and Lauren Okoye to graduation.
#6 Archbishop Alter returns a talented team. Returning for Alter are: Maggie Shope, Annie Gayonski, Annie Schaefer, and Alana Baker. They lost Grace Lampman and Elisebeth Collins to graduation.
#7 Hawken kept their top players including Hayley Garber, Eliana Yang, Bella Hsieh, Beatrice Hardacre, and Tina Tewari. They lost Cassidy Feng and Jamie Park to graduation.
#8 Kenston returns Brooke McNeal, Madison Davila, Hallie Brown, and Alex Ungaro. They lost Kelsi Currington to graduation.
#9: Seven Hills lost several of their top players to graduation including: Gabriella Khaskelis, Wendy Woffington, and Shriya Sekar. Those returning include: Sohana Thompson, Sydney Schneider, and Charolette Scharfenberger.
10: Laurel returns Xavier-bound Ellie Brotherton, Samyuktha Iyer, and Abby Bee. They lost Caroline Davies and Nikhita Goel to graduation.
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin had been in Division II but they are now in D1. They were listed above in an earlier version of this list, but they were removed. They return Elena Fleming, Lucy Paulin, and Kate Harlan. They lost Brooke Begovic to graduation.
Have a good team that OTZ does not follow? Join OTZ (at least as a Coach Member) so that your scores can be submitted. Moose and Rocco are here to help.
Feel free to submit a Feedback if any obvious schools are missing from the rankings.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022
Mason Starts Season as #1 in Division I (beta release)
It is time for the OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Team Rankings. Today, the Division I teams are ranked. The Division II rankings will be posted on Friday.
The rankings and the rational behind the rankings are listed below. They are all subject to tweaking if players decide not to play Ohio high school tennis this fall. "OTZ thanks" go to several coaches who provided feedback for the list. This is; however, not a coaches poll.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | |
| 2. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM | |
| 3. North Canton Hoover◄TEAM | |
| 4. Magnificat◄TEAM | |
| 5. Centerville | |
| 6. St. Ursula Academy◄TEAM | |
| 7. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | |
| 8. Highland◄TEAM | |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | |
| 10. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | |
| HM: New Albany◄TEAM | |
| HM: Sycamore◄TEAM | |
| HM: Avon | |
◄TEAM - Denotes Team Membership so extensive OTZ information is available | |
The TennisRecruiting.net star rankings are included for many of the top incoming freshmen. Click for the complete list of top incoming freshmen that was originally published on October 29, 2021 and updated frequently since that date.
Click on player names for their OhioTennisZone Player Profiles. (Also note that if your daughter does not have an OTZ Player Profile, it is easy to obtain one by becoming an OTZ member. Please check to see if your team has an OTZ Team Membership first though before purchasing a membership.)
Division I
#1 Mason is the defending Division I champion and they start the season at #1. Mason returns great depth even though they lost key contributors to graduation. Graduates included Anna Tonkal, Rashi Loni, and Danielle Reid. They return Shyla Aggarwal (State singles champion), Harshita Uppuganti, and Risha Chada. Senior Nishi Gandra is also joining the team and she is a 5-star. The Comets also pick up several potential stars: Pratyusha Chaudhuri and Anamitra Gotike. (Both are 3-stars.) While Mason and Magnificat were neck and neck with talent last year, Mason starts the season with a sizable lead over the other schools.
#2 Dublin Coffman returns their top five players who challenged Upper Arlington for the Central District Final Four spot last year. They include: Dasha Chistyakova, Pritika Ghosh Choudhuri, Lauren Burkett, Emily Yoshino, and Bethel Binyam. Coffman has not been this high in the rankings but they appear to have the top court strength and the depth to beat a bunch of teams this fall.
#3 North Canton Hoover is one of several NE teams who will contend for a Final Four spot. They return many of their top players, including Tess Bucher, Claire Wood, and Angelina Koinoglou. They lost Lilly Altman and Izzy Warburton to graduation. They pick up Addison Sheil, a 2-star.
#4 Magnificat lost a lot of talent from their #2 ranked team last year, including Audrey Smitek, Kayra Koprulu, and Alexis Ospelt. They return: Anna Mancino, Caroline Moritz, and Maddie Nock. They pick up 5-star Anna Bennett. Natalie Smitek is playing for Avon this year.
#5 Centerville returns State dubs champions, Caroline Hinshaw and Clara Owen. Also returning are Arabelle MacPherson and Eva Siler. They lost Carmen Aliaga to graduation.
#6 St. Ursula Academy returns several key players including Emily Jennewein, Kathleen Davin, Maria Poon, and Elle Schuermann. They lost Molly Sprong to graduation.
#7 Massillon Jackson returns their three top singles players. They are Madison Altman, Paige Reese, and Rachael Williams. Also returning is Divya Shanmugam. They lost Abby Williams to graduation.
#8 Highland returns their top three players - Sarah Sgambati, Jo Oberhaus, and Ally Haynes. They also return not one, but two Pawlak's - Madison Pawlak and Mackenzie Pawlak.
#9 Solon returns a great deal of depth including: Niya Fried, Phoebe Shi, Ariel Hsieh, and Sasha Gorbacheva. They lost Ava Maersch to graduation.
#10 Upper Arlington lost Megan Basil and Anna Leach to graduation. Their returning players include: Ava Richard, Isabella Roth, and Ellis Mizer. They pick up 2-star Danielle Ball.
Other teams on the OTZ radar include:
HM: New Albany returns Richardlyne Francois, Paige Cornelius, and Madeleine Naumoff. They lost Kary Hollenbaugh to graduation.
HM: Sycamore returns Gabrielle Frischer, Mya Reardon, and Ivy Miller. They lost Keira Millerchip to graduation.
HM: Avon picks up Natalie Smitek this season and they return Denver Johnson, Amelia Tomak, and Julia Kacenjar. They could surprise a few teams this year.
Feel free to submit a Feedback if you believe that a team was overlooked or if your team is ranked too high. Please provide specific reasons why.
As always, teams are encouraged to not mess up these rankings by winning when they should not.. Win when expected and lose when expected and we'll get along just fine..
THURSDAY,
OTZ Girls State Team Draws Now Available
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Draws are now online. The draws are available at the top of this page and they will remain there throughout the season.
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State Team Tournament Draws - Click to go to draws |
As with everything else on OTZ, the goal is to enable high school tennis fans to quickly obtain the information needed rather than to maximize OTZ clicks and page views. As indicated in the four features that are highlighted: 1) the most recent update date is included; 2) the navigation links allow users to quickly jump throughout the draw sheet; 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 perform 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 girls teams that enter the tournament varies from year to year. There are 116 teams participating this year and that is the same as last year. The number of girls teams by year is: 2015 - 134; 2016 - 133; 2017 - 132; 2018 - 133; 2019 - 124; 2020 - 118; 2021 - 116; and 2022 - 116. As shown in the graph, Northeast has the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 372 OHSAA girls tennis teams, 31% of the teams are competing in this tournament. (Note that last year, there were 398 girls teams in OHSAA competition.) Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing. While this information is somewhat interesting, the main benefit is that it requires that OTZ remember how Microsoft Excel pivot-tables work..
Again, please contact OTZ via Feedback or email, if a match has been played but it is not recorded. Good luck this season!
TUESDAY,
In One More Week..
The OHSAA Girls Season begins in just one more week (but hopefully you already knew that). Today's posting includes a variety of items. It provides: the key dates for the season; OTZ member information; OTZ Top 10 team update; 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 (M): First Day of Coaching |
| Aug. 5 (F): High School Match Play Begins |
| Aug. 6 (Sa)-14: USTA Girls National Championships |
| Aug. 27 (Sa): SAT Test Date |
| Sep. 6 (T): Non-Interscholastic Date |
| Sep. 10 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
| Sep. 19 (M): Waiver Extension Ends |
| Sep. 25 (Su)-27: Rosh Hashanah |
| Sep. 25 (Su): Sectional Draw |
| Oct. 1 (Sa): SAT Test Date | Oct. 3 (M)-Oct. 8: Sectional Tournament |
| Oct. 4 (Tu)-5: Yom Kippur |
| Oct. 10 (M)-15: District Tournament |
| Oct. 21 (F)-22: State Tournament |
| Oct. 22 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
| Oct. 23 (Su): State Team Tournament |
| Oct. 30 (Su): HS Season Ends |
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.
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,
Summer Tennis Fun at Champions Tennis Club | Midwest Closed
There is plenty of tennis being played this summer. The Champions Tennis Club in Columbus provides a week-long, tennis clinic each summer for junior players. This year, the clinic ran from July 11-15, and approximately 60 players participated from 23 different schools in central Ohio.
The Greater Columbus Tennis Association provides a $3,000 grant for the clinic so there was no charge for the players. In addition to getting a spiffy t-shirt, the players also received lunch each day.
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Participants - Click to enlarge |
Steve Hoffman - Click to enlarge |
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Dealing aces - Click to enlarge |
It's lunch time! - Click to enlarge |
The main focus is to provide instruction to those who may not have the means to afford tennis and to hopefully enable a player to make his / her high school team. While the organizers would love to get more Columbus City League players to participate, travel to/from the clinic is a problem for many.
The clinic has been offered for more than a decade. It was even offered during the COVID-19 2020 year because there was so much demand from parents to get outdoor activities for their children. During 2020 clinic, there was; however, no lunch provided.
Steve Hoffman is the main organizer for the clinic but he gets plenty of help from 20 other volunteers who provide instruction and serve lunch.
Photos of the clinic are listed above. It is difficult to see the faces of the 70+ people in the group photo. Click to see a high resolution image of the left side and the right side of the group.
Midwest Closed
Ohio players also had numerous players who excelled in high level USTA tournaments. Those who did well in the Midwest Closed include: North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher reached the quarterfinals of the G16. Eaton's Macy Hitchcock reached the quarterfinals of the G18. Sycamore's Nick Meyers reached the B16 semifinals. In B18's, Ohio boys did especially well. Gahanna's Brandon Carpico was the Midwest Closed champion. Springboro's Sai Dore reached the semis, and St. Xavier's Drew Evans reached the quarterfinals.
THURSDAY,
Final OTZ State Team Rankings
The Final OhioTennisZone State Team Rankings are included below. Congratulations to Sycamore and Indian Hill for their respective championships in Division I and Division II. Sycamore was dominant all season and had enough strength to counter any creative line-ups. Indian Hill had just two losses this season - one to Sycamore. Both Sycamore and Indian Hill will return with strong teams next year.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM 4 Final 4 | Indian Hill◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM 3 | Orange◄TEAM 5 Final 4 |
| 3. Springboro◄TEAM 2 | Seven Hills◄TEAM 2 |
| 4. New Albany◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Bexley◄TEAM 2 Final 4 |
| 5. Olentangy Orange 1 | Lexington◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 6. Solon◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Col. Academy◄TEAM 2 |
| 7. St. Xavier◄TEAM 1 | Hawken◄TEAM 2 |
| 8. Findlay◄TEAM 0 Final 4 | Oakwood◄TEAM 1 |
| 9. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM 1 | Wellington◄TEAM 0 |
| 10. Mass. Jackson◄TEAM 2 | Bryan 1 |
| HM: Avon 1 | Ottawa Hills 1 |
| HM: Walsh Jesuit 2 | |
| HM: University School◄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 Southwest District was by far the most dominant district in the State this season by earning both team championships. They also won the State D1 singles and doubles championships and the D2 doubles championship. These things tend to run in cycles but Southwest's dominance will not slow down next year. Lacrosse has become extremely popular in Central Ohio.
Note that the rankings also include the number of State participants (in gray) for each school. This provides a bit more background for each team. Orange was the big winner with a whopping five State spots.
Because of the frequent rainouts, creating the rankings was more difficult this season. There were many interesting match-ups that were scheduled but they went unplayed.
In addition to updates with the team rankings, the individual rankings were also updated to reflect States. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. These rankings may still be tweaked slightly.
OhioTennisZone went into intermittent update mode to launch the Central Ohio Adult Summer Pickleball Season on PickleballZone.com on June 5. Now that the pickleball season is well underway, OTZ will be revisited. This is especially the case with processing photos and photo orders.
FRIDAY,
Incoming Freshman Boys - Class of 2026
Coaches will soon be requesting information on who the strong teams are for boys season, and strong freshmen can normally step in and make an impact immediately. This list is created with the help of TennisRecruiting.net and it includes the freshmen who are in the Top 20 in Ohio. Of course, it is also important to know which school these players are attending so your help is needed with this. If you have inside knowledge of which school a player attends, please submit a Feedback.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | School |
| Gregory Bernadsky - 5 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Nikhil Bhimireddy - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Elijah Corrin - 3 | Canton (NE) | Canton McKinley |
| Jackson Goodman - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Shane Hand - 3 | Powell (C) | Olentangy Liberty |
| Arjun Jain - 2 | Springboro (SW) | Miami Valley School |
| Smaran Jairam - 2 | Milford (SW) | Moved to GA |
| Samanyu Jairam - 1 | Milford (SW) | Moved to GA |
| Nason Lo - 3 | Columbus (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Conor Lynch - 2 | Montgomery (SW) | St. Xavier |
| Andrew Mao - 1 | Montgomery (SW) | Sycamore |
| Aditya Nayak - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Seven Hills |
| Shailen Patel - 3 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Devan Patel - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Ashwin Ramachandran - 2 | Solon (NE) | |
| Tyler Thomas - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Rohan Thung - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Daniel Tonkal - 4 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Ethan Vass - 1 | Liberty Township (SW) | Lakota East |
| Nicholas Von Krosigk - 2 | Tipp City (SW) | Tippecanoe |
Some of the schools listed are educated guesses based on players of the same last name who are currently attending the school.
The Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
Of the 20 players on the list, the Central District has eight, Northeast - two, Northwest - zero, and Southwest - ten.
OTZ has provided daily updates since March 25. That is 71 straight days without taking a day off. There will still be an update or two next week, but OTZ will soon be going into "intermittent mode". Note that there is still a great deal of work going on in the background to enter additional scores and to process photos.
[6/7/2022: Seven tennis fans provided help with the school locations. Thank you! A process that I used with the TRN stars was out-of-sync so several were incorrect. Those were also corrected.]
THURSDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com's All-Ohio Boys Tennis Team
Congratulations to the boys selected for the OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio Boys Tennis Team for 2022.
OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio |
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Division I - Singles |
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Division II - Singles |
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Division I - Doubles |
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Division II - Doubles |
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The OTZ list is a bit different than the OHSAA All-Ohio team. While a player's performance at States is the best way to get on the team, OTZ also looks at a player's entire season and includes players who may not have even qualified for States because of unfortunate District draws. OTZ also believes that the OHSAA team is too mechanical in its approach by granting honors only based on the rounds in which players reach at States. If a player reaches the semi-finals, he is on the first team and quarter finalists are on the second team. If a player gets an unfavorable draw in the first round of States, then he might not receive any recognition. Again, their list is great, but a more subjective approach allows other deserving players to be recognized.
The number of players included on this list will vary from year to year. This year's group has about the same number of players as last year.
More players are becoming OTZ members - either by enrolling individually or via a Team Membership. OTZ members are provided with a Player Profile as indicated by the yellow-PP. Click on the player name to view his OTZ Player Profile. Click Join OTZ to obtain a Player Profile and to be recognized later on the College List.
The OTZ Top Players Lists will eventually be updated. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. To see all of the players on one page, click on All Districts.OTZ will soon list next year's top upcoming freshman players. The purpose of this list is to not only recognize the players but to also help coaches understand which teams should be included in their schedules next spring.
A few of these player profile photos will be updated as time permits.
As for action photos.. Things are still waaay backed up with other non-tennis projects that need to be addressed.
Again, congratulations to these players.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Usage Report: Who, What, Where from?
What is accessed on OhioTennisZone and who accesses it? It is time for the seasonal usage edition. Read on to learn what areas of the nation access OTZ the most. Which players get the most views on their OTZ Player Profiles; and what team pages generate the most views. The usage covered is for the time period of March 1 to May 30, 2022.
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Jackson's Altman - Click to enlarge |
Gahanna's Carpico - Click to enlarge |
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Jerome's Fickas - Click to enlarge |
Mason's Gogineni - Click to enlarge |
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Bexley's Lessard - Click to enlarge |
Sycamore's Miller |
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Orange's Pomeranets - Click |
UA's Samora - Click to enlarge |
From the team page perspective, Sycamore's team page drew the most interest during the season. The other teams in the top ten (in order) were: Massillon Jackson, Mason, Bexley, Columbus Academy, New Albany, Indian Hill, Lexington, Dublin Jerome, and Pepper Pike Orange.
While it is unknown who specifically accesses each OTZ page, note that middle school players and parents are certainly big users. Teams need to think of these OTZ Team pages as advertisements for future customers (tennis parents and players). Of course, having an OTZ Team page for a private school is a complete no-brainer. Tennis parents value the education / tennis combination and if a school can attract a parent/player by using an OTZ $99 team membership who will then spend $65,000 over four years, that is a return on investment that would make a CPA hug him or herself with happiness.. In fact, if a private school is not an OTZ team member, then you know that the private school does not have a good math program..
The eight players who had the most views of their OTZ Player Profiles are (in alphabetical order): Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni, Bexley's Sam Lessard, Sycamore's Chad Miller, Orange's Ben Pomeranets, and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora. Click on the player names above to view their OTZ Player Profiles. The parent associated with the Player Profile may view the total number of views since the Player Profile was created. The photos of the players may be clicked to enlarge them.
The top pages accessed on OhioTennisZone (outside of this main page) are listed below and they are sorted in pageview order. The OTZ Personalized Report is what users see when they first login. The biggest usage day of the season was on the second day of States.
- Central Ohio Team Lookup
- OTZ Personalized Report (page presented at sign-in)
- Boys State Draws-2022
- Boys State Team Tournament Draws
- Southwest Ohio Team Lookup
- Northeast Ohio Team Lookup
Some numbers that have not been shared in the past include the total number of users and the total number of pageviews. Per Google Analytics, there are now 33,564 users who accessed OTZ during the above time period. For the 2021 season, the total was 30,825. That's a 9% increase. The number of pageviews in 2021 was 415,986 and that increased to 465,641 in 2022. That's a 12% increase. Note that the number of users, counts the number of devices that people use to access OTZ. For that reason, the actual number of users is probably about half of the above.
There were changes in which Metro Areas use OTZ. The Cleveland-Akron Metro (with 20%) area is now much higher than the Cincinnati Metro (15%) in terms of users as more teams join OTZ from that area of the state. The Columbus Metro remains the highest at 24%. Other top areas are: Dayton (4.7%) and Toledo (4.1%). Other areas above 1% are Washington DC (3.5%), NYC (2.6%), Philadelphia (2.5%), Chicago (2.5%, and Detroit (1.3%). Interestingly, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland metro areas are all about the same in population with more than 2 million people. Cincinnati, however, would include parts of Kentucky and Indiana which would have less interest in Ohio tennis.
Yes, Twitter is largely a waste of time. It does; however, draw people from Twitter onto the OhioTennisZone web site. It also extends the OhioTennisZone brand. The top six OTZ tweets for the season are as follows. To see the actual "Tweet", click on the "[Tweet]" hyperlink.
1. Mason’s Vignesh Gogineni is the D1 State Singles Champion. He defeated Gahanna’s Brandon Carpico 6-3, 6-2. [Tweet]
2. And here they come.. The Sectional Draws for Central District D2 are now available. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-01_art [Tweet]
3. Westerville Central is hosting Lancaster in today’s match. It’s windy. It’s cool. It’s not raining. Yet. [Tweet]
4. States will be going indoors today. See you there! Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-27_art [Tweet]
5. The OHSAA State Draws for the 102nd Ohio Boys State Tennis Tournament are now available. Click for the OTZ-enhanced draws (with photos / info) at ohiotenniszone.com/tennis_state_d… @OHADNewsHS @mlaughman @ThisWeekSports @tennis_point_US @ThisWeekDave [Tweet]
6. The Sectional Draws for Central District D1 are now available. The top singles players (i.e. Brandon Carpico) chose the Pick Central #1 location. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-01_art [Tweet]
OTZ appreciates its sponsors and advertisers and absolutely more are needed. Please contact OTZ for more information. Online activity continues to grow. For more information about advertising, please submit a Feedback.
In tomorrow's update, OhioTennisZone.com presents its All-Ohio OTZ Boys Tennis Team.
For those interested in purchasing (not just looking at) OTZ photos, please let me know and I will gather photos of your son and email you a pdf of photos to review.
TUESDAY,
OHSAA Tournament Championship Points
Three out of the four championship points were captured this year. The timing of the finishes just did not allow me to be at D1 Doubles when their championship point was played. If someone captured D1 dubs on a camera or cell phone and is willing to provide that video to me, I may be able to use it for their video.
New camera gear provided a much better video image than last year, but the width of the video is less because of the camera lens that is used. This can largely be overcome when matches are played on the stadium courts (Grandstand, Court 3, and Court 10) but it is an issue on Court 11.
Player photos were included at the end of the videos. There were also a few extra points included as well.
For best results, use full screen mode and increase the resolution to HD (for high definition)..
There is not much control over the image that is selected for the video. When time permits, this image may be tweaked.
I see that advertisements are being included with the videos. OTZ does not benefit financially from these advertisements but YouTube does (and it is their platform so that is ok with me).
Crank up the volume so that co-workers (or neighbors) stop by your office cubicle to see what is going on.
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Division I Singles: Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Gahanna's Brandon Carpico. |
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Division II Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky. |
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Division II Doubles: Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger beat Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir. |
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 their 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.
Tomorrow is the OTZ usage issue which includes the most viewed teams and players.
MONDAY,
Sycamore D1 | Indian Hill D2 State Team Champions
Conditions were perfect to wrap up the high school tennis seaon. There were also new champions on the pedestal this year.
Sycamore defeated New Albany and Solon on the way to their championship. Indian Hill beat Bexley and Orange. The coaches of both Indian Hill and Orange applied Bass-O-Matics to their typical line-ups which certainly made things more interesting.
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Sycamore D1 Team Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Indian Hill D2 Team Champs - Click to enlarge |
In the third place matches, New Albany defeated Findlay, and Bexley beat Lexington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Coach Mike Teets shared this about the season and his team, "It was a fantastic season with a really talented team! This group of players was on the same page from day 1 about what our goals were, and they worked extremely hard in practices and matches. I could not have asked for more effort from them, and I am grateful to have had the chance to work with them!"
As normal, OTZ choose unwisely on which site to visit first. The plan was to go to D2 (Upper Arlington), zoom to D1 (New Albany), and then be back in time to watch the end of the D2 Championships. D2 finished much earlier than D1 so I stayed in New Albany. D1 had four 3-set matches and D2 had one (in the consolation bracket).
Most matches did not go to completion. Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Solon's Niko Romanov; Orange's Ben Pomeranets beat Lexington's Tommy Secrist; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy and Indian Hill's Max Berghausen; Findlay's Max Hosey beat Solon's Niko Romanov and New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati defeated Bexley's Stefan Schiff; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Lexington's Tommy Secrist; New Albany's Jackson Clements defeated Findlay's Kosuke Asada; and Bexley's Stefan Schiff beat Lexington's Ethan Remy. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There will be more OTZ content released this week and then I'll wrap up the season. The videos of the championship points will be released tomorrow. The OTZ Usage edition will be on Wednesday. Thursday will be the listing of the All-OTZ players. On Friday, the final OTZ Team Rankings will be announced.
It is always nice to talk with parents and players at this end-of season event. Many will be moving on from high school tennis but hopefully I will still see many of you again.
SUNDAY,
Congratulations to the State Champions | State Team Tournament Ready to Roll
Congratulations to all of the players yesterday and especially to the State Champions. Conditions were perfect for playing and watching. Play finished at approximately 3:15pm.
Click for the final OTZ Enhanced State Tournament Draws.
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Mason's Gogineni - Click to enlarge |
Mason's Joshi-Gangavaram |
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Orange's Pomeranets |
Indian Hill's Poffenberger-Pisati |
The State champions and the finalists are:
Division I Singles: Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Gahanna's Brandon Carpico.
Division I Doubles: Mason’s Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram beat Sycamore’s Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev.
Division II Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky.
Division II Doubles: Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger beat Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir.
Unfortunately, the McNasty Food Truck nor any other food service was at States yesterday. If conditions had been hot, the general public would have been substantially inconvenienced (or worse). Teams and tournament workers have access to water and food. The general public does not. (The teams bring their own.)
Again (and again and again), is too much being asked of these players to compete two days in a row? There was evidence of cramping in both of the singles finals. The boys even had the benefit of playing indoors on Friday and in moderate temperatures yesterday. (And of course, some of these players are also competing in the State Team Tournament today.)
The State Team Tournament will be played at two different locations today. Division I will take place at New Albany. Division II will be played at Upper Arlington. Hopefully next year, Upper Arlington will be the site for both tournaments. The tournament loses much of its "family reunion" atmosphere and appeal when it is split between two different locations. UA has not yet finished its construction of its parking lot areas.
Division I begins with match-ups between Sycamore versus New Albany and Findlay versus Solon. Sycamore is a big favorite. They beat the second ranked team in the state, Mason, 3-0 earlier in the week.
Division II begins Indian Hill versus Bexley and Orange versus Lexington. Indian Hill and Orange are expected to face off in the finals.
Remember, each match ends when a team gets to three court wins. This may go faster than many expect. I plan to start at D2 at Upper Arlington, then zoom over to D1 until they0 conclude, and then bounce back to D2 before they finish.
After 66 straight days of updates, OTZ will attempt to wrap up the season quickly this coming week.
SATURDAY,
On to Day Two of States
Yesterday was expected to be a rain-out. It was not, but conditions was still irritating enough that "going indoors" was the correct call. For D1, it was a longer day because of the later start and because there were more competitive matches. D1 had five 3-setters versus D2's two. In one-sided matches (opponent with two or less games), D1 had five matches and D2 had nine.
In the battle of the Districts, Southwest leads the way with eight in the semi-finals; Northeast has five, and Central has three.
Many of yesterday's competitors were very pleased to be at States. Today's group is in it to win it.. Do what this guy says.
Just in case you still do not have the OTZ-Enhanced State Draws on your mobile phone, they are here:
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Perrysburg's Mason Deal - Click to enlarge |
The results of the semi-finalists are listed below:
In Division I singles, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico beat Springboro's Rishi Dore and Springboro's Sainandan Dore;
Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman and Perrysburg's Mason Deal; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat Highland's Elijah Hadler and Pickerington North's Cole Alcala; and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora.
In Division II singles, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Mariemont's Will Stephens and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky beat Athens' Luke Frost and Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard and Bryan's Jay Fortner; and Legacy Christian Academy's Tucker Culpepper beat Lexington's Ethan Remy and Waverly's Penn Morrison.
The doubles teams in the semi's are:
D1: Olentangy Orange’s Parth Patel - Kallen Arledge; Mason’s Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram; Sycamore’s Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev; and Dublin Jerome’s Max Fickas - Tanish Pairu.
D2: Seven Hills’ Ethan Blatt - John Corbett; Indian Hill’s Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger; Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir; and Orange’s Ace Bloom - Krish Mehra.
Good luck to everyone today. See you at States.
FRIDAY,
States Going Indoors
It is no surprise but it is still disappointing. The start of States will be indoors today.
Division I will begin at noon at:
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State Draws - Click for draws |
Camargo Racquet Club
8215 Camargo Road
Cincinnati, OH 45243
Division II will begin at 10:00am at:
Five Seasons Family Sports Center
11790 Snider Road
Cincinnati, OH 45249
As learned last night, eight of the ten courts at Camargo will be available for use. Five Seasons will have four courts at 10am and eight courts at noon.
Due to indoor space limitations at Five Seasons, D2 dubs players and fans are to report no earlier than 11:30am.
There were parking issues at Camargo last year but it is unknown if those issues still exist. Just be prepared to walk or to drop off the grandparents near the door and park elsewhere. Let's save the "creative parking" techniques for when you play Tetris.
While all of this information is believed to be accurate, always check with your coach. He/she should be your main source of information.
Please note that the McNasty Food Truck was going to be at the outdoor site today but they will not be going to the indoor sites. I like peanut butter, but I was still looking forward to going to McNasty's.. That's another fun tradition that will not happen this season..
Taking OTZ photos will be a little helter skelter today. If you see me and you are going to buy a photo or two, please let me know and I will try to get a few of your son. Taking doubles photos are two billion thousand times [slight exageration alert] more difficult than taking photos of singles players. If I could, I would charge a billion dollars (in today's dollars) for each one.
Remember to save the following URL on your mobile device to stay abreast of the results.
THURSDAY,
Solon Earns Final Final Four Spot
The final Final Four spot for this Sunday's State Team Tournament was finally determined yesterday. Solon defeated Massillon Jackson to clinch the Northeast Division 1 spot. Division I will play at New Albany on Sunday and D2 will be at Upper Arlington. To view the graphs from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
The teams competing in the Final Four are:
- Central: New Albany and Bexley
- Northeast: Solon and Orange
- Northwest: Findlay and Lexington
- Southwest: Sycamore and Indian Hill
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Central District D2 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Sycamore is favored in Division I but it is too close to call in D2 between Indian Hill / Orange.
The weather does not look great for tomorrow. Yes, this is starting to become normal. The first day of States was rained out last season for the girls and it happened to the boys last year. Camargo and Five Seasons (Cincinnati) will be the rain-out sites but it has not been determined where each division will go. I will go to the same site as the McNasty food truck (but I will make up a more official sounding reason as to why I chose that site).
Tomorrow's update will be brief as I prepare to leave Columbus for 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 this morning. A new camera required me to jump through additional technical hurdles this time and it delayed the process, but I liked the result.
The goal was to make this a five minute video and it came in very close to that. If the old Caitlin Fisher from Turpin High School video clip had not been included at the end, then it would have been even closer.
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".
The recently remodeled basement was used as the studio area versus last year's video so there are no car, lawn mower, and A/C compressor noises this time. As an added bonus, it is cooler in the basement so there is also no profuse sweating.
Please let me know if there are any inaccuracies. There always are and you always do.
Some of the players are repeats from last year's video. Click to view it.
There have been a few more photos emailed to me for the State Draws. Those will be added this afternoon after I have an opportunity to take a breath.
TUESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky | Sycamore, Lex, Findlay, & Solon Advance
There will be plenty of tennis content early this week as Ohio tennis wraps up the season. Today's update begins with an OTZ interview with Andrew Zimcosky. Yesterday's big State Team Tournament matches are summarized below.
Andrew Zimcosky is a senior at Chagrin Falls and he is a two-time State D2 Singles Champion.
His road to those championships were quite different. In 2019, he had a tough, 3-set match with Preble Shawnee's Pierce Elliott in the semi's but then received a walk-over in the finals when both players in the other semi-final match were unable to continue. They both battled with heat-related health issues. In 2021, he had a tough draw where he defeated Welllington's Griffin Biernat, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Orange's Ben Pomeranets on his way to the singles title.
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Zimcosky at NE Districts - Click to enlarge |
As for this year, "My goals were a lot different this season compared to the last couple seasons. Coming into this season my goals kept changing until it was basically just to be healthy for States. I’ve had a wrist injury that has kept me from playing consistently since December and then my back was hurting for the past three weeks since I’ve come back. Ultimately, I would like to be able to compete for another State Championship this year. That’s always been my biggest goal." He will need to get through some talented players, including Avi Mahajan and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu. He would then have a possible rematch with Ben Pomeranets in the finals.
His parents are David and Leslie and his sister is Sydney. Sydney will be a junior at Ohio University and she majors in Theatre and Marketing. His dad works in robotics at Sherwin-Williams, and his mother is a speech pathologist at Cleveland Clinic.
Other than running cross country as a middle-schooler, Zimcosky has stayed focused on tennis . "I started playing tennis pretty much when I was born. My grandpa played and introduced me to it when I was about 4. He got into it when he was about 30 and loved it, so he wanted me and my sister to try it out." Zimcosky's parents did not play but they have learned a great deal about the sport through Andrew.
Zimcosky is a highly ranked national player with a national ranking that has ranged from 113 in the nation to 154 over the last four years. He is currently ranked 114. His UTR is 11.10 and his serve is in the 115 mph range. As for his shot making, "my volleys are probably my favorite shots. I love hitting forehands and serves, but I feel much more comfortable at the net and have always loved volleying. I feel like my net game has always been the best part of my game."
Why play high school tennis? "My favorite part is the atmosphere. High school tennis is so much different than tournaments because most of it is local, so there are always some more people that come to the matches. A lot of my friends are able to come support me which always makes it more fun. I love having teammates and representing a school as well. I take a lot of pride in my matches when I’m representing Chagrin Falls."
In terms of classwork, he liked his AP Computer Science "A" class the most. "I’m definitely a math / science guy. I’ve loved math and science so much more and am happy to be studying computer engineering next year. I took all the math classes that Chagrin Falls has to offer [...]. I’ve always liked the critical thinking that happens in those classes as well as all the computer science classes I’ve taken." He took a total of ten AP classes. His others were World History, United States History, Calculus AB, Physics I, Calculus BC, US Government, Spanish Language and Culture, Physics II, and Statistics.
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Zimcosky at 2019 States - Click to enlarge |
His strong junior credentials will give him an opportunity to play in college. "I will be attending Cleveland State University this fall. [...] I narrowed it down to Toledo, Navy, and Case Western Reserve University last fall and had a tough time choosing between those schools. I knew a big part of my college was going to be the tennis program because I’ve always loved playing and I wanted to play for a school that would compete and grow its program. All the coaches I talked to were great coaches, but I thought Cleveland State was the best fit. I like being in the city, the tennis program was great, and I thought I could make a good name for myself academically. I was fortunate to be selected for their honors college as well, so I thought that would be an amazing academic opportunity." He hopes to be able to get in their line-up quickly.
This summer he plans to play ITA's to prepare for college tennis with his future college teammates.
As for the obligatory question about OhioTennisZone usage, "Honestly, the biggest thing is that it covers tennis. Tennis doesn’t always get the most attention, so to see the daily updates and to see something covering all of high school tennis is pretty cool. There aren’t a lot of places where you can find individual or team records, it’s pretty amazing. I think a lot of coaches still use pen and paper to record the matches."
For his service project, he primarily volunteered for Habitat for Humanity Restore.
He does use Snapchat and Instragram, but "I try not to use them too often since I tend to get addicted to them a little too easily." "I play a lot of basketball and football with my friends at our high school field or at some courts near my neighborhood."
Zimcosky starts the defense of his title on Friday.
In yesterday's matches, Sycamore defeated Mason; Findlay beat Perrysburg; and Lexington defeated Bryan to secure their Final Four spots for the State Team Tournament. Solon defeated Westlake to play Massillon Jackson in the NE Final. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. The OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws are also updated.
Among the top players, Bryan's Jay Fortner defeated Lexington's Tommy Secrist; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Westlake's Rohit Jain; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Mason's Anish Gangavaram; and Findlay's Kosuke Asada beat Perrysburg's Aiden Bielefeld. As is often the case, many of the most contested courts did not finish. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The plan is to release the OTZ Top Picks for States video tomorrow.
It was great to launch the State Draw yesterday with so many player photos, but there are still photos needed. Please send them my way.
MONDAY, - EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS ISSUE
Draws Posted
This is just a quick bonus entry to alert fans that the draws are available. Please read on below for today's update.
Note that the draws are quickly accessible via the link in the dark gray box at the top of this page.
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OTZ-Enhanced State Draws - Click for draws |
This year, D2 will be going on the courts first. While almost all singles matches will go on at the same time since there are about 15 courts, D2 dubs will go on before D1 dubs.
MONDAY,
It's States Week
This will be a crazy busy week. There are more State Team Final Four spots to be determined in the Northeast (D1), Northwest (D1 / D2), and Southwest (D1) Districts. At OTZ, there is an interview with Andrew Zimcosky planned, the OTZ Top Picks for States video to prepare, and the OTZ draws for States that need to be done. While these three tasks, the State tournament, and the State Team Tournament are juggled, there is also the second season launch of the PickleballZone.com league on June 5th. Whew..
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Central D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Watch for the state draws to be released by early this afternoon. The draws are difficult to do since District results are gathered from throughout the state. There is also a new OHSAA tennis administrator (Dustin Ware) this season. OTZ is ready to roll as soon as the information becomes available. Keep your fingers crossed.
If you know where your son's black or dark-colored shirt is for States, now is a great time to make it "disappear" until next Monday. Boys love to wear dark clothes at States so they can cramp up before they finish their matches. This happens every single year and it always will. Experienced fans can go through state draws from previous years and identify the boys who "should have won" but did not because they faltered in the third set since they wore their most awesomely favorite black tennis jersey in 80 degree temperatures. The Lindner Family Tennis Center is unlike anywhere else they will play because: 1) it is a huge facility with hot asphalt everywhere and little shade, 2) the courts are huge which requires far more walking to retrieve balls, and 3) the extra excitement drains that much more energy from the players. Hide the black jersey. Hide it now. (The Southwest District players are somewhat more accustomed to LFTC since they play their District tournament there.)
Today's photo is of the Central District D1 State Qualifiers.
SUNDAY,
Ready for States
The District seeding rounds were completed yesterday. The draws for States are expected to be released tomorrow. OTZ will be ready to roll with its Enhanced States Draw with photos and player information about an hour after the OHSAA releases its draws. Many players are nursing injuries so this will make States even more interesting. The draws will probably show a bunch of interesting early-round matches.
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Gahanna's Brandon Carpico - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat Springboro's Rishi Dore and Mason's Vignesh Gogineni; Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu; Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman beat Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller and Warren G Harding's Anthony Payiavlas; Perrysburg's Mason Deal defeated Sylvania Southview's Isaac Vens; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan beat Indian Hill's Ethan Camp and Legacy Christian Academy's Culpepper; Bryan's Jay Fortner defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy; and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue beat Bexley's Sam Lessard. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo is of Gahanna's Brandon Carpico who is the defending D1 Singles champ. He is a junior.
OTZ still needs a few more player photos of the State Qualifiers. I will be reaching out to coaches / parents to obtain these photos.
The State Qualifiers (less the East / Southeast District players) are listed below according to seed. Click on the links to see more information about the players who have OTZ Player Profiles. Note that if you have paid for an OTZ Player Profile and the link is not included, please let me know asap.
Central Division I
Singles: 1. Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, 2. Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora, 3. Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman, and 4. Pickerington North's Cole Alcala.
Doubles: 1. Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel - Kallan Arledge, 2. Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas - Tanish Pairu, 3. Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Hummza Ali, and 4. New Albany's Declan Freedhoff - Ben Bilenko,
Central Division II
Singles: 1. Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue and 2. Bexley's Sam Lessard.
Doubles: 1. Bexley's Austin Flamm - Stefan Schiff and 2. Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley - Rowen Lo.
Northeast Division I
Singles: 1. Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, 2. Warren Harding's Anthony Payiavlas, 3. Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller, 4. Avon's Logan DeHaven, 5. Solon's Niko Romanov, and 6. Highland's Elijah Hadler.
Doubles: 1. University School's Nathan Mu - Dean Kirchick, 2. St. Ignatius' Michael Nock - Kai Vesikallio, 3. Avon's Luke LeMaster - AJ Sidoti, 4. Massillon Jackson's Ryan Kelley - Lucas Immel, 5. Walsh Jesuit's Michael Ulrich - Michael Vallone, and 6. Westlake's J.P. Mogyordy - Xander Jhaveri.
Singles: 1. Orange's Ben Pomeranets, 2. Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu, 3. Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky, 3. and 4. Orange's Gabriel Guiler.
Doubles: 1. Orange's Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir, 2. Hawken's Berend Diderich - Praveen Kumar, 3. Hawken's Axel Neely - Zach Forte, and 4. Orange's Ace Bloom - Krish Mehra.
Northwest Division I
Singles: 1. Perrysburg's Mason Deal.
Doubles: 1. St. John's Jesuit's Tyler Wood - Jack Oswald.
Northwest Division II
Singles: 1. Bryan's Jay Fortner, 2. Lexington's Ethan Remy, 3. Shawnee's Gabe Burke, and 4. Ottawa Hills's Jack Burke.
Doubles: 1. Lexington's Tommy Secrist - Karl Etzel, 2. Lexington's Ryan Mecurio - Ross Drlik, 3. Maumee's Braden Tucker - Gavin Yu, and 4. Ottawa-Glandorf's Eli Schmenk - Joshua Walls.
Southwest Division I
Singles: 1. Sycamore's Chad Miller, 2. Mason's Vignesh Gogineni, 3. Springboro's Sainandan Dore, 4. Springboro's Rishi Dore, and 5. Sycamore's Nicholas Choo.
Doubles: 1. Mason's Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram, 2. Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev, 3. Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Kevin Dong, 4. Mason's Aron Dornhecker - Vamshi Singidi, and 5. St. Xavier's Drew Evans - Tucker Berry.
Southwest Division II
Singles: 1. Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, 2. Mariemont's Will Stephens, 3. Legacy Christian Academy's Tucker Culpepper, and 4. Indian Hill's Ethan Camp.
Doubles: 1. Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger; 2. Indian Hill's Max Berghausen - Michael Ryu, 3. Oakwood's Noah Boyce - Max McCloskey, and 4. Seven Hills' Ethan Blatt - John Corbett.
SATURDAY,
New Albany and Bexley in State Team Final Four
Two more Final Four spots were determined yesterday. New Albany beat Dublin Jerome for the Central Division I spot and Bexley defeated Columbus Academy in Division II. Both matches went the distance. New Albany's victory was clinched on 1st dubs with Ben Bilenko - Abhi Dandu winning. Bexley's clinch was on third singles by Austin Flamm.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. To view the State Team draws, click on OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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St. Xavier - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is St. Xavier. They are coached by Joe Jackson. They are Team Members. They are led by Drew Evans and Tucker Berry.
OTZ went on another field trip yesterday -- this time to Northeast Ohio for their D2 districts. About ten minutes after I arrived, it started raining. Indoor photos were taken but those are always shaky at best. I have not had an opportunity to review or process the photos.
The State Qualifiers (so far) are listed below for each District that has reported them. After the seeding rounds today, the lists will be in seeded order. All of the results for these matches are online. Click the player links to view the OTZ Player Profiles. Congratulations to these players.
Central Division I
Singles: Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman, Pickerington North's Cole Alcala, and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora.
Doubles: New Albany's Declan Freedhoff - Ben Bilenko, Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas - Tanish Pairu, Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Hummza Ali, and Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel - Kallan Arledge.
Central Division II
Singles: Bexley's Sam Lessard and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue.
Doubles: Bexley's Austin Flamm - Stefan Schiff and Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley - Rowen Lo.
Northeast Division I
Singles: Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller, Warren Harding's Anthony Payiavlas, Avon's Logan DeHaven, TBD, and TBD.
Doubles: University School's Nathan Mu - Dean Kirchick, Massillon Jackson's Ryan Kelley - Lucas Immel, St. Ignatius' Michael Nock - Kai Vesikallio, Avon's Luke LeMaster - AJ Sidoti, TBD, and TBD.
Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets, Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky, Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu, and Orange's Gabriel Guiler.
Doubles: Orange's Ace Bloom - Krish Mehra, Hawken's Berend Diderich - Praveen Kumar, and Orange's Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir, and Hawken's Axel Neely - Zach Forte.
Northwest Division I
Singles: TBD
Doubles: TBD
Northwest Division II
Singles: NA
Doubles: NA
Southwest Division I
Singles: Mason's Vignesh Gogineni, Sycamore's Chad Miller, Springboro's Sainandan Dore, Springboro's Rishi Dore, and TBD.
Doubles: Mason's Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram, Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Kevin Dong, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev, Mason's Aron Dornhecker - Vamshi Singidi, and TBD.
Southwest Division II
Singles: Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, Mariemont's Will Stephens, Legacy Christian Academy's Tucker Culpepper, and Indian Hill's Ethan Camp.
Doubles: Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger; Indian Hill's Max Berghausen - Michael Ryu, Oakwood's Noah Boyce - Max McCloskey, and Seven Hills' Ethan Blatt - John Corbett.
Good luck at today's District Seeding round. I will be at the Central District Olentangy courts.
FRIDAY,
Findlay Beats Sylvania Northview | State Qualifiers from Central/Southwest
Great weather conditions allowed Districts to be played throughout the state yesterday. There was also a Northwest State Team Tournament match where Findlay defeated Sylvania Northview. Click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Springboro's Sai Dore - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Dublin Coffman's Shinya Akiyama; Mason's Vignesh Gogineni beat Sycamore's Nicholas Choo; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Sylvania Northview's Wieligman; Pickerington North's Cole Alcala beatr Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman beat Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight; and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Normally, the State Qualifiers are listed in today's edition, but there was a weird error that wiped out much of this morning's update which then had to be redone. I hope this is the only weird thing that is encountered today as I head up to the Northeast D2 Districts. I am getting a later start than what I had hoped.. Click on the links at the top of the page for all of the State Qualifiers. The results from yesterday are; however, included in the player and team records.
While the weather was great for playing yesterday, the Southwest skies were not kind to photographers. It was far too gray of a day to get great photos. Today's photo is of Springboro's Sainandan Dore.
Bexley (H) plays Columbus Academy for the Central District Final Four berth today.
THURSDAY,
Orange and Indian Hill in Final Four
Two teams have earned their spots into the Final Four of the State Team Tournament. Orange defeated Ursuline last night and Indian Hill beat Oakwood on Tuesday.
Orange's match was the only one recorded from yesterday. To view the graph from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the updated OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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Orange - Click to team page |
Rain plagued the start of the Cental Districts tournament yesterday. It will take place today.
OTZ will be leaving shortly for the Southwest District tournament which will field both the D1 and D2 matches at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Tomorrow, I go back on the road to the Northeast District D2 tournament.
Among the top players, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Ursuline's Chris Simon and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu beat Ursuline's Mateo Santiago. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Orange from Pepper Pike. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are Team Members. They are led by Ben Pomeranets and Chika Nwaozuzu.
WEDNESDAY,
Massillon Jackson Beats Avon | St. X Defeats Centerville
In the State Team Tournament, Massillon Jackson defeated Avon. Jackson will now face the winner of the Westlake versus Solon match. Click to view the OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
There was only one other match reported - St. Xavier defeated Centerville. To view the graphical 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 Marc Wurtzman. They are Team Members. They are led by Ryan Panley and Lucas Xue.
Today does not look good weather-wise for the Central District Tournament. Now that the Sectional data is finally entered, this may be a good OTZ catch-up day.
TUESDAY,
Jackson Beats Revere | Perrysburg Defeats SJJ | Orange Beats Jerome
Ohio tennis just needs a few more good weather days so that the season can be wrapped up. After perfect weather last week, this week does not look as promising. There were some big matches last night as teams competed in the State Team Tournament. These matches included: Massillon Jackson defeated Revere; Perrysburg beat St. Johns Jesuit; Lexington defeated Shawnee; and Bryan beat Ottawa Hills. Click to view the OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws
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Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
Overall, there were eight matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 2, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lakeside defeated Sts. John & Paul and Olentangy Orange beat Dublin Jerome. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Perrysburg's Mason Deal defeated St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood; Dublin Jerome's Eli Wiblin beat Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge; and Lexington's Ethan Remy defeated Shawnee's Gabe Burke. 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 Ethan Samora and Joseph Saalman.
I am looking forward to seeing a bunch of high school tennis fans this week. Current travel plans are: Central District D1 on Wednesday, Southwest D1/D2 on Thursday, Northeast D2 on Friday, and Central D1 seeding round on Saturday. If it rains though, I will stay at home and save my gas money for States.
The Sectional results for Northeast, Central, and Southwest are online. I am on the edge of eye strain but I plan to enter the Northwest District results this morning.
Today's big State Team Tournament match will match-up Massillon Jackson (A) versus Avon.
MONDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Sycamore's Chad Miller
Today's OTZ interview is with Chad Miller. He is a senior at Sycamore.
This is the time of the season when high school tennis goals begin to look doable or not so much. After winning five matches in the Cincinnati ATP Sectional where he lost a total of one (1) game, Miller's singles game is absolutely ready to roll, and his goal for the team is looking even better. "I have two main goals for the rest of the season. The first one is for my team to win a State Team championship. I’m very fortunate to be on a team with a lot of talented guys who push me every day. We are very lucky with the team that we have, so hopefully we can make something special out of it this year. In addition, I definitely want to win individual State. [...] There are a lot of very good singles guys in the state this year so it should be a good challenge." Miller has had just three losses this season -- all to Mason's Vignesh Gogineni. The Sycamore team is undefeated and ranked #1 in the OTZ State Team Rankings.
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Chad Miller at the ATP Challenger- Click to enlarge |
Miller is one of four children of Steven and Robyn Miller. His brother, Tyler, works in Texas for American Airlines. His sister, Sydney, works in Chicago as a technology consultant. Another sister, Taylor, is attending Indiana University where she is majoring in recreational therapy. His father is in commercial real estate with Viking Partners, and his mother assists with a hospice organization.
Like many of the state's best players, Miller played numerous sports until he reached high school. Overall, he played six sports. He also played on select soccer teams and he even played freshman soccer on the JV-B team at Sycamore. "I started playing tennis around the age of seven and I didn’t start playing tournaments [...] until around the age of nine. I think ever since I picked up a racquet, I just fell in love with the sport. I got started because my dad played tennis in high school [at Walnut Hills] and then strung rackets as well, but he never pursued tennis to the college level. My dad has definitely been the biggest influence on me for tennis growing up." In an interesting "behind-the-scenes" interview, his father was interviewed by Payers and Players Podcast on March 28, 2022.
This is Miller's second year of high school tennis. He played Court 1 for Sycamore as a freshman where he reached Districts. He could not play as a sophomore due to COVID-19. He also did not play his junior year because he wanted to focus on tournaments that would help with his college recruiting.
"One of the things I like the most about high school tennis is the team environment because you don’t get that too often in junior tennis. I think it really is a good way for me to get used to it before college. Another thing that is great about high school tennis is having all of your friends there to cheer you on and support you. I think it’s a great feeling and it makes it so much more fun trying to make your school proud and just enjoying the whole season with the guys on the team."
Miller is a highly ranked national player. In his age group, his ranking has ranged between 35th and 86th in the nation over the last four years. He is currently ranked 61st by TRN, #3 on OTZ, and his UTR is 11.67. He is a five-star on TennisRecruiting.net.
Miller has a well-rounded game, but there is one shot he likes better than the others. "My favorite shot is definitely the forehand and I feel like I use it as a weapon pretty well. When I get my feet in position I can hit forehands from almost anywhere in the court and I try to be aggressive with that and look to assert myself in the point." Miller participated in a ATP Challenger qualifier in January where he faced Nick Hardt, a player who was ranked 312 in the world. As expected, the score was one-sided, but Miller was able to go toe-to-toe with Hardt with his forehand. In addition to his strong forehand, Miller also sports a serve in the 112 mph range. The photo above is from the ATP Challenger match at Tennis Ohio..
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Chad Miller as a freshman - Click to enlarge |
Miller took five AP's at Sycamore with AP Stats being his favorite. His other AP's included: Physics C: Mechanics, Calculus AB, Computer Science Principles, and Psychology. He plans to major in economics in college. He is an OTZ-approved math-science guy.
After he graduates, Miller is Northwestern bound. "I chose Northwestern because it has an excellent tennis program with the goal of winning Big Ten titles, and it is also an unbelievable school. I was looking for a school that had a Top 25 tennis program and a top academic environment. I really love the coaches and I really clicked with all of the teammates. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the school, so that made the decision much easier. I was considering Ohio State, North Carolina, Virginia, Dartmouth, and a few other schools." He hopes to contribute in the line-up as a freshman, but the pandemic is still having a major affect on college athletics. While there are three seniors currently on the team, the NCAA granted players an additional year of eligibility because of COVID-19 so they are all staying for a fifth year. Northwestern had just one freshman spot available in their line-up, and Miller got that spot.
He is going to have a busy summer. He plans to start college early (June 21) so that he can start working out with his teammates. Northwestern is still on the quarter system so his class will finish near the end of July. In addition to classwork, he will play in the ITA Summer Circuit, USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, and he plans to be a hitting partner with the pros at the Western & Southern Open in mid-August.
As for the obligatory question about OhioTennisZone usage, "I love to read the daily updates on OTZ and I like to look at the previous day's match results just to see how all of my friends from around the state are doing. .. It is such a jam packed season."
In terms of service projects, Miller has worked with Cleats for Kids. He described it as "an organization that takes used sports equipment and gives it to those who are less fortunate who need that equipment to help them in many ways in their young lives. I think I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have gotten all of the resources that I’ve needed to be successful up to this point, so I think it’s important to try to give back to the community and to those who aren’t as fortunate." One of Miller's friend's mothers started this organization in Cincinnati.
As for social media, he uses Instagram and Twitter (@chadmiller3699).
Sycamore coach, Mike Teets, added, "Chad is an extremely hard-working player who never takes a day off when it comes to effort. He is focused and relentless when it comes to improving. It has been a pleasure coaching him during his senior season!"
Best of luck to Chad at Districts. The Southwest District takes place on Thursday.
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The OTZ plan was to enter Sectional data yesterday. Those plans got derailed because of other projects.
The District draws are out for all but the Southwest District. Links to the draws are avaIable at the top of this page.
SUNDAY,
Sectional Seeding Done -- Awaiting District Draws
The weather was perfect last week. Can Ohio tennis have two more good weeks?
All of the Sectional results have been included on OTZ for the Central District. The results for the Southwest and Northeast District will begin to be entered after pesky OTZ dog (Zoey) is walked. None of the results for the Northwest District have been posted. There was one dual match played yesterday. Lakeside defeated Edgewood Ashtabula. To view the results graphically, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hilliard Davidson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hilliard Davidson. They are coached by Shannon Murlin. They are Team Members. They are led by Hayes Houseworth and Dylan Murlin.
The Microsoft Start Key on the OTZ keyboard mysteriously began working again this morning after mysteriously not working for about a week after a systems update. I probably use this key 100 times a day. Hopefully, it is a good omen for this week..
Tomorrow's update will include an OTZ interview with Sycamore's Chad Miller.
SATURDAY,
Sectional Seeding Day
Earlier in the week, the weather today was forecasted to be shaky. It appears now that all Districts will be able to finish their seeding rounds today. After these matches take place, it is "District draw watch time" to see which players have the most favorable draws to reach States.
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Watterson - Click to team page |
There were only four matches recorded from state-wide play yesterday. Central had three matches and Southwest had 1. In the closest match of the day, Marion Harding defeated Big Walnut. Other matches were: Bellbrook defeated Butler; Watkins Memorial beat Logan; and Newark defeated Central Crossing. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Some of the better singles matches included: Marion Harding's Alexander Lisiecki defeated Big Walnut's Kyle Rines and Bellbrook's Songer beat Butler's Charlie Stiver. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Watterson. They are coached by Ryan Schwieterman. They are Team Members. They are led by Tommy O'Brien and Grant Gilsenan.
FRIDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Cincinnati Country Day | Photo Friday
In what would normally be a very quiet Sectional week, teams continue to whittle down their rained out matches from earlier in the season. In comparison to last year's, dual match scores are now down just six percent. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 2, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Jonathan Alder defeated Urbana; Hilliard Davidson defeated Delaware Hayes; and Olentangy Berlin defeated Big Walnut. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Cincinnati Country Day's Nikhil Shah; Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight beat Big Walnut's Mudre; Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle defeated Hilliard Davidson's Hayes Houseworth; Copley's Akisa Kayashima beat Aurora's Vincent Cannata; and Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski defeated Archbishop Alter’s Ethan Paul. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Sectional data for the Central District and some of the Southwest District sites are online. This information can be found under the team and player records. Results for other Sectionals can be found via the links above.
Today is a Photo Friday. There were 10 new photos added. To view, sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos.
THURSDAY,
Solon Defeated Shaker Heights
Teams throughout the state keep marching forward with the State Team Tournament with some areas of the state still playing "catch-up". Solon beat Shaker Heights to advance in the Northeast.
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Avon - Click to team page |
There were five matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3 and Northeast - 2. The matches were Lakeside defeated Willoughby South; St. Charles beat DeSales; Watkins Memorial defeated Westerville Central; and Olentangy Berlin beat Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Solon's Niko Romanov defeated Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal; St. Charles' Brady Pema beat DeSales' Preston Thai; Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Aja Sampath; Watkins Memorial Josh Hare beat Westerville Central’s Tyler Gebbie; and Lakeside's Joey Varckette defeated Willoughby South's Connor Munson. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Efforts to enter Sectional results into team and player records continue. I am behind in responding to emails. The goal is to work on photos today so that there can be a Photo Friday.
Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are led by Logan DeHaven and Luke LeMaster.
WEDNESDAY,
Mason, Jerome, and New Albany Advance
In the State Team Tournament, Mason defeated St. Xavier; Dublin Jerome beat Pickerington North; and New Albany defeated Olentangy Orange. Click for the OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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New Albany - Click to team page |
There were 13 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 3, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Newark defeated Mount Vernon; Piqua beat Celina; and Marysville defeated Delaware Hayes; and Watkins Memorial beat Olentangy Berlin. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated St. Xavier's Mason Rohmiler; Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas beat Pickerington North's Thambyrajah; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Ottawa Hills' Jack Burke; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel beat New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; and Marysville's Gianni Russo defeated Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is New Albany. They are coached by Marc Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Declan Freedhoff and Jackson Clements.
More Sectionals are taking place throughout the state today. When the scores are entered on OTZ, they will be in the Team and Player Profile reports. As the draws are updated, OTZ will link to those.
TUESDAY,
Indian Hill Defeats Seven Hills | Columbus Academy Beats Wellington
Dual and some Sectional matches were posted this morning. In dual match play, Indian Hill defeated Seven Hills and Columbus Academy beat Wellington to advance in the State Team Tournament. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 8, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Madeira defeated Harrison; Marysville beat Hilliard Bradley; Bellefontaine defeated Urbana; Kenton Ridge beat Valley View-B; and Wooster defeated Glenoak. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Jonathan Alder - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Jonathan Alder. They are coached by Ryan Swinehart. They are led by Jacob Zang and Grant Welsch.
The plan is to enter all of the Central District results as they are provided to OTZ. Most of Central's coaches are OTZ members and I have a very effective way to enter those results. The Pickerington Central-1 from Monday results are now online. Results from elsewhere in the state for Team/Coach and Individual members will be added after the seeding round takes place on Saturday. This is the time of year that I have to be careful that I do not get eye strain or that will set me back a couple of days, so please be patient.
At this point, it is really difficult to determine how accurate the schedules are so the upcoming matches will not be listed.
MONDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Mason's Vignesh Gogineni
The first OTZ interview of the season is with Vignesh Gogineni. Gogineni is a senior at Mason.
After being a State Doubles Finalist in 2019 [pdf] and a State Singles Finalist in 2021 [pdf], will this be Gogineni's year to be a Singles champion? That is certainly one of his goals, "[My] main goal for the season is to win a team state championship and an individual singles championship. [An] additional goal is to go undefeated this season and prepare myself for college." With a 10-0 dual match record, he is certainly headed in the right direction to be undefeated. After playing major roles in Mason's two previous State Team Championship, that goal will be tested soon when Mason plays St. Xavier and possibly Sycamore in the State Team Tournament. Mason has been beaten once already by Sycamore.
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Mason's Vignesh Gogineni - Click to enlarge |
Gogineni does not come from a tennis family. Both of his parents were athletes in India prior to coming to the United States for graduate school. His father, Rama, played cricket and his mother, Smitha, ran track. Gogineni started playing tennis at age four, but he also played basketball, baseball, and soccer, plus he swam. He started devoting his time to tennis in middle school.
In addition to Vignesh, the Gogineni's have 11 year-old twins - a daughter (Vibha) and a son (Vidur). Both his parents work in the information technology field -- Rama at Munic and Smitha at Anthem.
Gogineni has maintained a high ranking in his age group throughout his junior career that has ranged between 20th and 40th in the nation. He is currently ranked 30th by TRN, #2 on OTZ, and his UTR is 12.29. How has he done it? "[My] favorite shot is for sure the backhand volley. Both sides of my ground-strokes, serve, and net play are all strengths for me." His weapon is his inside-out forehand. He can crank his serve up to 110 mph.
As for his college choice, "I selected Yale because I felt a strong connection with Head Coach Chris Drake. I also felt that the guys on the team weren’t just friends but they were a family. Obviously Yale’s reputation as an Ivy League school speaks for itself, providing some of, if not the most, top notch education in the world. I considered every other Ivy League school along with Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, Stanford, Berkeley, UNC, and Duke, along with other Big 10 and ACC schools, even a few D3." Yale has a young team with just one junior and one senior this year, but he hopes to play court three or four singles as a freshman. He stated, "What I like most about high school tennis is the memories that you make with your team." He will be able to continue that in college at Yale.
Gogineni had a rigorous curriculum at Mason where he took nine AP classes. His AP's were Human Geography, U.S. History, Biology, Psychology, Government, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Statistics, and Calculus. AP Micro was his favorite. He added, "When I was younger, I definitely associated myself as a math and science guy. However, as of recently, I have more of a passion for humanities and social sciences.' He plans to major in economics at Yale.
As for the obligatory question about OhioTennisZone usage, "[My] favorite thing on OTZ is to see how my friends from different teams across the state are performing."
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Gogineni at the 'Zoo in 2019 - Click to enlarge |
When asked about his service project, he shared that he "partnered with a nonprofit to aid rural villagers in India who do not have adequate access to healthcare. I did this because the COVID pandemic affected all of us in different ways and I felt the responsibility to assist people in need, especially when my grandparents are going through similar circumstances." His grandparents live in southeast India in Andhra Pradesh. He last visited them in 2016. More recent visits have been hampered by COVID-19 restrictions. His mother's parents are coming to the U.S. on May 17th and they will stay for a few months.
He plans to play the USTA National Championship B18's in Kalamazoo this year, and he hopes to hit with the pros again at the Western & Southern Open. He not only got to hit with the women, such as Ash Barty (who won the tournament) and Jil Teichmann (who was a finalist), but also the men, such as Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Jannik Sinner. "It was probably one of the best experiences that I have ever had." [Gogineni, who has far more experience with the W&S courts than Daniil Medvedev has, poses for a photo with Medvedev after hitting with him..]
His favorite social media vices are Instagram (@vignesh_gogineni) and Snapchat. Another thing that he likes to do is fish.
Mason coach, Mike Reid, added, "Vignesh is a complete player. His contributions to the Mason tennis program are immeasurable."
Best of luck to Vignesh (and everyone else) at Sectionals.
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Sectionals begin today in numerous Districts across the state. This is the first year that the Central District has started on Monday. Hopefully there will not be too much chaos associated with AP test taking.
OTZ plans are to post the Sectional results for Central and for any teams (or paying individuals) from other parts of the state. It will take extra time to do this..
SUNDAY,
Bexley Beats Tippecanoe | Springboro Defeats Miamisburg
With the threat of a all-day rain-out, many teams canceled matches yesterday. As it turned out, it was not that bad of a day after-all. Versus last year, dual matches are down eight percent YTD so teams have clawed back many of the canceled matches. As of April 19, we were down 30% from 2021. The weather looks good for Sectionals this week.
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Hawken - Click to team page |
There were just two dual matches recorded. Bexley defeated Tippecanoe and Springboro beat Miamisburg. Click on Previous Day's Match Results to see the graphs.
In tournament play, Bellbrook won the Chaminade-Julienne Doubles Tournament with Chaminade-Julienne coming in second.
Among the top players, Springboro's Sainandan Dore defeated Miamisburg's Josh Thompson; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Tippecanoe's Kessler Hackenberger; Springboro's Jack Siehl defeated Miamisburg's Matthew Wells; and Bexley's Stefan Schiff beat Tippecanoe's Cameron Davis. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Hawken. They are coached by Brian Smallwood. They are Team Members. They are led by Zach Forte and Axel Neely.
SATURDAY,
Sycamore Defeats Springboro | Columbus Academy Beats St. Xavier
It was another "rinse and repeat" day with the weather yesterday as more matches were canceled. There were only seven matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 1. In the highlighted matches, Columbus Academy beat St. Xavier and Sycamore defeated Springboro. In another close match, Ready defeated Columbus Catholic League foe, Watterson. 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 Nik Shough and Shinya Akiyama. Dublin Coffman is having a tournament on May 14-15 for those not competing in high school tennis. Click to enter. Paid placement.
Several teams had planned to travel today to compete, but some of those matches were canceled. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
OTZ Photo Friday | Massillon Jackson Beats Copley
More rain led to more cancellations yesterday. Next week's weather is scheduled to be better. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 1, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 0. In two of the bigger matches, Massillon Jackson defeated Copley and University School beat Aurora. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Avon's Logan DeHaven beat Brunswick's Naugle; Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman defeated Copley's Diego Ugarte; and St. Charles' Brady Pema beat Watterson's Tommy O'Brien. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It is an OTZ Photo Friday. There were 29 new photos added. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to view. This update includes the Thomas Worthington vs. Hilliard Darby match, Mason vs. Orange match, DeSales vs. Beechcroft match, and the Lexington Invite.
It has been a long week at OTZ due to the nasty system changes. Just to add insult to injury, my Microsoft Start button no longer works after Microsoft ran an update yesterday.. I think it has been that type of week for everyone..
There are several really interesting matches slated today if they happen. New Albany (H) versus University School; Bexley (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; Columbus Academy (H) versus St. Xavier; and Indian Hill (A) versus Mason. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Seven Hills | Findlay Defeats Lexington
Hopefully there will be two good tennis nights in a row before the rain hits against on Friday. There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 5, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Scioto defeated Pickerington North; Mason beat Seven Hills; Bexley-B defeated Jonathan Alder; Findlay beat Lexington; Wooster defeated Copley; Olentangy beat St. Charles; Hamilton Township defeated Franklin Heights; Northwestern beat Urbana; Thomas Worthington defeated Marysville; and Dublin Coffman beat Wellington. 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 |
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller beat Brecksville's Liu; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy; New Albany's Declan Freedhoff beat Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Olentangy's Trevor Gerald defeated St. Charles' Brady Pema; and Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman beat Hilliard Davidson's Hayes Houseworth; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel defeated Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough beat Wellington's Sanjan Shanker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
As has been mentioned previously, the company that OTZ uses for hosting, GoDaddy, has had problems lately, and that has led to outages. They finally identified the problem to be too many users at the same time on OTZ. To resolve the problem that forced an upgrade to a bigger, more expensive system. As they migrated OTZ to the new system, there were problems. Most, but not all, of those problems have been resolved. Given how busy things are, this is not the time of the year for me to chase down and correct problems.. The last time in which the system was upgraded in November 2020, there were immediate improvements, rather than immediate problems. Hopefully, this upgrade will at least resolve the system outage problems. If you see anything that looks different than normal, please email or send a Feedback to OTZ.
Today's featured team is DeSales. They are coached by Tom Snyder. They are led by Preston Thai and Brandon Heil.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Dublin Jerome; Indian Hill (H) versus Walnut Hills; Oakwood (H) versus Springboro; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Indian Hill Beats St. Xavier | Moeller Defeats Oak Hills
It was not a complete rain-out last night, but it was close to that. There were just six matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Southwest - 3 and Northeast - 3. In the higher profile matches last night, Moeller defeated Oak Hills and Indian Hill beat St. Xavier. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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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 Vignesh Gogineni and Akshay Joshi.
Today's matches include: Olentangy Liberty (A) versus New Albany; Lexington (A) versus Findlay; Mason (H) versus Seven Hills; Orange (H) versus Hawken; and Centerville (A) versus Oakwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
University School Beats Hawken and Academy Defeats Jerome
The weather was perfect last night. Hopefully conditions will be playable on Wednesday and Thursday. There were 31 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: St. Xavier defeated Covington Catholic; Gahanna beat Worthington Kilbourne; Lehman Catholic defeated Carroll; Sycamore-B beat Cincinnati Country Day; Big Walnut defeated Delaware Hayes; Bellefontaine beat Kenton Ridge; Worthington Christian defeated DeSales; St. Charles beat Marysville; Lakota East defeated Oak Hills; University School beat Hawken; Olentangy Berlin defeated Hilliard Davidson; and Franklin Heights beat Whitehall. In other big matches, Columbus Academy defeated Dublin Jerome and Olentangy Orange defeated Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Click to view the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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Solon - Click to team page |
Springboro's Sainandan Dore beat Beavercreek's Alan Xie; St. Xavier's Drew Evans defeated Covington Catholic's Brady Hussey; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Brecksville's Liu; University School's Dean Kirchick defeated Hawken's Zach Forte; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel beat Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Pickerington North's Thambyrajah; Olentangy's Trevor Gerald beat Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle defeated Big Walnut's Grant Mudre; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat St. Charles' Victor Roscoe; Oak Hills’ Tomasso Strocchi defeated Lakota East's Andrew Vass; and Tippecanoe’s Kessler Hackenberger beat Centerville’s Elliot Galbraith. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Solon. They are coached by Fredrik Nyborg. They are Team Members. They are led by Niko Romanov and Zach Krantz.
The Northeast and Southwest's Cincinnati Sectional draws are now online. Click the links at the top of the page to view them
Today's matches include: Indian Hill (A) versus St. Xavier; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Copley; Walsh Jesuit (H) versus St. Ignatius; and Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Sectional Draws
Now that the Sectional Draws have taken place, focus now shifts to the District and State tournaments. For many, the goal is to reach Districts, but for the most skilled players, their focus is to reach States and beyond..
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Olentangy Berlin - Click to team page |
Two districts currently have all or some of their Sectional Draws online. The Central District D1 and D2 draws are online. The Southwest District Mason and Troy locations are also online. The draws for the other districts will be available at the above links when they are released.
The number of spots that each District receives for States varies based on the number of schools in each District. The District breakdowns for D1 are: Central - 4, Northeast - 6, Northwest - 1, and Southwest - 5. The D2 spots are: Central - 2, East/Southeast - 2, Northeast - 4, Northwest - 4, and Southwest - 4.
This year, the top Central District D1 singles players chose Pickerington Central #1 to play Sectionals. These players will not have to worry about playing any of the others in their Sectional in order to qualify for States. It always takes a bit of luck to get to States but Central's approach of picking Sectional locations typically enables their best players to reach States. In other Districts, especially in the Southwest, they have had players who could have reached the State finals who did not even get to go to States.
Today's featured team is Olentangy Berlin. They are coached by Richard Hunt. They are Team Members. They are led by Joshua McKnight and Logan Van Horne.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Dublin Jerome; New Albany (H) versus Olentangy Orange; and University School (A) versus Hawken. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Sycamore, Lexington, and University School Are Tournament Champs
The weather cooperated for at least some of the state yesterday. It allowed several of the state's biggest tournaments to take place while spotty rain in the Central Districts caused a number of cancellations.
In tournament play, Sycamore won Flight A of the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches' Association's Classic while Mason was the runner-up. Lexington won its own Lexington Invitational and Columbus Academy was second. University School won the Hawken Tournament championship. Results are included online for the GCTCA Flight A and Lexington's first singles and first dubs.
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Ottawa Hill's Jack Burke - Click to enlarge |
There was just one dual match recorded -- Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Chagrin Falls.
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Sycamore's Chad Miller, Springboro's Sainandan Dore, and Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger. Sycamore's Chad Miller beat Springboro's Sainandan Dore and Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger; Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Ethan Stradtman; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller beat Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue and Lexington's Ethan Remy; Lexington's Ethan Remy defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough and Ottawa Hills' Darwin Posta; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Mason's Akshay Joshi, Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati, and Springboro's Rishi Dore; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough beat Findlay's Kosuke Asada; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Mason's Aron Dornhecker, Indian Hill's Eshaan Gandhi, and Springboro's Jack Siehl; and Springboro's Jack Siehl defeated Mason's Aron Dornhecker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is Sectional draw day as the state prepares for the State tournament. The draws will be posted on OTZ as soon as they become available. The normal timeline is that Central's draws come online first at about 6pm, followed by some of Southwest's draws, followed by the Northeast draws on Monday, and then the Northwest's.
The photo is of Ottawa Hill's Jack Burke. It was taken at the Lexington Invite yesterday. Indoor lighting always provides difficult shooting conditions. Hopefully there will be other opportunities to take photos later in the season. The team photos taken yesterday will be posted later today.
SATURDAY,
Lexington Beats Centerville | Seven Hills Defeats Covington Catholic
Lexington defeated Centerville and Seven Hills beat Covington Catholic in the marquee matches yesterday. There were 27 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 11, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Jonathan Alder defeated Northwestern; Urbana beat Sidney; Milford defeated Loveland; Carroll beat Archbishop Alter; Sidney defeated Northmont; Westlake beat Walsh Jesuit; and Chagrin Falls defeated West Geauga. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lexington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lexington. They are coached by Ron Schaub. They are Team Members. They are led by Tommy Secrist, Ethan Remy, and Karl Etzel.
Today's dual matches include: Bexley (H) versus Oakwood, but today is going to be a huge tournament day. Lexington has their invitational which OTZ will be leaving for in a few minutes. The Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association also takes place at numerous sites. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Olentangy > Olentangy Orange | Orange > University School | Findlay > Perrysburg
Perfect conditions resulted in the most matches of the year being played. There were 45 matches recorded from state-wide play but coaches in "catch-up mode" brought the total to 60. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 21, Northeast - 6, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lehman Catholic defeated Milton-Union; Olentangy beat Olentangy Orange; Lakota West defeated Fairfield; Hawken beat St. Ignatius; and Elder defeated Badin. Other notable matches include: Orange defeated University School; Findlay beat Perrysburg; and Springboro defeated Centerville. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Beechcroft's Amani Lyles - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Oak Hills' Max Doerger; Springboro's Sainandan Dore beat Centerville's Elliot Galbraith; Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated University School's Dean Kirchick; Avon's Logan DeHaven beat Kenston's Max McNeal; Perrysburg's Mason Deal defeated Findlay's Max Hosey; Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas beat Dublin Scioto's Sohum Patel; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel defeated Olentangy's Trevor Gerald; Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora beat Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman; and Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated St. Charles' Victor Roscoe. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo is of Beechcroft's Amani Lyles. Lyles is one of many two sport athletes who compete in tennis. At 6' 8" he also starred on Beechcoft's basketball team.
A few days ago several photos were included in the OTZ Top Ten Boys Tennis Photos. These photos will continue to change as other photos are taken.
Today's update was a total [preferred word retracted] nightmare. It was the worst in several years. This was going to be a Photo Friday but those plans got blown up by all of the extra scores. There is also still "clean-up work" that needs to be done, but OTZ dog, Zoey, needs to take me for a walk..
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Lexington; St. John's Jesuit (H) versus Ottawa Hills; New Albany (H) versus St. Ignatius; and Orange (H) versus Beachwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Seven Hills Beats St. Xavier | University School Defeats Westlake
Cool conditions continue but it is far better than rain. There were 34 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lakota West beat Loveland (with four 3-setters); Seven Hills defeated St. Xavier; Walsh Jesuit beat Hudson; University School defeated Westlake; Lancaster beat Zanesville; and Marysville defeated Marion Harding. 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 |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat Walnut Hills' Anish Kandi; Springboro's Sainandan Dore defeated Beavercreek's Alan Xie; St. Xavier's Drew Evans beat Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller defeated Hudson's Sa; University School's Dean Kirchick beat Westlake's Rohit Jain; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari beat Pickerington North's Cole Alcala; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; and Sidney’s Grant Hoying beat Lehman Catholic’s Sam Gilardi. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
With the Sectional Draws on Sunday, the season has gone from zero to frantic as coaches schedule their most important matches and triage the others. The OTZ goal is to identify the best players in the state before the draws but it has been difficult to do this given the match shortage. More players were added to the OTZ Top Players / Watch List last week and more will be added today.
Today's featured team is Franklin Heights. They are coached by James Wassmuth. They are led by Vaughn Chum and Eric Martinez
Today's matches include: Findlay (H) versus Perrysburg; Centerville (A) versus Springboro; Oak Hills (A) versus Sycamore; University School (A) versus Orange; and Kenston (H) versus Avon. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Updated OTZ State Team Rankings | Sycamore Beats Mason
There were high quality and a large quantity of matches recorded yesterday. There were 39 matches recorded from matches that played yesterday, but there were 53 matches entered as coaches caught up with previously played matches. The breakdown by District was: Central - 18, Southwest - 15, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 3. In the three premier matches yesterday, Sycamore defeated Mason; Olentangy Orange beat Olentangy Liberty; and Seven Hills defeated Cincinnati Country Day. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bryan defeated Ottawa Hills; Pickerington North beat Gahanna; Valley View defeated Yellow Springs; and Olentangy Berlin beat Thomas Worthington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 3. Springboro◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| 4. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 5. St. Xavier◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 6. Avon | Bexley◄TEAM |
| 7. University School◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| 8. New Albany◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 10. Findlay◄TEAM | Bryan |
| HM: Walsh Jesuit | Mariemont |
| HM: Olentangy Orange | |
| HM: Perrysburg◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Pickerington North's Cole Alcala; Mason's Vignesh Gogineni beat Sycamore's Chad Miller; Bryan's Jay Fortner defeated Ottawa Hills' Jack Burke; Perrysburg's Mason Deal beat Maumee's Tucker; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel defeated Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Olentangy's Trevor Gerald beat Marysville's Gianni Russo; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Mason's Akshay Joshi; Walnut Hills’ Anish Kandi beat Loveland’s Max Jody; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Hilliard Bradley's Neil Reddy; and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Mason's Aron Dornhecker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There is a new OTZ State Team Ranking today. Sycamore's win over Mason yesterday places them in the #1 spot in D1. Sycamore also had a higher game winning percentage while playing against the same teams that Mason has played. Another big mover in D1 is Avon. In D2, Bexley was the big mover. The OTZ Matrix Report is the main resource for determining the rankings. To use this report, please find your bottle of Advil first before you sign-in. This report will give you a headache..Today's matches include: St. Xavier (H) versus Seven Hills; Sycamore (H) versus Walnut Hills; Bexley (H) versus Olentangy Orange; Indian Hill (A) versus Springboro; and Orange (A) versus Solon. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Mariemont
Rainy weather impacted matches again yesterday but the rest of the week looks good. There were six matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 2. There was just one 3-2 match reported - Anderson defeated Lakota West. In another notable match Seven Hills defeated Mariemont. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Copley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Copley. They are coached by Mark Ullman. They are Team Members. They are led by Akisa Kayashima and Pramod Muthigi.
Information for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws comes from coaches as they enter scores on OhioTennisZone. Other sources include updates on Twitter and the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association draws. (The OTCA is doing a good job of keeping their draws updated this season.) Hopefully good weather this week will enable more matches to be played. Aware of result that is not posted online? Click Feedback to report it.
Today's matches will be very interesting to watch. The biggest is Sycamore (A) versus Mason. Others include: Indian Hill (H) versus Oakwood; Seven Hills (A) versus Cincinnati Country Day; and Solon (H) versus Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Boys "By Court" Player Performance Report
A new report was first released during the girls season and it is now ready to roll for the boys. It is called the "By Court Player Performance Report" and it lists the players who are doing the best on each court. In Ohio high school tennis, each court is worth one point so a high performing Court 3 player can make the same impact on the score as the Court 1 player. It is time to recognize them as well.
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By Court Performance Report - Click for report |
It is sorted by the "Winning %", followed by the number of court wins. Players need to have at least seven matches before they are included. This restriction is a problem for many players this season because of the inclement weather.
This report runs off the same data as the information listed on the Team Report.
And yes, this is yet another OhioTennisZone innovation to recognize those who play high school tennis.
This report is available to view under the "Tennis Statistics / Info" drop down menu which is located at the top of the page.
GoDaddy provides the hosting support for OhioTennisZone. This means that rather than OTZ providing the computers that tennis fans access -- GoDaddy does. Unfortunately, GoDaddy has been doing a poor job recently and they have had numerous outages. I encountered three problems last week -- just on my own. When the problem is occurring, fans received a “Page Not Found” error. The problem normally disappears after ten minutes.
Today's matches include: Mason (A) versus Indian Hill; Centerville (H) versus St. Xavier; Bexley (A) versus New Albany; and Columbus Academy (A) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Oakwood Wins the Coaches' Cup | Bexley Beats Orange | Orange Defeats CA
It is always nice to get the players acclimated to the heat, and yesterday was very helpful in doing that. There were also several double headers, and St. Xavier pulled off an elusive triple header as teams made good use of the great weather to catch-up. There were 14 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bexley defeated Orange; Dublin Scioto beat Gahanna; Orange defeated Columbus Academy; and Jonathan Alder beat Bellefontaine. In other big matches, Columbus Academy defeated Lexington; and Dublin Jerome beat Walsh Jesuit; and Lexington defeated Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Jerome - Click to team page |
It is important to note that not all teams use their best line-ups for all their matches. This is especially the case when a team goes on the road and they need to give more players on the team an opportunity to play. There are also some players who are dealing with injuries so they cannot play in every match. This is why it is important to sign-in to OTZ and look at the line-up view while evaluating teams.
In two tournaments yesterday, Oakwood won the Coaches Cup in Southwest Ohio and Springboro came in second. Big Walnut won Reynoldsburg's dubs tournament with Watkins Memorial coming in second.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Dublin Scioto's Sohum Patel; Orange's Ben Pomeranets beat Bexley's Sam Lessard and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; St. Xavier's Drew Evans defeated Moeller's Ethan Hawryschuk; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Lakeside's Joey Varckette; Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas defeated Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu beat Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue defeated Lexington's Tommy Secrist; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Lexington's Ryan Mecurio; and Dublin Jerome's Eli Wiblin defeated Hudson's Sa. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Dublin Jerome. They are coached by Ken Berlin. They are Team Members. They are led by Max Fickas, Kevin Liu, and Eli Wiblin.
SATURDAY,
#1 Mason Beats #1 Orange
It was a big day for big matches as many of the top teams throughout the state competed. In the biggest match of the day (Week? Month? Season?) was OTZ D1 #1 Mason defeated OTZ D2 #1 Orange 4-1. The match was hosted by Bexley, which is a Columbus suburb. It was a perfect weather day. In other big matches, Sycamore defeated St. John’s Jesuit and Solon beat Walsh Jesuit.
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Westerville Central - Click to team page |
There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 9, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Troy defeated Greenville; Westerville Central beat Westerville South; and Chaminade-Julienne defeated Valley View. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Orange's Ben Pomeranets; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat St. John’s Jesuit's Tyler Wood; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller defeated Solon's Niko Romanov; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu beat Mason's Akshay Joshi; Bryan's Jay Fortner defeated Defiance's Nathan Blunt; St. Xavier's Drew Evans beat Tippecanoe's Kessler Hackenberger; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Toledo Central Catholic's Webb; New Albany's Declan Freedhoff beat Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; and Pickerington North's Cole Alcala defeated Marysville's Gianni Russo. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Westerville Central. They are coached by Bradley Baker. They are led by Tyler Gebbie and Max Rojanasakdakul.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Orange and Lexington; Columbus Academy (H) versus Orange and Lexington; and Indian Hill (A) versus St John's Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday | University School Beats Solon | Academy Defeats Wellington
It was a perfect evening - at least weather-wise. There were 39 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 18, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Scioto defeated Big Walnut; Worthington Christian beat Watterson; Moeller defeated Wyoming; Dublin Coffman beat Upper Arlington; Pickerington Central defeated Lancaster; Olentangy Berlin beat Marysville; and Anderson defeated Loveland. Other notable matches included: University School defeated Solon and Columbus Academy beat Wellington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Coffman's Shinya Akiyama - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Solon's Niko Romanov defeated University School's Dean Kirchick; Bryan's Jay Fortner defeated Shawnee's Gabe Burke; Wellington's Sanjan Shanker defeated Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley; Pickerington North's Cole Alcala defeated New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Upper Arlington's Joseph Saalman; Marysville's Gianni Russo defeated Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight; Pickerington Central’s Phelps defeated Lancaster’s Jonah Hoffman-Weitsman; and Loveland's Max Jody defeated Anderson's Ben Zhou. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws. There were quite a few updates.Today is OTZ Photo Friday. Ten new photos were added. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to view.
Today's matches include some big matches: Mason and Orange come to THE capital city to play each other at Bexley. Plus, Solon (H) versus Walsh Jesuit and Chagrin Falls (H) versus Hawken. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Sycamore Beats Indian Hill | Mason Defeats Springboro | Jerome Wins the Uh-Oh Spaghettio Bowl
The weather was in "full accommodation" mode yesterday and the number of results reflected that. As identified back on March 29, tonight will be the biggest night of the season for matches. Hopefully the rain will move out of the way in time for matches to take place.
There were 35 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 13, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 2. There were a large number of close, 3-2 matches included: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Loveland; St. Xavier-B beat Cincinnati Country Day; Highland defeated Copley; New Albany beat Lexington; Ross defeated Badin; Westerville North beat Hilliard Darby; Bexley defeated Olentangy Berlin; Marysville beat Gahanna; Olentangy Liberty defeated Upper Arlington; Big Walnut beat Westerville Central; Franklin Heights defeated Groveport; Oakwood beat Beavercreek; and Valley View defeated Miami Valley School.
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Centerville - Click to team page |
In other big matches, Sycamore defeated Indian Hill and Mason beat Springboro. In the Uh-Oh Spaghettio Bowl [click link], Dublin Jerome defeated Dublin Coffman. This contest is so named for the numerous traffic circles that Dublin uses to get to their other traffic circles as they build more traffic circles. Dublin's goal is that it takes five miles of driving to go one mile. [Ok. Fine. I just made that up. It's probably 10 miles to go one mile.] This is Dublin's most notorious traffic circle [click link] and it was a boon to the nearby Discount Tire because of all of the sliced tires it caused as drivers attempted to navigate it.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Marysville's Gianni Russo; Mason's Vignesh Gogineni beat Springboro's Sainandan Dore; Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Indian Hill's Jack Pollock; Highland's Elijah Hadler beat Copley's Akisa Kayashima; Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; New Albany's Declan Freedhoff beat Lexington's Tommy Secrist; Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora defeated Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Pickerington North's Cole Alcala beat Olentangy's Trevor Gerald; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight; Wellington's Sanjan Shanker beat St. Charles' Brady Pema; Beavercreek's Alan Xie defeated Oakwood's Max McCloskey; and Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle beat Dublin Scioto's Sohum Patel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Centerville. They are coached by Scott Long. They are Team Members. They are led by Aiden Ross and Elliot Galbraith.
Today's matches include: Lexington (A) versus Wooster; Massillon Jackson (H) versus Orange; Olentangy Orange (A) versus Wellington; University School (H) versus Solon; and St. Xavier (H) versus Beavercreek. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
CHCA Defeats CCD | Jackson Beats NCH
Ohio tennis was not back up to full speed yesterday, but today should be much better. Tomorrow will be worse. There were 29 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 17, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Elder defeated Loveland; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy beat Cincinnati Country Day; and Badin defeated McNicholas. Massillon Jackson also defeated North Canton Hoover. 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 Louis Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Alvin Altman, Ryan Kelley, and Denil Joseph.
Today's matches include: Springboro (A) versus Mason; Oakwood (H) versus Beavercreek; Lexington (A) versus New Albany; Kenston (H) versus Walsh Jesuit; Sycamore (H) versus Indian Hill; Sylvania Northview (A) versus Ottawa Hills; and Dublin Coffman (H) versus Dublin Jerome. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Indian Hill Beats Mariemont | Seven Hills Defeats Wyoming
It was not a complete state rainout last night, which at this point, is good news.. There were nine matches recorded from state-wide play. Notable matches from last night included: Indian Hill defeated Mariemont; Seven Hills beat Wyoming; and Walnut Hills defeated Oak Hills. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 1. In a 3-2 match, Sycamore-B defeated Loveland by clinching on court 3 singles. 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 Tejas Pisati and Jack Pollock.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus University School; Solon (H) versus Hawken; Upper Arlington (H) versus Olentangy Orange; and Sylvania Northview (H) versus Anthony Wayne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Passing of Coach Arnold Bradshaw | OTZ Report Changes
There was more unfortunate tennis news last week. Arnold Bradshaw, who once coached at Geneva High School, passed away. Bradshaw had a celebrated career playing and coaching tennis. He was inducted into the Edenboro University Hall of Fame in 1982. He was elected into the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1992 after compiling a 485-44 record. Click to read this nice article about Coach Bradshaw from the Star Beacon at starbeacon.com.
On the tennis front this week, there might be two or three days of ok weather. Today will not be one of them. Conditions for Toledo and Cleveland call for rain that turns into snow.
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Report Changes - Click to enlarge |
Eagle-eyed, paying members may have noticed that the team report changed this spring. The default view for the report was to always show the "Graph-only View" of the Team Report. This meant that users had to select the "Line-Up View" every single time after logging into OhioTennisZone. Now the default view is to see the "Line-Up View" after logging into OTZ. As always, the goal is to provide information as quickly as possible rather than keep users online.
Note that all of the team photos provided to OhioTennisZone are now online. If a coach provided OTZ with a photo and it is not online, please send a reminder email to OTZ. For those who have not yet provided a team photo, 1) always make sure that the photographer has given permission for it to be posted online and 2) provide a photo that is at least 1MB in size. Only about 25% of the photos that OTZ first receives are high-resolution photos (> 1MB). Please keep the OTZ sphygmomanometer happy and save everyone time by sending a high-resolution image first.
At this point, the schedules that coaches and OTZ entered at the beginning of the season are highly suspect as teams jockey "nice-to-have" matches with league and State Team Tournament matches. Potential matches include Indian Hill (H) versus Mariemont; Orange (A) versus Hawken; Springboro (H) versus Bellbrook; and Cincinnati Country Day (H) versus Oakwood. Always check with players or coaches prior to attending matches. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Happy Easter | Olentangy Beats Massillon Jackson
Poor weather and the Easter weekend led to a limited number of matches being played yesterday. There were just four recorded. Olentangy defeated Massillon Jackson; Watkins Memorial beat Logan; and Bryan defeated Maumee and Bluffton. To view all of the graphical 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 led by Max Jody and Ethan Sproull.
Happy Easter!
SATURDAY,
Olentangy Beats Dublin Scioto | Lakota East Defeats Loveland
It was a beautful, but windy night for tennis. There were eight matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Northwestern defeated Jonathan Alder and Lakeside beat Howland. In other notable matches, Lakota East defeated Loveland and Olentangy defeated Dublin Scioto. 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 |
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. They are led by Will Woughter and Jeremy Schweiger.
Ohio State defeated UM 4-1 last night in their big match. Click for more.
Today's matches include: St. John's Jesuit (H) versus Westlake; Indian Hill (A) versus St. Xavier-Louisville; Sylvania Northview (H) versus Westlake; Wellington (A) versus New Albany; and Massillon Jackson (A) versus Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday | Columbus Academy Beats Pickerington North | Olentangy Liberty Defeats Upper Arlington
It was a pleasant, but windy evening for most of the state as teams rushed to get more matches played. In comparison to last year, there have been 323 dual matches played versus 456 last year. That is a 29% decrease.
Last night, there were 38 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 4. The close, 3-2 matches included: Westerville Central defeated Grove City; Beavercreek beat Centerville; Butler defeated Sidney; Olentangy Liberty beat Upper Arlington; Kenton Ridge defeated London; and Olentangy Berlin beat Hilliard Darby. In another noteworthy match, Columbus Academy defeated Pickerington North. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lancaster's J. Hoffman-Weitsman - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; Perrysburg's Mason Deal beat Sylvania Southview's Isaac Vens; Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas defeated Marysville's Gianni Russo; Bryan's Jay Fortner beat Ada's Dexter Woods; Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman defeated Big Walnut's Grant Mudre; Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora beat Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Pickerington North's Cole Alcala defeated Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Olentangy's Trevor Gerald; Olentangy Orange's Parth Patel defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; and Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle beat Westerville South's Sammy Gurgiolo. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It is time for another photo Friday. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to view. There were 12 photos added.Today is Good Friday but there are still a few matches planned. They include: Upper Arlington (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Indian Hill (A) versus Sycamore; Dublin Scioto (A) versus Olentangy; Lakeside (H) versus Howland; and Jonathan Alder (H) versus Northwestern. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
The Ohio State Men's team plays University of Michigan at home at 6pm. UM won their last match so this is a key match for the Buckeyes.
THURSDAY,
Oakwood Beats Wyoming
Oakwood defeated Wyoming in the only match recorded from yesterday's play. They played indoors to escape the rain. This was a State Team Tournament match. Click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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Oakwood - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Oakwood. They are coached by Kim Gilbert. They are Team Members. They are led by Max McCloskey, Noah Boyce, and Andrew Rich.
There is a nice, affordable tournament coming up in Central Ohio on April 23rd that includes age groups that are not involved with high school tennis. This will be at Upper Arlington's new courts. Click to register at U.A. Spring Jr. Open - COGP. [Paid placement]
Today's matches include: Mason (A) versus Lakota West; Avon (A) versus St. Ignatius; Seven Hills (A) versus Mariemont; and Upper Arlington (A) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Avon > University School | Findlay > SJJ | Walsh > Jackson | Bex > Wellington
As Ohio received one day of relief from the rain, not only were there a large number of matches but there were also numerous great matches. Among the top tier teams, Avon defeated University School; Findlay beat St. John's Jesuit; Walsh Jesuit defeated Massillon Jackson; and Bexley beat Wellington. Other close, 3-2 matches included: Worthington Kilbourne defeated Delaware Hayes; Lehman Catholic beat Milton-Union; St. Ignatius defeated Copley; Whetstone beat Watterson; Lancaster defeated Gahanna; Northwestern beat Bellefontaine; Northmont defeated Wayne; Cincinnati Country Day beat Summit Country Day; and Marysville defeated Hilliard Darby. The Whetstone versus Watterson match included four 3-setters -- so much for homework.
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Lancaster - Click to team page |
Overall, there were 47 matches recorded and the breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Northeast - 4, Northwest - 2, and Southwest - 22. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Lancaster's Jonah Hoffman-Weitsman; Mason's Vignesh Gogineni beat Oak Hills' Paul Nienaber; Avon's Logan DeHaven defeated University School's Dean Kirchick; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller beat Massillon Jackson's Ryan Kelley; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood; Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman beat Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle; Perrysburg's Mason Deal defeated Sylvania Northview's Forquer; Indian Hill's Jack Pollock beat Wyoming's Mark Keller; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Copley's Akisa Kayashima beat St. Ignatius' Kai Vesikallio; and Olentangy's Trevor Gerald defeated Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Lancaster. They are coached by Gary Elick. They are led by Jonah Hoffman-Weitsman, Grant Hampson, and Cohen Parker.
Another state-wide rainout is expected today, but if they do play, today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (A) versus Upper Arlington; Mason (H) versus St. Xavier; Oakwood (A) versus Seven Hills; and Wellington (H) versus Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats Kings | Massillon Jackson Defeats Glenoak | Rain Pummels Ohio
Even though there were three matches recorded, yesterday was essentially a state-wide rain-out. In the State Team Tournament, Mason defeated Kings. In the other two matches, Massillon Jackson defeated Glenoak and Oak Hills beat Seven Hills-B. To view the graphs from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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St. Charles - Click to team page |
Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws for the updated draws.
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Kings' Vogt; Glenoak’s Dylan Wiles beat Massillon Jackson's Ryan Kelley; Mason's Akshay Joshi defeated Kings' Garter; and Massillon Jackson's Lucas Immel beat Glenoak's Marginean. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is St. Charles. They are coached by Costas Alevizopoulos. They are Team Members. They are led by Brady Pema, Victor Roscoe, and Daniel Ferguson.
The weather looks promising for most of the state for today, Thursday, and Friday. Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Wellington; Copley (A) versus St. Ignatius; Findlay (A) versus St John's Jesuit; Olentangy Berlin (H) versus Olentangy; Avon (A) versus University School; and Perrysburg (A) versus Sylvania Northview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Top Player / Watch List Changes
It's a tradition unlike any other -- it is going to rain again on a Monday.. Here is an appropriate tune to get your day started..
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OTZ Top Players / Watch List- Click to report |
The OhioTennisZone Top Players and Watch List is starting to change ever so slowly. The large number of rain cancelations is slowing things down more than usual. There are currently 14 players on the Top Players Report and eight on the Watch List. By the end of the season, the Top Players report will include between 22 to 28 players. These lists are based on how well a player competes in high school tennis matches. While OTZ monitors both TennisRecruiting.net and Universal Tennis Ratings (especially before the season starts), the OTZ rankings will be based on high school play. This year's rankings largely start as they ended last spring. The D1 State Champion, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, starts out with the OTZ top ranking. Before any player advances to the Top report, he will start out on the Watch List. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for a Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Coaches may always suggest their own players or others who they feel should be on the lists. No help is necessary from parents, pros, uncles, or friends.
Matches expected to be canceled today include: Springboro (H) versus Sycamore; Oakwood (A) versus Chaminade-Julienne; Bexley (A) versus Olentangy; and St. Xavier (A) versus Lakota West. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Mason Beats Jerome | SJJ Defeats Academy
The OTZ sunglasses had to be used on the way back from the coffee shop this morning, but it looks like they can go back into long-term storage for this coming week.. Teams went indoors yesterday to escape the weather. Driving through rain, sleet, and snow, Sycamore came to Columbus and beat New Albany at Tennis Ohio. Mason and Dublin Jerome traveled to Springboro's South Regency where Mason was the victor. Both Seven Hills and Indian Hill beat the traveling Bexley team. The close, 3-2 matches included: St. John's Jesuit defeated Columbus Academy and St. Xavier beat Massillon Jackson. The SJJ/Academy match had four 3-setters.
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Sycamore - Click to team page |
Overall, there were seven matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Northeast - 0, Northwest - 1, and Southwest - 5. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
It is slow going in the State Team Tournament. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; St. Xavier's Drew Evans defeated Massillon Jackson' s Ryan Kelley; Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati beat Bexley's Sam Lessard; St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood defeated Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; and Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan beat Bexley's Sam Lessard. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Sycamore. They are coached by Mike Teets. They are Team Members. They are led by Chad Miller, Nicholas Choo, Nicholas Meyers, and Mark Karev. Sycamore has played seven matches and they have not lost a set on any court.
Are one of your matches not on OhioTennisZone? Today would be a great catch-up day.
SATURDAY,
Walsh Jesuit Beats Findlay | Bexley Defeats St. Charles
Just nine matches were entered yesterday as Ohio continues to deal with wet weather. Except for a break in the rain tomorrow, rain is forecasted to continue forever.. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Northeast - 0, Northwest - 2, and Southwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Walsh Jesuit beat Findlay; Tippecanoe defeated Oak Hills; and Chaminade-Julienne beat Greenville. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Findlay - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Findlay. They are coached by Sean Swisher. They are Team Members. While some teams have not yet played a match, Findlay has played seven. They are led by Max Hosey, Kosuke Asada, and Mac Robertson.
Unless teams can get indoor court time, it is doubtful if many matches will be played today. Mason is playing Dublin Jerome at Springboro's South Regency. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Indian Hill Beat St. Xavier | Findlay Defeats Anthony Wayne
The rain continues to take a toll on Ohio tennis. Several of the OTZ Top Ten teams have not even played a match yet. They include: Mason, Springboro, Dublin Jerome, Hawken, and Oakwood. Just four teams competed yesterday, but three of these teams are in the OTZ Top Ten. Indian Hill defeated St. Xavier and Findlay beat Anthony Wayne. To view the graphs 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 Stefan Schiff, Sam Lessard, and Austin Flamm.
As Central Ohio tennis enthusiasts know, Terri Jones, Executive Director of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association (GCTA), passed away on March 16. While the GCTA can never replace Terri, we need to fill this very important, Executive Director position. Click for more information on the GCTA.net site.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus St. Ignatius; Bexley (H) versus Columbus Academy; Kenston (H) versus Solon; Upper Arlington (H) versus New Albany; Avon (A) versus Westlake; and Lexington (A) versus Walsh Jesuit. Weather conditions look slightly better in northern Ohio. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Walsh Jesuit Beats Green | Weather Obliterating HS Tennis
On what was expected to be a super busy day, there were only nine matches recorded from state-wide play. The Central District was completely rained out. The breakdowns for the other Districts were: Northeast - 5, Northwest - 3, and Southwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Anderson defeated Turpin and Walsh Jesuit beat Green. 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 |
There were a few more matches entered from the State Team Tournament. Click to view.
Among the top players, Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller defeated Green's Max White; Findlay's Max Hosey beat Clay's Horvath; Perrysburg's Mason Deal defeated Anthony Wayne's Dietrich; University School's Nathan Mu beat Brecksville's Youssef; and Lakeside’s Joey Varckette defeated Wickliffe’s A.J. Levon. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Lakeside. They are coached by Clark Hewitt. They are new to OhioTennisZone and they are Team Members. They are led by Joey Varckette and Michael Paulchel.
Today's matches include: Findlay (H) versus Anthony Wayne; Indian Hill (H) versus St. Xavier; Solon (H) versus St. Ignatius; and Olentangy Liberty (H) versus Wellington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
CCD Beats CHCA | University School Defeats St. Ignatius
Yesterday was the biggest night of the season for matches so far. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Northeast - 1, Northwest - 2, and Southwest - 15. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Scioto defeated St. Charles in a State Team Tournament match and Fairborn beat Valley View-B. In other noteworthy matches, Cincinnati Country Day defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; New Albany beat Wellington; University School defeated St. Ignatius; and Columbus Academy beat Olentangy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Scioto - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Dublin Scioto. They are coached by Sean Gilbert. They are led by Sohum Patel and Akash Manoj.
At least based on the matches entered on OTZ, tonight will be the second biggest match night of the year. They include: Chagrin Falls (H) versus Solon; Kenston (H) versus Hawken; New Albany (H) versus Olentangy; St. John's Jesuit (H) versus Toledo Central Catholic; and Perrysburg (A) versus Anthony Wayne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Hopefully the weather does not get in the way.
MONDAY,
Big Week for Matches (Hopefully)
This is the week when the high school tennis season starts in earnest. Today is a huge day and tomorrow will be the second busiest match day of the season. A busy tennis week; however,is going to collide with Ohio weather, but hopefully things will not be as bad as they look now. The weather may clear up today for most of the state and tomorrow should still be fine for the northern part of the state.
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St. John's Jesuit - Click to team page |
To view all of the results recorded from the last few days, click on Previous Day's Match Results and select the date at the top of the report.
Today's featured team is St. John's Jesuit. They are coached by Jim Davis. They are Team Members. They are led by Tyler Wood and Jack Oswald.
Today's matches include: New Albany (H) versus Wellington; North Canton Hoover (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Springboro (A) versus Lakota West; Perrysburg (A) versus Toledo Central Catholic; and Walsh Jesuit (A) versus St. Edward. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Miamisburg Wins Chaminade-Julienne Invitational
It was a relatively quiet day but the flood gates will open next week with matches as all teams begin to play. (Hopefully the flood gates will not be needed for the rain that is expected.) Miamisburg won the Chaminade-Julienne Invite and Troy was second. In dual match play, Bryan defeated Van Wert.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player | Rank |
Best Ranking |
| Lauren Davis HS | 94 |
26 (5/17) |
| Caty McNally | 165 |
105 (9/19) |
| JJ Wolf HS | 167 |
120 (9/20) |
| Blaz Rola | 182 |
78 (1/15) |
| Francesca Di Lorenzo HS | 192 |
118 (2/20) |
| Mikael Torpegaard | 320 |
166 (1/20) |
| Peyton Stearns | 387 |
347 (7/21) |
| Dalayna Hewitt | 461 |
461 (3/22) |
| John McNally | 601 |
470 (7/19) |
| Cannon Kingsley | 615 |
593 (5/19) |
| Kennedy Shaffer | 663 |
506 (4/19) |
| Peter Kobelt HS | 1001 |
332 (5/16) |
| Jacob Dunbar HS | 1267 | 756 (12/18) |
| Maddie Kobelt HS | 1369 |
893 (11/16) |
HS: Ohio High School Player |
||
Professional tennis is going full speed and there are several players with Ohio ties who are competing. They are listed in the table to the right.
Cincinnati Country Day's JJ Wolf has been making the biggest impact lately after his close, 3-set match with #5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. This left-handed passing shot by Wolf has earned hundred of thousands of views. Click for tweet of passing shot.
Dalayna Hewitt of Northeast Ohio has also been moving up in the rankings. She just reached a new career best of #461in the world.
In college tennis, the Ohio State Women's Tennis Team has a home match against Michigan State University at noon today.
SATURDAY,
Sycamore Defeats St. Xavier | Columbus Academy Beats Walsh Jesuit
It was yet another iffy weather day yesterday, but playing conditions will get worse next week. There were eight matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Northeast - 1, Northwest - 1, and Southwest - 3. Notable matches included: Sycamore defeated St. Xavier; Columbus Academy beat Walsh Jesuit; and Avon defeated North Canton Hoover. Watkins Memorial defeated Pickerington Central in a close, 3-2 match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OSU / Col. Academy's Sydni Ratliff - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated St. Xavier's Drew Evans; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller beat Columbus Academy's Ryan Panley; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Springfield Holland's Kufner; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat St. Xavier's Tucker Berry; and Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated St. Xavier's Chase Homan. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Ohio State Women's team had a great match against the University of Xichigan yesterday. Columbus Academy grad, Sydni Ratliff, clinched the 4-3 win for the Buckeye's on court 4 . Ohio State plays Michigan State at noon on Sunday. The match is expected to be played outdoors.
Just as an aside, the photo of Ratliff, which was taken at an earlier match this season, makes it clear how just one photo can illustrate how good a player is. Note the coiling and the eye-on-ball.
In today's matches, Sycamore (H) is hosting Massillon Jackson. St. Edward is having a tournament. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Is It Time to Wager on High School Sports? You Bet!
It was only a matter of time and apparently that time is now. Sports betting will soon be available for high school sports through Joker's Wild. Tennis will be the first sport to test this offering this spring.
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Bet on HS Tennis Using Joker's Wild - Click to sign-up |
"Nothing will make fans focus more than to have money riding on a second serve of a 14 year old freshman boy on a windy, spring day," stated one enthusiastic grandparent. He continued, "I barely knew how to keep score but now I know the over / under of all of my grandson's potential opponents." He also added, "He's a nice kid, but it's not like I'm betting on him to win every match. He's lucky if he gets his first serve in 20% of the time."
Will this put more pressure on officials to make difficult calls? Not really. Tennis rarely has officials so fans will be deputized to help make the crucial calls. An app from a prominent social media company will be provided to enable fans to quickly crowd-source close calls. A Joker's Wild spokesperson added, "We chose a social media company to provide this app due to their long-term track record of providing accurate and thoughtful information."
Acting OTZ president, Zoey Gerber, stated through an interpreter, "OhioTennisZone will not benefit directly from this new endeavor, but we do anticipate that fans will use OTZ's analytics to identify good opportunities." She added, "Parents and fans have always shown how mature they can be around youth athletics. The natural extension of this will be betting on kids' t-ball leagues during the summers. You can count on OhioTennisZone to soon launch T-BallZone.com just as it has for platform tennis (PlatformTennisZone.com) and pickleball (PickleballZone.com)."
This new service will be rolled out gradually beginning on Monday, April 4, and it should be completely launched by Tuesday, April 5th. Click now to sign-up!
As a public service announcement, please remember: Everyone always loses eventually. And always has. Forever. So please bet responsibly.
As for other tennis news..
There were 15 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Northeast - 2, Northwest - 0, and Southwest - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hilliard Bradley defeated Worthington Kilbourne and Wooster beat Wadsworth. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky beat University School's Dean Kirchick; Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman defeated Hilliard Bradley's Neal Reddy; and Mariemont's Will Stephens beat Moeller's Hawryschuk. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
A email-related problem at the OTZ hosting company, GoDaddy, caused delays in system-generated emails. This prevented OTZ from emailing new passwords, sign-up acknowledgments, score entry confirmations, etc. A flood of emails were sent as GoDaddy cleared their email queue late last night. Hopefully this problem has been resolved (and based on a Feedback test that I just did, it looks good).
Today's matches include: Sycamore (H) versus St. Xavier; Copley (A) versus Westlake; Avon (H) versus North Canton Hoover; and Columbus Academy (A) versus Walsh Jesuit and Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.Happy Holiday.
THURSDAY,
Upper Arlington Beats Bexley | Wooster Defeats North Canton Hoover
Windy conditions led to some interesting shots last night as Ohio's weather continues to yo-yo. The 19 matches that were recorded included numerous close, 3-2 matches. They were Upper Arlington defeated Bexley; Lehman Catholic beat Kenton Ridge; Wooster defeated North Canton Hoover; Lancaster beat Hilliard Davidson; Wapakoneta defeated Piqua; London beat Ready; and Oak Hills defeated Elder. Wooster's win included three 3-setters. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Northeast - 4, Northwest - 1, and Southwest - 9. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora - Click to enlarge |
The first State Team Tournament match was recorded. Sycamore beat Colerain. This match is now included in the OTZ State Team Tournament Draws
Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Colerain's Jackson Burke; Walsh Jesuit's Caleb Miller beat North Royalton's Arnav Gopinath; Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Bowling Green's Mathias Drumm; Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora beat Bexley's Sam Lessard; and North Canton Hoover’s Colin Fitzgerald defeated Wooster’s Mark Wood. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OTZ purchased a new camera over the winter. It has been used for several indoor collegiate and professional matches but no outdoor tennis matches. Last night's Upper Arlington versus Bexley match was the first. So far. So good.
Today's matches include: Oak Hills (H) versus Lakota West; Hilliard Davidson (H) versus Watterson; and University School (H) versus Chagrin Falls. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Sycamore Beats Lakota West | Avon Defeats Walsh Jesuit
Conditions were cool but matches were playable. There were 17 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 2. In the marquis matches: Sycamore defeated Lakota West and Avon beat Walsh Jesuit. The close, 3-2 matches included: North Royalton defeated Wooster; Lexington beat Massillon Jackson; and Anderson defeated St. Xavier-B. To view all of the results recorded 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 Gary Hibinger. They are Team Members. They are led by Gabe Fogle and Grant Lamar.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Upper Arlington; Findlay (A) versus Bowling Green; Wooster (H) versus North Canton Hoover; and Walsh Jesuit (H) versus North Royalton. . To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
More about Scheduled Matches | Oak Hills Beats Mariemont
The beginning of the boys season is always chaotic with poor weather (honest) and inconsistent spring break schedules. The season starts slow and rapidly comes up to speed. Now that over 1,200 scheduled matches have been entered on OTZ, the graphs below show April 5th has the second highest number of scheduled matches and April 21st has the most. The second graph shows that Tuesday is the most popular day to schedule a match, followed by Thursday. The OTZ challenge is to visit a large number of matches especially those with teams who have OTZ Coach or Team members. Now that gas prices are so high, another goal is that the match be located close to the OTZ world headquarters in Columbus. The ideal match is when both teams have coach members, and that the match takes place within the 270 Columbus outerbelt.
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Matches per Day- Click to enlarge |
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Day of Week - Click to enlarge |
There were 10 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 0, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Moeller defeated Lakota West and Newark beat Teays Valley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Matches among the top players included: Findlay's Max Hosey defeated Shawnee's Gabe Burke and Bryan's Jay Fortner beat Springfield Holland's Max Kuffnar.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (H) versus Lakota West; Avon (A) versus Walsh Jesuit; Upper Arlington (H) versus Wellington; Lexington (H) versus Massillon Jackson; and St. John’s Jesuit (A) versus Maumee. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
New Information for the Boys Season
There was additional information added to the OTZ Team Report. This information was added during the girls season and it is new for the boys. The "W/L By Court" results were added to the roster information and it quickly enables readers to see the courts on which each boy plays and how he has performed. This few feature was used extensively to determine the OTZ Pre-Season State Team Rankings. To see all of the information, please sign-in first to OhioTennisZone. (Note that the screen shot for Columbus Academy's information was from the 2020-21 season.)
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By Court Performance - Click to enlarge |
The weather looks very "Ohio-like" for the first full week of the season. Hopefully the boys will be able to endure the low temperatures or find an indoor facility to use. Normally a temperature of 40 degrees is viewed as the minimum because the ball starts to lose its bounce. When the state finally warms up on Wednesday, rain is expected.
Today's matches include: Watterson (A) versus Delaware Hayes; Oak Hills (H) versus Mariemont; St. Charles (H) versus Hartley; and Findlay (A) versus Shawnee (Lima). To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Sycamore Beats Solon and Orange
Sycamore went on a field trip to northeast Ohio and came back with two big wins. They defeated both Solon and Orange, 5-0. Solon got 11 games against Sycamore while Orange earned 10. Click to view the graphs on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Sycamore's Chad Miller - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Solon's Niko Romanov and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Orange's Gabi Kalir; and Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Solon's Zach Krantz and Orange's Jake Goldstein.
The Ohio State Men play #20 Northwestern at home at noon today.
Cincinnati Country Day's and OSU's JJ Wolf had a great 3-set match against #5 Stefanos Tsitsipas last night. He earned major accolades for this left-handed passing shot. Wolf was injured last year and is now quickly moving up the rankings. Click for the passing shot.
SATURDAY,
Findlay Beats Massillon Jackson
Thanks to six hardy teams there can be an entry in OhioTennisZone today. Good job.
The results were Findlay defeated Massillon Jackson; Oak Hills beat St. Xavier-B; and
Wooster defeated New Philadelphia. Click on Previous Day's Match Results to see the graphs from yesterday.
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New Albany and OSU's Robert Cash- Click to enlarge |
It was nice to see a few out of town faces at the Ohio State versus Illinois match. There was a huge crowd. The official attendance number was 555*. Ohio State students were encouraged to attend by offering a drawing that included gear/services from: Chipotle, Starbucks, lululemon, and a Sony Playstation. There were 300 OSU enrolled by the time we left. The North Canton Hoover team was also reportedly in attendance. OSU won the match 4-0. [*Early this morning, 752 was listed per OSU but OSU revised their number to 555 later in the day. The 752 made no sense because the number was 550 when we left.]
The Ohio State team includes two Ohio high school players -- New Albany's Robert Cash and St. Charles' Reece Yakubov. Cash competed on court 1 dubs and court 6 singles last night. The photo is from an earlier match this season.
There are still a few reports that are out of sync because of the shift from one year to the next, but most of those issues will be resolved today thanks to these teams playing yesterday.
Today's matches include: St. John's Jesuit (H) versus Massillon Jackson; and Orange and Solon play Sycamore. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Match Play Begins Today (Hopefully)
It is time for match play to begin, but will the weather cooperate? Has the weather ever cooperated for the boys season?
There are several good matches scheduled for today. They include: Findlay (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Oak Hills (A) versus St. Xavier; Olentangy Berlin (H) versus St. Charles; Sylvania Northview (A) versus Toledo Central Catholic; Watkins Memorial (A) versus Pickerington Central; and Wooster (H) versus New Philadelphia. Click List of Upcoming Matches to view all of the matches scheduled.
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Marysville - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Marysville. They are coached by Brian Ash. They are Team Members. The captains are Cory Cordell and Jacob Markert. Freshmen, Gianni Russo, Will Nuspl, and Brady Scott, will quickly play a role, as well as Kyrell Stauffer.
The #3 Ohio State Men's Tennis team will be in action this weekend in the new Ty Tucker Indoor Tennis Center. They play on Illinois at 6pm today (Friday) and #20 Northwestern at noon on Sunday. This is a great team bonding experience and admission is free. The new facility is really top-notch. There is also a Cane's Chicken just up the street.
Massive changes will take place on OTZ today as the data from the 2020-21 season is moved out of the way to be replaced with the 2021-22 data. Please expect some Armageddon over the next few days..
WEDNESDAY,
The Passing of Terri Jones..
There is sad news for those in the Central Ohio tennis community. Last week, Terri Jones, the executive director of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association (GCTA), passed away after a year long battle with pancreatic cancer.
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GCTA's Terri Jones - Click to enlarge |
Terri had been with the GCTA since 2006, serving as the executive director since 2009. She had played key roles in introducing tennis to Columbus Public Schools, securing the USTA's National Community Tennis Association of the Year Award, and serving the USTA at the National and Midwest levels.
She was a major reason why I joined the GCTA Board in 2012.
All of the Central Ohio junior players who won the annual GCTA awards and their parents, interacted with Terri each year as she managed the popular awards ceremony. Click for previous award winners.
Terri will be greatly missed.
Click for Terri's obituary and for more details on a Celebration of Life ceremony to be held this Sunday, March 27.
MONDAY,
And Away We Go..
The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Boys Tennis Season begins today. Players and coaches may begin practices. This is the 102nd year for the Boys tennis season. It appears that Ohio may even have a few nice weather days this week which should be very helpful for tryouts. Note the OTZ tennis calendar in the right-hand sidebar for additional important dates.
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Kicking off the season |
There is an administration change at the OHSAA for tennis this year. Dustin Ware was recently hired to administer tennis as well as Cross Country and Track & Field . He replaces John Kuzio. It always rained during the first day of the state tournament for John. Hopefully that will not be the case for Dustin.
There are always documentation and rules changes. Click for the OHSAA Boys Tennis Manual for 2022, OHSAA Tennis Regulations for 2022, and OHSAA Tournament Regulations for 2022.
GoDaddy provides the hosting services for OhioTennisZone.com. Their services have been somewhat spotty lately. If a "Hmmm.. can't reach this page" error is presented, please try again later in a few minutes. This happened to me again yesterday. Given the unfortunate situation in Russia / Ukraine, there may be ramifications with other web services.
TUESDAY,
OTZ Boys State Team Draws Now Available
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Draws are now online.
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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. As is clear in the pivot table to the right, last year was a "down year" as teams returned to play after the COVID-19 season. This year, there are 122 teams participating. The number of boys teams by year is: 2015 - 148; 2016 - 128; 2017 - 126; 2018 - 125; 2019 - 119; 2020 - 128, 2021 - 110, and 2022 - 122. As shown in the graph, Southwest and Northeast have the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 386 OHSAA boys tennis teams, 31% of the teams are competing in this tournament. Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY
OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Teams (beta release)
Last year's OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Team Rankings were difficult to determine because very little was known about the sophomore class. Why? They did not play in 2020 due to COVID-19. Hopefully COVID-19 is behind us (again) for at least the next ten minutes..
This year's analysis is a much easier because of the introduction of the "By-Court" information on the team report. This was introduced during the girls season. Users will also find this to be a helpful tool to evaluate teams.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 2. Sycamore◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 3. Springboro◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| 4. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 5. St. Xavier◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| 6. University School◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 7. Solon◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 8. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | Bexley◄TEAM |
| 9. New Albany | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 10. Findlay◄TEAM | Ottawa Hills |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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For the last two seasons, the D1 and D2 semi's and finals have been held in two different locations because of COVID-19 / weather issues. Hopefully both will be held at Upper Arlington's new, ten court facility this spring. It is a much better tournament when all of the teams compete in the same place. It becomes more of a family reunion environment. High school graduates who attend Ohio State drop by to see all of their old friends. Tennis pros are more likely to come if they know that they can see several of their players compete. There are also plenty of close-by restaurants and there are on-site restrooms at UA.
As is often the case, there are several top level teams that are clearly in contention for State Team Champion. The rankings and the rational behind the rankings are listed below. They are all subject to tweaking if players decide not to play (or to play) Ohio high school tennis this spring. "Thank you" to all of the coaches who provided feedback on these rankings.
Ohio lost a large number of great players to graduation last year. Check out the OTZ Top Players Report to see how many. (The report currently includes the 2021 graduates but they will soon be removed from the report by OTZ).
In D1, Mason, Sycamore, and Springboro will be the teams to beat. All three teams are in the Southwest District.
In D2, it is good to be on a hill. The top contenders are Orange, Indian Hill, and Seven Hills. Perhaps more so than in D1, there is a significant gap between these three schools and the rest of the state.
Division I
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Mason's 2021 Championship Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 The defending 2021 State Team champion, Mason, returns with a strong line-up that includes: Vignesh Gogineni (Yale recruit), Anish Gangavaram, and Akshay Joshi. They lost Sam King to graduation. They pick up 2-star freshman Aron Dornhecker.
#2 Sycamore returns all but one player from last year's strong team. They return Nicholas Meyers, Mark Karev, Nicholas Choo, and Andrew Wittenbaum. They lost Jeffrey Sung to graduation. A new "old" addition to the team will be senior, Chad Miller. He will make a huge contribution to the team.
#3 Springboro's Sai Dore (Dayton), Shreyas Kode, and Josh Satter return to the team. They also get 4-star Rishi Dore and 2-star Drew Baumgartner.
#4 Dublin Jerome returns all of the players from last year's team, including: Max Fickas (Belmont Abbey recruit), Frank Li, Kevin Liu, Tanish Pairu, and Eli Wiblin. Four of these players competed in State dubs.
#5 St. Xavier returns Drew Evans and Tucker Berry. They lost Charlie Temming (now at Xavier), Vincent Knott (University of Northern Kentucky), Alex Brandt, and Jimmy Gott to graduation.
#6 University School returns Nathan Mu, Dean Kirchick, Rohan Sethi, and Cole Kirchick. They lost Ben Martin (Case Western) and Spencer Krantz to graduation.
#7 Solon returns Niko Romanov, Eric Liao, Scott Zhao and Aakarsh Garg. They lost Aman Daga and Maximilian Brush to graduation.
#8 Massillon Jackson returns three players who competed at States in dubs: Alvin Altman, Ryan Kelley, and Lucas Immel. They lost Max Gmerex to graduation.
#9 New Albany returns Ben Bilenko and Declan Freedhoff who competed in State dubs together. They lost Devin Boyer (Cleveland State) and Ryan Mudre (Chatanooga) to graduation. They pick up freshman Tyler Thomas.
#10 Findlay returns Max Hosey (Findlay recruit) and Mac Robertson (Ohio Northern recruit). They pick up Sam Swisher. They lost Carson Dale to graduation.
Other teams that are on the radar include: Olentangy, Olentangy Orange, Walsh Jesuit and Walnut Hills.
D2 is always tough to determine because many of the teams do not travel outside of their district. Please consider scheduling more out-of-town matches. Columbus remains the perfect place to meet to hold dual matches among Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest District teams. 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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Orange's 2021 Championship Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 Orange returns most of their championship team from last year. They include: Ben Pomeranets, Chika Nwaozuzu (dubs champ), Jake Goldstein, and Krish Mehra. They lost Josh Nwaozuzu (dubs champ) to graduation.
#2 Indian Hill returns Tejas Pisati, RJ Poffenberger, Jack Pollock, and Sam Rhoad. They pick up 3-star freshman Michael Ryu and Max Berghausen from CCD. They lost Jasper Bennett and Jai Masturzo to graduation.
#3 Seven Hills returns a strong team. They return their top three singles players: Avi Mahajan, Ethan Blatt, and John Corbett. They also return their first dubs team: Neel Parameswaran and Colin Yeager. They pick up 2-star freshman Chinmay Machavaram.
#4 Columbus Academy returns Ryan Panley, Jaswanth Vandrasi, and Saagar Arya. They lost to Arie Tuckerman, Jack Madison Colorado College), Lucas Huang to graduation. They pick up two 2-star freshmen: Jacob Khvalsky and Lucas Zue.
#5 Columbus' Wellington School returns Sanjan Shanker, Brayden Chawla, and Hussein AlAli but they lost two key singles players to graduation: Griffin Biernat and Evan Manley.
#6 Lexington returns their entire team including Tommy Secrist, Ethan Remy, Ryan Mercurio, and the two worst Wordle last names in the state, Ross Drlik, and Karl Etzel.. Lex is expected to represent the NW again at the State Team Tournament.
#7 Hawken returns Praveen Kumar, Berend Diderich, and Ryan Levine. They lost Jared Crider to graduation. They pick up 3-star freshman Axel Neely.
#8 Bexley may make a run against Columbus Academy and Wellington this year to be the Central D2 representative. They return Stefan Schiff, Austin Flamm, and Mitchell Giller. They lost Will Meyer and Henry Ruckel to graduation. They pick up 3-star freshman Sam Lessard.
#9 Oakwood is new to the list this year. The return Noah Boyce, Max McCloskey, and Michael Ritschel. They lost Sophie Russell to graduation.
#10 Ottawa Hills returns Henry Harders, Jack Burke, and Darwin Posta. They lost Matthew McGee to graduation.
Note that there is additional detail 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.
Please. Do not interfere with the accuracy of these rankings. If your team is ranked higher than another, win. If not, lose.
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,
OHSAA Boys Season Calendar / Upcoming USTA Tournaments
The OTZ Boys Season Calendar is listed below. The boys season calendar is normally chaotic because of the weather and due to 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.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Feb. 27-28: OTCA Coach Clinic |
| Mar. 5-6: USTA MW Lev 5's - - B14, B16, B18 |
| Mar. 7: 1st Day of Coaching |
| Mar. 12: SAT Test Date |
| Mar. 12-13: USTA MW Lev 3's - - B14, B16, B18 |
| Apr. 2: ACT Test Date |
| Mar. 19-21: USTA Level 3 BG16 |
| Mar. 25: HS Season Begins |
| Mar. 26 - Apr. 3: Easter Bowl |
| Apr. 11: Non-Interscholastic Date |
| Apr. 17: Easter |
| Apr. 2-3: USTA MW Lev 5's - - B14, B16, B18 |
| Apr. 2: ACT Test Date |
| Apr. 24: Waiver Extension Ends |
| May 1: Sectional Tournament Draw |
| May 7: SAT Test Date |
| May 9-14: Sectional Tournament |
| May 16-21: District Tournament |
| May 27-28: State Tournament |
| May 29: State Team Tournament |
| June 4: Season Ends |
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 future forever. The tennis dates should mimic the OHSAA Tennis Sports Calendar.
There will be no shortage of high school tune-up opportunities for players competing in USTA tournaments. Click for the Midwest Junior Tournament Schedule. There are two, higher level tournaments coming up in March. Click on the links in the calendar for more information.
There is also a big national, USTA Level 3 tournament in mid-March for the Boys and Girls who are 16 years old. It will be held at Top Seed Tennis Club. Top Seed is relatively close in Lexington, KY. Several Ohio players are already signed up for it, including: Noah Boyce, Nick Meyers, Jack Pollock, Caroline Brown, Tess Bucher, Reagan Gilbert, Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, Emily Jennewein, Morgan Lint, Kareen Meoko, and Natalie Smitek.
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). For more information, click OHSAA Waivers. 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.
OhioTennisZone will remove last year's graduates from the rosters. This will happen near the beginning of the season. Coaches, please do not remove graduated players from your roster. This will be done by OTZ.
This calendar will remain in the right sidebar throughout the season.
THURSDAY,
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 seniors who have committed are significantly lower than in previous year. It is unclear how much COVID-19 (and the extra year of eligibility) continues to play a role in this. The list below includes the players (with OTZ Player Profiles), their high schools, and their college choices.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - Girls | High School / College |
| Megan Basil | Upper Arlington / Ohio State University |
| Alexis Burkhalter | Wellington / Belmont Abbey |
| Audrey Smitek | Magnificat / Western Michigan |
| Player - Boys | High School / College |
| Sainandan Dore | Springboro / Dayton |
| Max Fickas | Dublin Jerome / Belmont Abbey |
| Jay Fortner | Bryan / Capital |
| Vignesh Gogineni | Mason / Yale |
| Max Hosey | Findlay / Findlay |
| Caleb Miller | Walsh Jesuit / U.S. Naval Academy |
| Chad Miller | Sycamore / Northwestern |
| Mac Robertson | Findlay / Ohio Northern University |
| Andrew Zimcosky | Chagrin Falls / Cleveland State University |
This year's group of 18 will continue to grow as more infomation is released. Last year's total was 28 players and the previous year was 37 players.
The players with OTZ Player Profiles are included in the table on the right. Click on the player names to view their OTZ Player Profiles.
Other players with college commitments who do not have player profiles or did not play high school tennis last year include: Chad Miller (Northwestern), Preston Stearns (OSU), Rylie Handford (Notre Dame), Carmen Merkel (LaFayette), Abby Nugent (Xavier), Anthony Payvalias (Denison), and others.
To see the complete list of Ohio 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.
Please send a Feedback or email if you are aware of changes to this list.
This information was sourced by TennisRecruiting.net and OhioTennisZone.
MONDAY,
Photo Monday
Too many tennis photos were taken this season which normally would be good, but It took waaay too long to process them. There were approximately 8,000 tennis images taken during the season. Not only did they include high school tennis photos, but also photos from the Tennis Ohio Championships in mid-September and other tennis-related activities (i.e. Greater Columbus Tennis Association Awards Banquet). The old OTZ policy was to not take more photos until the previous photos were processed. That needs to become a law.
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Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black - Click to enlarge |
Normally a sports photographer shoots the photos and then others at the publication (i.e. photo editor) reviews the photos, processes them (color correct, crop, etc.), and then uses them as the publication sees fit. That is not the case for OhioTennisZone because one person (me) and one dog (Zoey) do everything. Zoey's role is to encourage me to exercise so she is short-term counterproductive to the photo efforts but probably helpful in the long run. Unlike any other publication, OTZ also categorizes photos based on the individual player and by team and provides links to them.
Since November 1, there have been 78 new action photos posted. These photos include Central Districts, Southwest Districts, OHSAA State Tournament, and the State Team Tournament. Click on Most Recently Added Photos to view.
Today's photo is of Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black and it was taken at the second day of the State Tournament.
While your daughter or son's other Christmas presents may be stuck on a container ship on the west coast, OTZ action photos are safely in Ohio with no plans to travel to exotic places such as Indiana. OTZ photos may be used digitally (Instagram, TennisRecruiting, and unfortunately even on Facebook) and they can be printed for use on holiday cards and on good old 5x7's. I wish I had a few photos of myself when I competed in high hurdles in high school, and many other parents probably have similar regrets. Tennis parents, here is your opportunity to get a great photo of your child at what could be his / her best, playing the sport that they love. Contact OTZ via Feedback if interested.
WEDNESDAY,
Top Freshman Boys
Using TennisRecruiting.net (TRN), OTZ has identified the top 20(ish) freshmen boys in Ohio. The boys who are expected to make an impact this coming spring are included below. While many coaches have their boys schedules largely determined, this information may help coaches with a strong freshman player to get another match or two against a strong team. Unlike the incoming freshmen girls, the schools for almost all of these players should already determined unless a player is being homeschooled. Any help on the schools would be appreciated. Please submit a Feedback.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | Incoming School |
| Drew Baumgartner - 2 | Springboro (SW) | Springboro |
| Jackson Clements - 2 | New Albany (C) | |
| Tucker Culpepper - 4 | Xenia (SW) | Legacy Christian |
| Rishi Dore - 4 | Springboro (SW) | Springboro |
| Aron Dornhecker - 2 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Elliot Galbraith - 2 | Dayton (SW) | |
| Gabriel Guiler - 2 | Beachwood (NE) | Beachwood |
| Jacob Khvalsky - 2 | New Albany (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Zach Krantz - 3 | Solon (NE) | Solon |
| Sam Lessard - 3 | Bexley (C) | Bexley |
| Chinmay Machavaram - 2 | Mason (SW) | Seven Hills |
| Axel Neely - 3 | Shaker Heights (NE) | Hawken |
| Michael Page - 1 | Beavercreek (SW) | |
| Michael Ryu - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Indian Hill |
| Nikhil Shah - 2 | Cincinnati (SW) | Cincinnati Country Day |
| Nikolas Shough - 3 | Dublin (C) | Dublin Coffman |
| Rapeegon Tangsantikul - 2 | Cincinnati (SW) | Walnut Hills |
| Isaac Vens - 3 | Sylvania (NW) | Sylvania Southview |
| Dylan Wiles - 3 | Canton (NE) | Glenoak |
| Lucas Xue - 2 | Dublin (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Aiden Yeager - 2 | Springfield (SW) | |
First something interesting.. Since the girls information was just gathered, it was easy to compare the girls with the boys. The girls are playing far more tournaments than the boys. The top 22 girls played 322 tournaments versus 231 for the top 22 boys. That equates to 14.6 tournaments per player for the girls versus 10.5 for the boys. From a ranking perspective, the girls average 2.7 stars to the boys' 2.5 stars. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. The opportunities for girls to play in college is much higher than for boys and perhaps this is reflected in this one time snapshot. It would be more interesting to see a several year trend chart.
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.
TRN has to make guesses on class years unless a player has entered this on the TRN system. Some are likely be to seventh 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 category (i.e. Caty McNally). Hopefully all of these players will be included on a team.
Of the 22 players on the list, the Central District has five, Northeast - five, Northwest - one, and Southwest - eleven. The Southwest's dominance might just continue..
PlatformTennisZone.com is almost ready for the season start on November 7 and then I will be bouncing back into tennis. I really want to start getting photos processed. There will be a Photo Friday tomorrow.
FRIDAY,
Top Incoming Freshman Girls
Fans and coaches like to see who the strong players are on the horizon. Using TennisRecruiting.net (TRN), OTZ has identified the top 20(ish) eighth graders in Ohio. This information should be especially helpful to the coaches who want to schedule strong opponents. Of course, it is also important to know which school 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. Any help on this would be appreciated. Please submit a Feedback. Note that this list includes an update date at the top of the table.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | Incoming School |
| Danielle Ball - 1 | Upper Arlington (C) | Upper Arlington |
| Anna Bennett - 5 | Bay Village (NE) | Magnificat |
| Amiya Bowles - 5 | Columbus (C) | Bexley |
| Mara Boyd - 2 | Monclova (NW) | |
| Tyra Butler - 1 | Columbus (C) | |
| Addison Cassidy - 5 | Dayton (SW) | Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy |
| Pratyusha Chaudhuri - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Mason |
| Danielle Forte - 3 | Gates Mills (NE) | |
| Lucia Fuduric - 4 | Lima (NW) | |
| Penelope Giammarco - 2 | Perrysburg (NW) | Perrysburg |
| Anamitra Gotike - 3 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Lilian Guiler - 3 | Beachwood (NE) | Orange |
| Lisa Kai - 2 | Loveland (SW) | Sycamore |
| Valeria Kislyansky - 1 | Solon (NE) | |
| Ema Papcke - 1 | North Canton (NE) | North Canton Hoover |
| Irisa Poompanit - 4 | Cincinnati (SW) | Walnut Hills |
| Allison Sayles - 1 | Cincinnati (SW) | Sycamore |
| Addison Sheil - 2 | North Canton (NE) | North Canton Hoover |
| Allison Snyder - 3 | Delaware (C) | Olentangy Berlin |
| Martha Thompson - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy |
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.
Normally there are a few players who are listed as Ohioans but it is clear that they are now living elsewhere for training purposes. That might be the case for one of the players.
TRN has to make guesses on class years unless a player has entered this on the TRN system. Some are likely be to seventh 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 21 players on the list, the Central District has four, Northeast - six, Northwest - three, 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.
Efforts are still underway with processing photos.
After 86 days of consecutive daily updates (August 5 - October 29), there are no current plans to publish over the weekend. This does not mean that I will sleep past 5:30am (rarely do I get up that late anyway), but it does mean that I will have more time to prepare PlatformTennisZone.com for the upcoming season and to process photos.
THURSDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team
Congratulations to the players selected for the OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team for 2021.
OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio |
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Division I - Singles |
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Division II - Singles |
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 Macy Hitchcock Eaton |
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Division I - Doubles |
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Division II - Doubles |
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 Mallory Hitchcock Eaton |
 Grace Murphy Eaton |
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The OTZ list is a bit different than the OHSAA All-Ohio team. While a player's performance at States is the best way to get on the team, OTZ also looks at a player's entire season and includes players who may not have even qualified for States because of unfortunate District draws. OTZ also believes that the OHSAA team is too mechanical in its approach by granting honors only based on the round in which the player reached at States.
The number of players on the OTZ All-Ohio Team can vary from year to year based on the skill levels of the players. The normal barometer in measuring the strength of the All-Ohio team is to count the number of Division I college or high-end Division III players on the list. With COVID-19 still around, things are still not quite back to normal on the recruiting scene. There are also quite a few underclassmen on this list. Only six of the 23 players are seniors. That said, three players are known to be playing Division I / II college tennis. The number of Ohio D1 players on the OTZ All-Ohio team this year is eight for D1 and seven for D2. In previous years, D1 has had: 2020 - 7, 2019 - 8, 2018 - 7, 2017 - 7, and 2016 - 6. The D2 teams have totaled: 2020 - 7, 2019 - 7, 2018 - 8, 2017 - 6, and 2016 - 6.
In previous years if a player competed at States in doubles, that excluded her from the singles list. This year, there are exceptions. Since these players have played singles for most of the season and they have a high OTZ ranking, two doubles players will be included under singles.
Note that players with the yellow PP tennis balls next to their names have Player Profiles and that more information is available for them by clicking on their names. Click to sign-up to obtain an OTZ Player Profile.
The OTZ Top Players Lists will be updated later today. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. To see all of the players on one page, click on All Districts.
OTZ will soon list next year's top upcoming freshmen. The purpose of this list is to not only recognize the players but to also help coaches understand which teams should be included in their schedules for next fall.
As for photos.. OTZ is juggling other things but pdfs with a variety of photos for parents to review will start going out today. If you request a pdf, that means that you will likely purchase more than one photo. If I feel that there is only one photo that is good, I will let you know that as well.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Usage Report: Who, What, Where from?
What is accessed on OhioTennisZone and who accesses it? It is time for the seasonal usage edition. Read on to learn what areas of the nation access OTZ the most. Which players get the most views on their OTZ Player Profiles; and what team pages generate the most views. The usage covered is for the time period of August 1 to October 25, 2021.
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Mason's Aggarwal - Click to enlarge |
UA's Basil - Click to enlarge |
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AW's Black - Click to enlarge |
SJA's Brahmbhatt - Click to enlarge |
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NCH's Bucher - Click to enlarge |
DC's Ghosh-Choudhuri |
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Berlin's Franz - Click to enlarge |
Mag's A.Smitek - Click to enlarge |
From the team page perspective, Upper Arlington's team page drew the most interest during the season. The other teams in the top ten (in order) were: Hathaway Brown, Dublin Coffman, Magnificat, North Canton Hoover, New Albany, Columbus Academy, Mason, Solon, and Wellington. While it is unknown who specifically accesses each OTZ page, note that middle school players and parents are certainly big users. Teams need to think of these OTZ Team pages as advertisements for future customers (parents and players). Of course, having an OTZ Team page for a private school is a complete no-brainer. Tennis parents value the education / tennis combination and if a school can attract a parent/player by using an OTZ $99 team membership who will then spend $65,000 over four years, that is a good return on investment.
The eight players who had the most views of their OTZ Player Profiles are (in alphabetical order): Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, Upper Arlington's Megan Basil, Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black, St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz, Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, and Magnificat's Audrey Smitek. Click on the player names above to view their OTZ Player Profiles. The parent associated with the Player Profile may view the total number of views since the Player Profile was created. The photos of the players may be clicked to enlarge them.
The top pages accessed on OhioTennisZone (outside of this main page) are listed below and sorted in pageview order. The OTZ Personlized Report is what users see when they first login and it is new this season. The biggest usage day of the season was on the second day of States.
- Central Ohio Team Lookup
- OTZ Personalized Report (page presented at sign-in)
- Girls State Draws-2021
- Northeast Ohio Team Lookup
- Girls State Team Tournament Draws
- Southwest Ohio Team Lookup
Some numbers that have not been shared in the past include the total number of users and the total number of pageviews. Per Google Analytics, there are now 33,260 users who accessed OTZ during the above time period. For the 2020 season, the total was 28,215. That's a 18% increase. The number of pageviews in 2020 was 381,122 and that increased to 415,986. That's a 9% increase. Note that the number of users counts the number of devices that people use to access OTZ. For that reason, the actual number of users is probably about half of the above.
There were changes in which Metro Areas use OTZ. The Cleveland-Akron Metro (with 24%) area is now much higher than the Cincinnati Metro (14%) in terms of users as more teams join OTZ from that area of the state. The Columbus Metro remains the highest at 27%. Other top areas are: Detroit (5.7%), Dayton (4.6%), and Toledo (3.6%). Other areas above 1% are Chicago, Washington DC, and New York. Interestingly, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland metro areas are all about the same in population with more than 2 million people. Cincinnati, however, would include parts of Kentucky and Indiana which would have less interest in Ohio tennis. That said -- the Detroit area continues with its strong interest of Ohio tennis.
Yes, Twitter is largely a waste of time. It does; however, draw people from Twitter onto the OhioTennisZone web site. It also extends the OhioTennisZone brand. The top six OTZ tweets for the season are as follows:
1. The Sectional Draws for Pickerington Central (Central District) and Mason (Southwest District) are now available. Click ohiotenniszone.com [Tweet]
2. Click for the updated OhioTennisZone Girls State Team Rankings. Mason and Hathaway Brown remain #1 in their respective divisions. Note that this is *not* a poll - it is OTZ created content. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2021-09-13_art @MLaughman @BaileyAJohnson_ @OHADNewsHS [Tweet]
3. Hathaway Brown starts the season at the #1 spot on the OhioTennisZone.com Pre-Season Top Ten Division II Team Rankings. Click to view the rankings and the rationale behind them. ohiotenniszone.com/#2021-08-05_art #OHSAA @OHADNewsHS @ThisWeekFrank #TheseWillMatchTheEndofSeasonRankings. [Tweet]
4. The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Draws are now available. More competitor photos will be added throughout the day/evening. ohiotenniszone.com/tennis_state_d… @ThisWeekSports @OHADNewsHS #OHSAA @mlaughman @ThisWeekDave [Tweet]
5. Despite getting off to a slow start in the State Team D2 Tourney, the Central Dist. secured the state's first Final Four Spot when Columbus Academy beat Wellington. #EFFICIENT Davidson is OTZ's Featured Team. They are coached by Adrian Tolentino. Click: ohiotenniszone.com/#2021-10-03_art [Tweet]
6. Special OTZ congratulations to Coach Harvey Schrager of NDCL. Coach Schrager earned his 800th HS win yesterday. Other prominent matches included Columbus Academy over CHCA and Indian Hill. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2021-08-19_art. @OHADNewsHS @OHSAASports [Tweet]
OTZ appreciates its sponsors and advertisers and absolutely more are needed. Please contact OTZ for more information. Online activity continues to grow. For more information about advertising, please submit a Feedback.
In tomorrow's update, OhioTennisZone.com presents its All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team.
TUESDAY,
OHSAA Tournament Championship Points
All of the championship points were captured this year. This does not happen very often because the timing of the finishes do not permit it, but this year it worked out.
New camera gear provided a much better video image than last year, but the width of the video is less because of the camera lens that is used. This can largely be overcome when matches are played on the stadium courts (Grandstand, Court 3, and Court 10) but it is an issue on Court 11.
Player photos were included at the end of the videos. There were also a few extra points included as well.
For best results, use full screen mode and increase the resolution to HD (for high definition)..
There is not much control over the image that is selected for the video. When time permits, this image may be tweaked.
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: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black. |
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Division I Doubles: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen beat Magnificat's Kayra Koprulu - Caroline Moritz. |
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Division II Singles: Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Orange's Alexis Nyborg. |
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Division II Doubles: Eaton's Grace Murphy - Mallory Hitchcock beat Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills. |
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 their 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.
Tomorrow is the OTZ usage issue which includes the most viewed teams and players.
MONDAY,
Mason and Hathaway Brown - State Team Champions
Mason and Hathaway Brown have done it before and they did it again. Mason defeated Notre Dame Academy in the first semi-final and then narrowly beat Magnificat in the finals. Hathaway Brown beat Columbus Academy and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy on their way to the championship. Congratulations to both teams and to all of the teams for reaching the Final Four.
"Narrowly" does not even begin to describe how close the Mason versus Magnificat match was. All of the courts were contested and two went to the 10-point super tiebreakers. This happens but not very frequently, but Magnificat actually won more games (57 to 50*) than Mason even though they lost the match. The storms outside of Tennis Ohio added to the noise inside. * When supertiebreaks are used, they are counted as one game.
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Mason - D1 State Champions - Click to enlarge |
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Hathaway Brown - State D2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
To view the graphic results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Hathaway Brown's win put an end to the total domination by the Southwest District this weekend. At States, the Southwest District was in the "sharing is for others" camp by winning absolutely everything.
These championship matches stop play as soon as a decision is clinched so many of the top court matches "Did Not Finish". Some of the ones that did finish included: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Magnificat's Audrey Smitek; Magnificat's Audrey Smitek beat Upper Arlington's Megan Basil; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu defeated Columbus Academy's Anna Chang and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Payton Puryear; Notre Dame Academy's Ellie Assenmacher beat Upper Arlington's Megan Basil; Magnificat's Natalie Smitek defeated Upper Arlington's Ava Richard and Mason's Harshita Uppuganti; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Lynn Kader beat Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills; and Mason's Rashi Loni defeated Notre Dame Academy's Charlize DelSantos and Magnificat's Anna Mancino. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It is fun to review photos from the past. Here are the photos of Mason's and Hathaway Brown's previous championships. Mason: 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017. Hathaway Brown: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. A few players from these older photos were in attendance yesterday. (As mentioned earlier in the week, this tournament does have a family reunion vibe.)
Have an HB championship photo that you wish to share? Please forward it to OTZ. OTZ traveled to Lexington for the first round of the D2 championships at Lakewood Racquet Club and then dashed down to the D1 matches at Tennis Ohio. That is why there is no D2 championship photo. [5:35pm - Updated to include HB's photo.]
Haven't made your payment to OhioTennisZone? Milton has a few words for you. Contact OTZ if you need an invoice.
Believe it or not, but video was captured for all of the last points of the State Championship matches and they will be posted tomorrow.
OTZ is in the final countdown now.. OTZ has had morning updates for 82 straight days..
SUNDAY,
Congratulations to the State Champions | State Team Tournament Ready to Roll (Indoors)
Congratulations to all of the players yesterday and especially to the State Champions. The tournament had a fitting end. Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black in a brutal 3-set match where it seemed as if every point was a 20+ stroke rally. Then, about 15 seconds after the final point, the courts got drenched with rain. Had the tournament started 30 seconds later (and nothing else changed), that match would have finished indoors about two hours later.. The photo of Shyla Aggarwal below (with rain drops in the image) was taken at 4:50pm.
Click for the final results at draws.
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Mason's Aggarwal- Click to enlarge |
Centerville's Owen-Hinshaw |
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Eaton's Hitchcock |
Eaton's Hitchcock-Murphy |
The State champions and the finalists are:
Division I Singles: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black.
Division I Doubles: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen beat Magnificat's Kayra Koprulu - Caroline Moritz.
Division II Singles: Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Orange's Alexis Nyborg.
Division II Doubles: Eaton's Grace Murphy - Mallory Hitchcock beat Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills.
It is uncertain if any set of sisters have ever done what the Hitchcock's accomplished yesterday with both a singles (Macy) and doubles (Mallory with Grace Murphy) championship in the same year. It is believed that the closest to this was when Hathaway Brown's Gillinov sisters, Lauren (senior) and Nicole (Freshman), were in the finals together in D2 in 2016. Please enlighten OTZ with a Feedback if otherwise.
The State Team Tournament will be played indoors today at two different locations. The Tennis Ohio facility (5 courts available) will be the Division 1 site. Lakewood Racquet Club (Ron Schaub's Lexington club) (6 courts) will be the site for Division 2. Tennis Ohio is the site of the previous Ohio State Indoor courts.
In Division 1, Magnificat plays Upper Arlington first at 8am, followed by Mason and Notre Dame Academy.
Division 2 starts at 8:30. Columbus Academy takes on Hathaway Brown first, followed by Bryan and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. OTZ starts the day at D2 at Lakewood.
Remember, each match ends when a team gets to three court wins. This may go faster than many expect.
It is a shame that Upper Arlington's brand new courts will not be used. UA worked really hard (at additional expense) to get their site ready.
SATURDAY,
Wait. What? Rain? | States Day 2
It wasn't expected to. It wasn't allowed to. And while radar did not show any rain, Mother Nature cackled a few times and gave it to us anyway. Play moved indoors yesterday to South Regency (D1) and Five Seasons (D2) and play resumed. While the players had to be disappointed that they could not play at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, the tournament ran smoothly indoors. D1 finished at approximately 5:30pm and D2 finished a bit earlier than that.
Many of yesterday's competitors were very pleased to be at States. Today's group are in it to win it.. Do what this guy says.
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Magnificat's Audrey Smitek - Click to enlarge |
The results of the semi-finalists are listed below:
In Division I singles, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Hudson's Sunny Fan and St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt; Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black beat Solon's Niya Fried and Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Bellbrook's Maya Brink Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri; and Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz beat Brecksville's Lakshmy Arakoni and Turpin's Sarah Clark.
In Division II singles, Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay and Laurel's Ellie Brotherton; Orange's Alexis Nyborg beat Lima Central Catholic's Libby Simmons and Indian Hill's Brooke Arington; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman defeated Ottawa Hills' Lorelei Huber and Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming beat Athens' Anna Chen and Indian Hill's Caroline Brown.
The doubles teams in the semi's are:
D1: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen; Magnificat's Audrey Smitek - Natalie Smitek; Mason's Anna Tonkal - Risha Chada; and Magnificat's Kayra Koprulu - Caroline Moritz.
D2: Wellington's Alexis Burkhalter - Katie Zerbi; Eaton's Grace Murphy - Mallory Hitchcock; Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills; and Revere's Morgan Dobos - Maddie Kavenagh.
Good luck to everyone today. See you at States.
FRIDAY,
States - Day 1
On with the show, this is it. Today is the first day of States. Congratulations to those who will be competing.
Before you leave, please make sure that you have this web page entered on your cell phone.
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OTZ Draws - Click to draws |
Rain is expected to be far less of an issue than it was during the most recent boys season but that information is included on the draws and it is listed in yesterday's edition.
The Lindner Family Tennis Center is huge and you really do not want to have to trek from courts 15 to 17 to 4. Note that the site map is included on the OTZ draw sheet and it is enlargeable so bifocals will not be necessary. Also note that the restroom by court 11 is probably the only restroom that will be open.
As has been done for many years, the plan was to have the court assignments online to help the players and those with older family members better plan. As of last night, there were no court assignments. As of this morning, there were still no court assignments..
See you at States!
THURSDAY,
Upper Arlington Clinches Final Final Four Spot
Upper Arlington clinched the final spot in the Final Four yesterday when they defeated Dublin Coffman, 3-1. Coffman had beaten UA earlier in the week to clinch the Ohio Capital Conference-Central crown. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
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Upper Arlington Courts - Click to enlarge |
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Shaun Stamps. They are Team Members. They are led by Megan Basil and Ava Richard.
Upper Arlington will have a home match when they host the Division 1 State Team Tournament in their brand new, one million dollar facility. The seating area is between the courts so it will be ideal for watching all four teams compete at the same time. It will also be more conducive to having the "family reunion" atmosphere that the sport enjoys because it brings everyone together. As for the most important info -- UA has a restroom and concession stand a few feet from the courts. Unfortunately D2 will still be played at New Albany [map - use Kardules Fields Way] so those who may have come to watch both of their District teams compete will either not make the trip at all or just go to one site. The New Albany and UA courts are 28 minutes apart (22.2 miles). OTZ plans are to go to New Albany in the morning and UA in the afternoon.
UA has not completed all of their parking lots so on-street parking will be required. For those with older family members attending, there should be an opportunity to drop them off at the entrance which is just north of the courts. See map. There is also a wheel chair ramp so step climbing will be unnecessary. It is on Sunday morning so parking should not be too much of an issue, but plan for it to be.
Dayton's South Regency [map] will be one of the two rain sites if the need arises for the OHSAA State Tournament tomorrow. The other site will be Five Seasons [map]. Unfortunately South Regency is 36 minutes (17.8 miles) from the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Five Seasons and Carmargo were used during the boys season and that worked out well. Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough so that the first round matches can be played outdoors.
OTZ is normally able to provide the court assignments on the State Draws so look for that later today.
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, and it helps 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 yesterday. I am also still getting accustomed to Adobe Premiere Pro. Doing three videos a year is not a good way to become proficient at it..
The goal was to make this a five minute video but there were just too many players that needed to be recognized. It comes in at over seven minutes. It may make me sound even more like a chipmunk, but the replay speed can be adjusted.
The recently remodeled basement was used as the studio area so there are no car, lawn mower, and A/C compressor noises this time. Zoey evidently did not know where I was so there were also no "hey, you, play with me" interruptions.
There was a name that I knew but misspoke on the video. It is Ella Franz, not Ellie. Sorry.. Unfortunately, this list will likely grow as the day progresses. There is also little doubt that there were last names that were completely contorted.
Some of the players are repeats from last year's video. Click to view it.
A few more player photos were obtained for the State Draws. Just two more are needed - for Bath's Elena and Anne Oliver.
In a league match, Upper Arlington defeated Olentangy Orange last night. Upper Arlington will play Dublin Coffman tonight to determine who goes to the State Team Tournament for Central. Does anyone know who the D2 team for the Northwest District is? [Update: Bryan won.] If so, please submit a Feedback.
TUESDAY,
OTZ Enhanced State Draws | Dublin Coffman Beats Upper Arlington
This is normally a quiet week from a match perspective, but Dublin Coffman played Upper Arlington in a conference match and defeated them 3-2. Upper Arlington has two more matches to play this week, including the match to determine who will represent the Central District in the State Team Tournament. To view the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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State Draws - Click to draws |
The OTZ State Draws were released yesterday afternoon. The OHSAA posted the official draws and then the OhioTennisZone draws with photos and links were released less than an hour later. As expected, online usage has been brisk. There are already photos posted for 97% of the players. (This has to be an OTZ record.) Hopefully the remaining three photos will be obtained today. The draws are posted at the top of the page in the black box and they will remain there until the start of the boys season.
The OHSAA draws are random and based on where players finish in their District tournament. This is awkward because you cannot effectively have five #1 seeds in a draw which is the case in Division 2. There are several really tough quarters to determine who moves onto Saturday. If the favored players and teams do win in the first round, matches to determine the semi-finalists could include: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal versus St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt; Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz versus Turpin's Sarah Clark; Eaton's Macy Hitchcock versus Laurel's Ellie Brotherton; Orange's Alexis Nyborg and Indian Hill's Brooke Arington; and Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu versus Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman. In doubles, Centerville is slated to face Magnifican't #1 team in the top half of the draw.
The plan is to release the OTZ Top Picks for States video tomorrow morning. Yes, today will be another busy day..
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
It's States Week!
This will be a busy week for everyone. The States draws are expected to be released today. There are two more State Team Tournament spots to be determined. The OhioTennisZone video that features its top picks for States will be released early this week. The weather looks pretty reasonable except for the Thursday travel day.
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Southwest District D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
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Southwest District D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
The State Draws will include player photos. These photos are being actively gathered now. All photos for the Central, Southeast / East, and Southwest Districts have been obtained. The draws will linked to via the black box at the top of this page. (This is currently being pointed to the boys 2021 draws.)
Thanks to Peter Motta and Mike Reid for taking the Central D2 and Southwest District Qualifier photos, respectively. Peter Motta is a Columbus Academy parent and Mike Reid is the Mason coach. Note that the Central D2 photo is included below in yesterday's entry. They took the photos and OTZ added the lettering.
In addition to high school tennis, I am also juggling the start of Columbus' platform tennis season. Reach out to any of the Central Ohio Platform Tennis Association (COPTA) board members (Sean Byrne, Rob Cseplo, Rob Martin, Mike Lindell, or me), if you are interested in playing. Click PlatformTennisZone.com for more information. Also feel free to submit a Feedback.
SUNDAY,
Districts Seeding Round Completed
So far. So good. The district tournaments were completed yesterday. Watch for the State Draws to be posted on OhioTennisZone early tomorrow afternoon. Most of the players will have their photos included when the draws are posted. If your daughter's photo is not included, please email (not text) a photo to OTZ. Submit a Feedback to get the email address.
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Central District D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
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Central District D2 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Based on a few photos posted, it appeared as if some were played indoors while others were finished outdoors. OTZ went to Hilliard Davidson for the Central D1 Districts where it was extremely windy. Believe it or not, Hilliard Davidson was where the second day of States was played for the girls prior to States being moved to the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Really. The girls would play the first day of States at the Ohio State's courts and then the girls were punted to Davidson for the second day because OSU would frequently play a home football game on States Saturday. Thankfully, times have changed.
Among the top players, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Turpin's Sarah Clark and St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein; Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black beat Ashland's Audra McBride; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt and Rocky River's Samantha Robertson; Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz beat Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova and Upper Arlington's Megan Basil; Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Laurel's Ellie Brotherton and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming; Eaton's Macy Hitchcock beat Indian Hill's Caroline Brown and Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman; Lexington’s Gracie Pfieffer defeated Ottawa Hills’ Catherine Rhegness; and Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria beat Columbus Academy's Anna Chang. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Remember that all of the State Qualifiers are listed below under the October 15 entry in seed order (or soon will be).
SATURDAY,
Districts Seeding Day
There are many, many players who had the goal of getting to States. The first day of Districts was their biggest day. There is a much smaller group of girls who are "in it to win it" mode at States. This is a very important day for them.
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Bellbrook's Maya Brink- Click to enlarge |
Four more singles qualifiers were determined at the Northeast Districts yesterday. Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated West Branch's Allison Zion and St. Vincent-St. Mary's Andie McKnight; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton beat Struthers' Daniella Mendel and Orange's Daniela DeMata-Hiciano; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu defeated Hawken's Bella Hsieh and Ursuline's Anna Morgione; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming beat Archbishop Hoban's Hayley Slay and Marlington's Elizabeth Mason. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There are still State Qualifiers who need to be determined. Central District D2 receives just one (1) spot for States and that match will be played this morning. That is correct. One.Shooting conditions were ideal at the Southwest Districts on Thursday. Note the subtle shade at Maya Brink's feet. It was even possible to get decent photos of visor wearers. I took 642 photos, which means that it will take forever to get even the best photos online. Web browsers diminish the quality of images slightly to improve load times. Click on Brink's photo to zoom in. Maya's and Sarah's photo from yesterday were two of my better photos this year. Make sure that you also click on Clark's photo. I was really happy with that one.
Individual photos of State Qualifers are needed. If you know that I already have a photo of your daughter, then that is great. I am all set. If you are quite sure that I do not have a photo, please email one to me.
For those who care to do so, please get a group shot of the qualifiers from your District. Please group the players by District and place the singles players in front. Click to view the Central District D1 qualifiers from 2020.
OTZ goes to the Central District D1 tournament today. The tournament is being delayed this morning by a couple of hours to let the courts dry.
FRIDAY,
Congratulations to the State Qualifiers
It was a perfect day for the first round of Districts. Most of the State Qualifiers have been determined except there are still a few open positions in Central D2, Northeast D1/D2, and Northwest D1. The State Qualifers are listed below and this list will continue to be updated. After the seeding rounds are played tomorrow, the players will be listed in order of their seeds.
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Turpin's Sarah Clark - Click to enlarge |
In some of the bigger second round matches yesterday, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Walnut Hills' Alexis Covington; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher beat Magnificat's Anna Mancino; St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt defeated Brecksville's Lakshmy Arakoni; Turpin's Sarah Clark beat Wilmington's Claire Burns; Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Badin's Caroline Boyle; Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz beat Olentangy's Pranjal Agochiya; Upper Arlington's Megan Basil defeated Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman beat Tippecanoe's Mira Patel; Solon's Niya Fried defeated Boardman's Ava Valko; Indian Hill's Brooke Arington beat Seven Hills' Sohana Thompson; Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova defeated Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald; Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri beat Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris; Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria beat Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte; Columbus Academy's Anna Chang defeated Buckeye Valley's Anna Lenhart; and Rocky River's Samantha Robertson beat Hudson's Sunny Fan. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
State Qualfiers
Central Division I
Singles: 1. Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz, 2. Upper Arlington's Megan Basil, 3. Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova, and 4. Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh Choudhuri.
Doubles: 1. Olentangy Orange's Tyler Reed - Karol Korotkin, 2. New Albany's Richie Francois - Paige Cornelius, 3. Upper Arlington's Ava Richard - Anna Leach, and 4. Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster - Adayla Coakley.
Central Division II
Singles: Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria
Doubles: Wellington's Alexis Burkhalter - Katie Zerbi
Northeast Division I
Singles: 1. North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, 2. Rocky River's Samantha Robertson, 3. St. Joseph Academy's Amara Brahmbhatt, 4. Solon's Niya Fried, 5. Brecksville's Lakshmy Arakoni, and 6. Hudson's Sunny Fan.
Doubles: 1. Magnificat's Audrey Smitek - Natalie Smitek, 2. Magnificat's Kayra Koprulu - Caroline Moritz, 3. North Canton Hoover's Izzy Warburton - Angelina Koinoglou, 4. Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman - Paige Reese, 5. Wooster's Ava and Sophia Mathur, and 6. Kenston's Brooke McNeal - Madison Davila.
Northeast Division II
Singles: 1. Orange's Alexis Nyborg, 2. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming, Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, 4. Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu, and 5. Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay.
Doubles: 1. Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills, 2. Revere's Morgan Dobos - Maddie Kavenagh, 3. Hawken's Hayley Garber - Hawken's Eliana Yang, 4. Hathaway Brown's Alice Lin - Alex Wolf, and 5. Hawken's Beatrice Hardacre - Anjali Jawa.
Northwest Division I
Singles: 1. Anthony Wayne' Lilly Black and 2. Ashland's Audra McBride.
Doubles: 1. Notre Dame Academy's Ellie Assenmacher - Emma Nofziger and 2. Toledo St. Ursula Academy's Marissa Patino - Meghan Barrow.
Northwest Division II
Singles: 1. Lexington's Sydney Pfieffer, 2. Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness, 3. Ottawa Hills' Lorelei Hube, and 4. Lima Central Catholic's Libby Simmons.
Doubles: 1. Toledo Central Catholic's Bella and Lucia Spinazze, 2. Bath's Elena Oliver - Anne Oliver, 3. Edison's Tori Keyser - Alli Vogus, and 4. Bryan's Emilee Bassett - Reese Grothaus.
Southeast Division II
Singles: 1. South Point's Meredith Riley and 2. Athen's Anna Chen.
Doubles: 1. Logan Elm's Keller Clouse - Erin Gaskin and 2. East Liverpool's Sydney Cooper - Gianna Davie
Southwest Division I
Singles: 1. Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, 2. St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein, 3. Turpin's Sarah Clark, and 4. Bellbrook's Maya Brink.
Doubles: 1. Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen, 2. Mason's Anna Tonkal - Risha Chada, 3. Mason's Danielle Reid - Danielle Lebedev, and 4. Lakota West's Molly Grace - Leah Schleibaum.
Southwest Division II
Singles: 1. Eaton's Macy Hitchcock, 2. Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman, 3. Indian Hill's Brooke Arington, and 4. Indian Hill's Caroline Brown.
Doubles: 1. Eaton's Grace Murphy - Mallory Hitchcock, 2. Indian Hill's Lexi Larsen - Cassie Larsen, 3. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Lynn Kader - Payton Puryear, and 4. Milton-Union's Shannon Brumbaugh - Taylor Falb.
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