Ohio High School Tennis
THURSDAY,
New Career Highs for Many Ohio Players
The major professional tournaments are starting to crank up for 2019 after their brief holiday break while many of the lower level tournaments have continued. These lower level tournaments and changes in the point systems have led to rather dramatic changes in the rankings for some players who have Ohio ties.
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Ohio Pros - Click to College Page |
Players with new high rankings include: JJ Wolf, Caty McNally, Kennedy Shaffer, DJ Thomas, John McNally, Peyton Stearns, and Jacob Dunbar.
This list is updated more frequently on the College Page where it is on the right-side navigational bar. The player links are also active on that page. Those links take fans to each player's profile on ITFTennis.com. Click the image to go to the College Page.
THURSDAY, JANUARY
Ohio Players in the Pros
There are numerous players with Ohio ties who have professional ranking points. Many of these players are "full-time" in the professional ranks while others are still juggling classes with tennis.
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Ohio Pros - Click to College Page |
This list is updated more frequently on the College Page where it is on the right-side navigational bar. The player links are also active on that page. Those links take fans to each player's profile on ITFTennis.com. Click the image to go to the College Page.
TUESDAY,
College Tennis Commitments
The number of Ohio high school tennis players who have committed to colleges is starting to grow. The list below will continue to be updated to reflect this.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player | High School / College |
| Madison Arquette | Clay / Findlay |
| Abby Kushner Benson | Our Lady of the Elms / College of Wooster |
| Robert Cash | New Albany / Ohio State |
| Sydney Cianciola | Canfield / Denison |
| Isabella Daverio | Hath. Brown / George Mason |
| Max DeCurtins | St. Xavier / University of Dayton |
| Caitlin Fisher | Turpin / Villanova |
| Hannah Fugate | Milton-Union / Mt. Vernon Naz. |
| Kayley Gimbel | Galion / Findlay |
| Sylvia Goldsmith | Lexington / Belmont Abbey |
| Kyleigh Henthorn | Perrysburg / Walsh University |
| Sarah Hinshaw | Miami Valley / Goshen |
| Demi Jhaveri | Westlake / Valparaiso |
| Nathan Jose | New Albany / Army |
| Niraj Komatineni | Mason / Brown |
| Paige Kompa | Upper Arlington / Dayton |
| Maddie Lynch | Hath. Brown / Wake Forest |
| Paige Meyers | Strongsville / Wittenberg |
| Boban Mihajlov | Reynoldsburg / Otterbein |
| Kelli Niehaus | Mt. Notre Dame / Univ. Cincinnati |
| Emma Peeler | Westlake / Ball State |
| Sarah Robertson | Rocky River / Denison |
| Anna Roggenburk | Magnificat / Xavier |
| Stephanie Shulman | Hawken / Emory |
| Rachel Terbovich | Pickerington Central / Heidelberg |
| Hayliegh Tucker | Lexington / Notre Dame (OH) |
| Zoey Weil | Centennial / Univ. Washington |
| Jacob Wittenbaum | Sycamore / Marian (IN) |
| Rebecca Wolf | Hath. Brown / Colgate |
Last year, there were at least 31 players who committed. So far this year, there are 29.
To see the complete list of Ohio players competing in college, 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.
Click on the player names (when applicable) to view their OTZ Player Profiles.
This information was sourced by TennisRecruiting.net and OhioTennisZone.
FRIDAY,
End-of-Season Report | Former Canfield Coach Larry Davis Passes
There are just a couple more days of coverage until OhioTennisZone goes into hibernation mode (or more accurately, switches into platform tennis mode full-time). There will be no updates over the weekend. Twitter comments will continue via the handle, @OhioTennisZone.
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Revere End-of-Season Report - Click to enlarge |
There is some sad news in the tennis community. Long-time and former Canfield coach, Larry Davis, died on October 13. Prior to retiring, Coach Davis led the Canfield boys team for 37 years, accumulating 595 wins and 27 league championships. He was inducted into the Ohio Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017. Click to read an article about Coach Davis from the Youngstown Vindicator and his obituary.
OTZ is in the process of gathering photos of players so that they can be reviewed by parents prior to purchase. This process should be finished by the end of the weekend.
THURSDAY,
Incoming Freshman Boys
Fans and coaches like to see who the strong players are on the horizon. Just as was done for the incoming freshman girls, below is the list of the top freshman boys who will be playing in the spring and the schools in which they are attending. This list of 25 boys was identified using TennisRecruiting.net. Identifying the player schools should be rather easy because these players are already in the school.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City | Incoming School |
| Tucker Berry - 2 | Cincinnati | St. Xavier |
| Mason Deal - 2 | Perrysburg | Perrysburg |
| Logan DeHaven - 2 | Medina | |
| Sainandan Dore - 4 | Springboro | Springboro |
| Maxwell Fickas - 3 | Powell | Dublin Jerome |
| Anish Gangavaram - 4 | Mason | |
| Vignesh Gogineni - 5 | Mason | |
| Akshay Joshi - 4 | Mason | |
| Mark Karev - 3 | Cincinnati | Sycamore |
| Omar Khayat - 2 | Powell | Olentangy |
| Jack Martuccio - 4 | Warren | |
| Chad Miller - 4 | Cincinnati | Sycamore |
| Nathan Mu - 2 | Solon | |
| Joshua Nwaozuzu - 3 | Woodmere | |
| Tanish Pairu - 2 | Columbus | |
| Parth Patel - 2 | Lewis Center | Olen. Orange |
| Anthony Payiavlas - 3 | Warren | |
| Tejas Pisati - 2 | Cincinnati | Indian Hill |
| Soham Pradhan - 3 | Lewis Center | |
| Vishnu Prasad - 2 | Mason | |
| Vamshidhar Singidi - 2 | Cincinnati | |
| Preston Stearns - 4 | Mason | St. Xavier |
| Peter Tracy - 2 | Toledo | St. John`s Jesuit |
| Alan Xie - 2 | Beavercreek | |
| Andrew Zimcosky - 4 | Chagrin Falls | Chagrin Falls |
The TRN star ratings are included beside all of the players. The player links takes readers to their TRN player profiles
If you have inside knowledge of which school a player attends, please submit a Feedback.
This is an updated list from what was released in June. Several players have had improvements in their TRN Star Rating.
Of the 25 players on the list, the Central District has five, Northeast - two, Northwest - 6, and Southwest - 12.
The skill-level of the Ohio boys is not as deep as for the girls. This list includes the Top 800 boys in the nation (with 25 listed) while the girls list (with 23 players) included the Top 600.
WEDNESDAY,
OTZ's Top Ten'ish Girls Photos for the 2018 Season
The OhioTennisZone.com's Top Ten Photos have been selected and are available for everyone to view by clicking on Top Ten Girls Photos for 2018. The photos within this grouping are not ranked.
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Centerville's Sydney Khosla - Click to enlarge |
Great photos almost always require great competition between the players. For this reason, it is relatively simple to get great photos of the professional players at the Western & Southern Open and of college players when the matches are held outside.
Great photos also tend to be taken in groups when the sun is optimal. Conditions were close to ideal at the State Team Tournament and at Mason in August.
Getting great photos from doubles is always challenging and only one of these photos were taken during doubles matches.
It is obviously a subjective process to select these photos, but the criteria include:
- Movement - As reflected by stretching for a ball, athleticism, flowing hair, moving clothing, and "coiling" before striking the ball.
- Lighting - Sun lit face with gradual, non-severe shadows. Note: It is really hard to get great photos with players wearing hats or visors unless the sun is low in the sky.
- Sharpness - Photo is highly focused and clear.
- Background - The background needs to be pleasing or interesting. Recognizable venues, such as States, are a plus. Having cars in the background is a big minus and so is the sign-age at Upper Arlington. Unfortunately at UA, shooting from one side means sign-age and shooting from the other side places a parking lot in the background.
- Great form - Player is the correct distance from the ball (i.e. arms are not tied up like pretzels).
- Eye-on-ball - Includes concentration. Those who blink during ball contact need not apply...
- Portrait-like - The photo looks like it was taken at a studio using studio lighting.
- Emotion or jubilation - I am taking a few more of these types of photos.
- Clothing - This is where the professionals almost always have the advantage because the colors are so vibrant. Click to view the photos of Sloane Stephens, Petra Kvitova, and Ana Bogdan from this year's Western & Southern. Black outfits and white outfits are the worst. This year, Magnificat had the nicest uniforms for photos.
Click to view the Top Girls Photos in 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014. Click to view Top Photos for the Boys for the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014 seasons.
Interested in getting more tennis gear and clothes? Midwest Sports is a valued advertiser on and sponsor of OhioTennisZone.com. Each item that you purchase using this link benefits OhioTennisZone.com. There is also an added benefit to you. For those items on clearance, you'll get an additional 10% off. That's what I do to get all of the weird colored tennis shoes.
TUESDAY,
Top Incoming Freshman Girls
Fans and coaches like to see who the strong players are on the horizon. Using TennisRecruiting.net, OTZ identifies the current eighth graders who are in the Top 600 in the nation. 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. I will need your help with this. If you have inside knowledge of which school a player plans to attend, please submit a Feedback.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City | Incoming School |
| Shyla Aggarwal - 4 | Mason | Mason |
| Ananya Annapantula - 5 | Mason | CHCA |
| Ellie Assenmacher - 2 | Sylvania | |
| Angela Britton - 4 | Cincinnati | |
| Ellie Brotherton - 3 | Chagrin Falls | Laurel |
| Dasha Chistyakova - 2 | Dublin | |
| Polina Chvalyuk - 2 | W. Chester | |
| Sarah Clark - 2 | Cincinnati | |
| Tia Clemens - 2 | Cleveland | St. Jos. Acad. |
| Niya Fried - 3 | Peninsula | |
| Nishi Gandra - Blue Chip | Mason | |
| Caroline Hinshaw - 2 | Dayton | |
| Macy Hitchcock - 4 | Eaton | |
| Catherina Iltchev - 3 | Brecksville | |
| Alexis Nyborg - 4 | Solon | Orange |
| Clara Owen - 2 | Dayton | |
| Payton Puryear - 2 | W. Chester | CHCA |
| Samantha Robertson - 2 | Rocky River | Rocky River |
| Blake Rothchild - 4 | Beachwood | |
| Anh Thi Thai - 2 | Columbus | Hilliard Bradley |
| Harshita Uppuganti - 3 | Mason | |
| Grace Vaughn - 2 | Gates Mills | |
| Eleana Yu - Blue Chip | Mason | CHCA |
Some of the schools listed are educated guesses based on players of the same last name who are currently attending the school.
The TennisRecruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to TennisRecruiting.net.
Based on where some of these players are competing in tournaments, some are likely no longer living in Ohio.
Of the 23 players on the list, the Central District has two, Northeast - one, Northwest - eight, and Southwest - 12.
Speaking of TennisRecruiting.net, now is the perfect time for upper classmen to insure that their player contact information is up-to-date on TRN. This is a common way for college coaches to reach out to prospective recruits.
MONDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team
Congratulations to the girls selected for the OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team.
OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio |
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Division I - Singles |
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 Kelli Niehaus Mount Notre Dame |
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Division II - Singles |
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 Rylie Hanford West Geauga |
 Blessing Nwaozuzu Orange |
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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 worthy players who did not qualify 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. As per TennisRecruiting.net's analysis, this year's group of players is exceptionally talented, especially those from the Northeast District. This is also the first year in which the number of Division II players exceeds those from Division I. Last year's singles list had seven in Division I and six in Division II. The 2016 teams had six in each divisions.
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 get your own 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 next fall.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday
The final group of photos were added. About 140 new photos are included. They are sorted by date beginning with the most recent matches (State Team Tournament). This group of photos were taken at 20 tournaments and/or dual matches. Sign-in first and click on Most Recently Added Photos to view them.
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Mag's Hannah Klubnik - Click to enlarge |
All of these photos are for sale and there may be others that you may like, but you need to purchase at least one online photo first. Obviously it takes time and money to travel to these events; take these photos; process them; and then get them online. It also takes a considerable amount of time to gather the additional photos and present them to you. I am not going to go through all of this additional effort unless I receive some money first. Think of it as a photo sitting fee (where I am traveling to your location). Photos in the States Preview video are also for sale.
Photos that are purchased will also appear in the player's OTZ Player Profile.
Prices start at $19.99 (plus sales tax, or $21.49) and the prices per photo decline as more are purchased.
The Top 10 Girls Photos have also been updated, but these will likely change as I review them a few more times.
There will not be any updates over the weekend. I need to catch up with things associated with the Columbus, Ohio platform tennis league first. There will be another update on Monday morning. The All-Ohio OTZ team is still being review.
THURSDAY,
Videos of Championship Points
It is time for the OHSAA championship point videos. Since several of the match start times varied substantially, it did not appear that there would be any problem getting videos for all four championship points this season. That did not turn out to be the case. OTZ captured just two of the videos (D2 singles and doubles) and Olentangy Liberty's Assistant Coach Geoff Bibo provided the video for D1 doubles and Magnificat's AD Paul Barlow provided the D1 singles video.
Note that YouTube.com provides a choice of three different screenshots as the "intro photo" for the video. If the choices are really bad, OTZ can create a custom "intro" view. This year, the "intro's" were great for D2 singles and doubles.
OTZ has used a video camera for the last few years and it may be time to switch to an iPhone. I preferred the wider screen video view that Geoff Bibo provided. It is better to include all of the players in the video.
For best results, please use HD (High Definition) and expand to full screen mode.
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Division I Singles: Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk |
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Division 1 Doubles:
Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway - Dani Schoenly defeated Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie - Caitlyn Hsu. [Click image to play.] |
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Division II Singles: Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov defeated Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff. [Click image to play.] |
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Division II Doubles: Hathaway Brown's Isabella Daverio - Rebecca Wolf defeated teammates Isabella Godsick - Megan Qiang. [Click image to play.] |
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WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com Usage Edition
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 22.
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OTZ Team Pages - Click to enlarge |
The Dublin Jerome team page drew the most interest during the season. The other teams in the top five were: Olentangy Orange; Hathaway Brown; Magnificat; and Mason. Note that bars on the chart are percentages based on that team's pageviews divided by Dublin Jerome's usage. So for example, Indian Hill had approximately one-half (51%) of the usage that Dublin Jerome's page generated. All of the teams in the Top Ten are OTZ Team Members. 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 potential future customers (and/or team players / students).
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Usage by Metro Area - Click to enlarge |
The top Metro Areas that access OTZ may surprise a few people. While Ohio's metro areas dominate, Detroit, Chicago, NYC, Washington DC, and Boston make up a significant percentage of the pageviews. All of the numbers were divided by Columbus' usage. For example, Cincinnati and Cleveland-Akron had approximately half of Columbus' usage while Dayton had 11% and Toledo had 10%. For Detroit to have more accesses than Toledo is still mind-boggling. OTZ only has information on Ohio high school players. For the Detroit area to have more than twice the interest in Ohio high school tennis than Toledo, should be a big concern to Toledo tennis (or maybe we need to invite the Detroit area to play Ohio high school tennis?).
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Pick North's Alcala - Click to enlarge |
Liberty's Atway |
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HB's Gillinov - Click to enlarge |
HB's Godsick |
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CA's Ratliff - Click to enlarge |
Mag's Roggenburk |
OTZ appreciates its sponsors and advertisers and it can always use more. Please contact OTZ for more information. Online activity remains solid. The number of OTZ users increased 11.2% versus last year and the number of pageviews increased 14.9%.
TUESDAY,
Final 2018 OTZ State Team Rankings - Mason and Hathaway Brown #1
The final 2018 OTZ State Top 10 Team Rankings are listed below. Congratulations to all of the teams that made the list.
State Top Ten Girls Tennis Teams Final 2018 Rankings October 23, 2018 |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM St Sp 3 Final 4 | Hath. Brown◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 2. Magnificat◄TEAM 2 Final 4 | Col. Academy◄TEAM 2 Final 4 |
| 3. Perrysburg 2 Final 4 | Tol. Central Catholic 3 Final 4 |
| 4. Ol. Orange◄TEAM 2 Final 4 | Oakwood 1 Final 4 |
| 5. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM 3 | Indian Hill◄TEAM 3 |
| 6. Olen. Liberty◄TEAM 2 | Laurel◄TEAM 2 |
| 7. Pick. North◄TEAM 1 | Summit Country Day◄TEAM 2 |
| 8. Ursuline Acad. ◄TEAM 1 | Cin. Hills Chr. Acad. ◄TEAM 1 |
| 9. N Canton Hoover◄TEAM 2 | Lexington◄TEAM 1 |
| 10. Solon◄TEAM 1 | Hawken◄TEAM 1 |
| Hon. Men.: Mayfield◄TEAM 1 Upper Arlington◄TEAM 1 | Seven Hills◄TEAM Archbishop Alter◄TEAM Wellington◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. | |
The State Team Tournament yielded some surprises. In Division I, Perrysburg had been in the top ten prior to the tournament, but not high enough. Their team, consisting of eight seniors, surprised many with their 3-2 win over Olentangy Orange. Both of Perrysburg's doubles teams also performed well at States. Perrysburg moved all of the way up from ninth to third. When the close match between Olentangy Orange and Magnificat is considered, it is apparent that these four teams belong at the top of the rankings.
In Division II, the four Final Four teams were in the top six in the OTZ pre-season rankings. The order was shuffled a bit during the season, but these teams did well all season.
This is the first time where the Team State Final Four teams were in the top four positions in the OTZ Top Ten Rankings.
Now is a good time for teams to start making scheduling connections for next season. OTZ would be happy to help OTZ coach members make introductions. Several of the Division I teams do a great job of having weekend quad matches in Columbus where teams from the other Districts meet in Columbus to play two dual matches. It would be great to see Division II teams do more of that.
For some odd reason, many of the top Division II teams do not travel well. Tennis budgets should not be an issue because parents are almost always happy to drive, making a bus unnecessary. Plus, everything can start and finish on a Saturday. Quad dual matches typically start at 10am and the next match begins at 1:30pm(ish). Throw in a visit to an ice cream shop or a pizza parlor (or both) on the way home and teams get a great early-season bonding experience.
Note that the Western & Southern Open will take place from August 10-18 and that is a perfect opportunity for teams to play matches in the Cincinnati-area and then go on to the tournament.
Note that upcoming ACT tests dates are April 13, 2018 and September 14, 2019. There will also be a major USTA tournament which the best teams may want to avoid. This year, the USTA Midwest Level 3 took place over Labor Day so there were no team conflicts.
Still to come this week on OTZ are: videos of championship points (only got two this year - D2 singles and D2 doubles); the usage issue which includes the areas of the state that use OTZ the most; the OTZ All-Ohio Team; and the Top Ten(ish) action photos of the year.
MONDAY,
Mason | Hathaway Brown Are State Team Champs
The 2018 tennis season came to a close on what turned out to be a great fall day. The championships were delayed by an hour to allow temperatures to warm but the temperatures still hovered at 37 degrees at the beginning of the day.
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Mason - D1 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Hathaway Brown - D2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
Mason repeated for their second consecutive championship. Mason played Perrysburg in the semis and Magnificat in the finals. Mason won 3-0 in both of their matches. The Mason versus Magnificat match was much tighter than the score indicated. Mason clinched the win on second singles. [Click for Mason's 2017 championship photo.]
While the anticipated final match was always expected to be Mason and Magnificat, Olentangy Orange almost ruined that match-up in the semifinals. Magnificat narrowly won that match, 3-2, by clinching the win on second dubs with the score 6-7, 6-2, 7-5. In the final match of the day, Perrysburg eked out a win over Olentangy Orange for third place. That match ended at 6:40pm. Perrysburg won 50 games to Orange's 51.
To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Conditions for taking photos progressed throughout the day. At one point, the sun was perfect. It will take several days to process the best photos. There were 422 photos taken. Just in case you are interested, when the camera rapid fires five team photos, the camera is using a slightly different exposure level for each of those photos. Using this approach also provides more latitude with blinkers.
OTZ updates will continue for a few more days until the OTZ wife (Kathy) figures out that I am just prolonging the tennis season to avoid stuff that she has wanted me to do for the last three months..
SUNDAY,
States - Day Two Results
Damp chilly conditions finally gave way to windy chilly conditions yesterday, but the matches were great the entire day at States.
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Mag's Roggenburk - Click to enlarge |
Liberty's Schoenly|Atway |
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HB's Gillinov - Click to enlarge |
HB's Daverio|Wolf |
Interestingly, three of the champions (Roggenburk, Gillinov, and Atway-Schoenly) were rererepeats from last year, and the Division II championship match was very close to a repeat.
After having ten players in the semi-finals, the Northeast District earned three of the State championships.
After daily tennis coverage for 72 straight days, OTZ takes a breather from tennis after next week. Instead, I will be blasting into the PlatformTennisZone.com and bnbBlight.com web sites.
OTZ will continue to tweet during the off-season via @OhioTennisZone. You may find it to be worthwhile to follow me. Note that Twitter is not for everyone and it can be a time drain. If you are an adult and you are already caught up on those pesky household chores or if you are a student and you already have straight-A's, then you might be allowed to join. Kids must always ask their most lenient parent first before they sign-up. I also get a slice of CheeseCake Factory cheesecake every time I get another 100 followers and I am just 15 followers away from 800 followers so there's also that. (I will only continue this practice up to 1 million followers..)
Today is the State Team Tournament at Reynoldsburg Summit Station and I will be leaving in a few minutes for that. This tournament will provide quite a few photos for next year's OTZ State Preview Video / Slideshow as the whole process begins again.. If you see me and if would like me to take an action photo of your daughter, please let me know.
SATURDAY,
States - First Day Results
Players and fans started the day with chilly but perfect weather. The temperature was 37 degrees as the players were called onto the courts. There was little to no wind.
It did not take long to see competitive matches. First round matches included: North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback defeated Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala (3-sets); Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu beat Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; and Magnificat's Olivia Rondini defeated Mason's Emma Kruse (3-sets).
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West Geauga's Rylie Hanford - Click to enlarge |
Among the top singles players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Beavercreek's Julia Bays and Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang; Westlake's Emma Peeler beat Dublin Jerome's Reagan Resor and Turpin's Caitlin Fisher; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini defeated Mason's Emma Kruse and North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback; Mount Notre Dame’s Kelli Niehaus beat Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy and Riverside Painesville's Angelica Ross; Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff defeated Ottawa Hills' Priya Bhatt and Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; West Geauga’s Rylie Hanford beat Oakwood’s Lily McCloskey and Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Nugent (by default) and Napoleon's Aliza Lankenau; Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu beat Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier and Hawken's Stephanie Shulman.
To see all of the results, click:The State semi-finalists in each draw are as follows:
Division I Singles:Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk; Westlake's Emma Peeler; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini; and Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus.
Division I Doubles:
Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway - Dani Schoenly; Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie - Caitlyn Hsu; Mason's Ananya Aggarwal - Sanjana Reddy; and Mason's Annie Kruse - Raina Chada.
Division II Singles:
Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff; Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov; West Geauga's Rylie Hanford; and Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu.
Division II Doubles:
Hathaway Brown's Isabella Godsick - Megan Qiang; Hathaway Brown's Isabella Daverio - Rebecca Wolf; Toledo Central Catholic's Ava McQuillin - Maverick Delp; and Revere's Amy Lazbin - Morgan Dobos.
From a bragging rights perspective, the number of players / teams playing tomorrow from each District are: Northeast - just 10; Southwest - 3; Central - 2; and Northwest - 1.
It was great to see and to talk with Jerry Snodgrass at States today. Mr. Snodgrass is the new Executive Director of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. He replaced Dr. Daniel Ross this summer.
The day got off to a great start when Maddie Taphorn of Kettering Fairmont's tennis team did a terrific job of singing the Star Spangled Banner. After that, the day plunged into a dark abyss of despair as news circulated that the McNasty's Food Truck had broken down on the way to States. But then it happened.. An angel in a tow truck promptly delivered the McNasty's Food Truck to the hungry masses before lunch. States was saved. Hopefully today will have less drama - at least in the food court area.
FRIDAY,
It Is Time for States
It is time to zoom off to States so today's update will be brief.
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Click for Draws - Click to enlarge |
A number of newspapers are reviewed to see if they contain articles that highlight players who will be competing at States. Click to read this article from Steve Blackledge of the Columbus Dispatch. It is titled, "High school tennis | Success motivates Pickerington's Cassie Alcala, Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff". Steve Junga of the Toledo Blade also wrote an article. It is titled, "Delp family caps remarkable run of state tennis tournaments".
I will be updating the draws online throughout the day. The draws will largely not change for the first hour of the tournament, after that, the scores and court locations will be updated. Note that there is a time stamp at the top left side of the page so that it is clear when it was last updated. I normally watch matches and take photos and then I swoop over and update everything at one time.
Remember to click on player names to see their OTZ Player Profiles. It contains their detailed results from throughout the season. Note that these Player Profiles will not be updated with today's results until tomorrow morning.
Click on image to the right to access the draws or simply enter:
As mentioned yesterday, the State Team Rankings were updated. The new rankings are in the right-side navigation bar.
Hope to see you at States.
THURSDAY,
States Preview Video | Updated Team Rankings (soon)
There are 24 hours to go.. Today will be a travel day for many schools as they motor down I-71 and I-75 to States.
The OTZ video / slide-show was released last night. The video recognizes the players who are competing at States and at the State Team Tournament in Reynoldsburg on Sunday. There are 113 photos included this year and 100 were action photos. All of the action photos include player names, but viewers either have to be quick to stop the video or have good eyes to view them. Using "high-definition" and full-screen modes are recommended. I finally warmed up to the music once it was in-sync with the photos, but many (many) songs were reviewed. Songs that pass the "beat", lyric (can't freak out the parents too much), and popularity hurdles are often restricted by YouTube because the artists do not wish to make them available for YouTube videos. For compensation, the artists and YouTube benefit from the advertisements in the video - OTZ does not. All of the action photos are available for sale.
This is also a great time to recognize OhioTennisZone.com sponsors and advertisers. Special thanks to Elysium Tennis, The Players Club, Olympic Indoor, Greater Columbus Tennis Association, and Midwest Sports for their support. If you enjoy high school tennis, please frequent these great supporters of the sport.It is best to put a link to the draw sheet on your smart phone now using:
The OTZ Team rankings will be updated this morning. As long as everyone cooperates on Sunday, this might also be the final rankings. All teams are encouraged to do their part.. Note that the team rankings will include the number of State Spots that each team has (again, not players - but spots) . The State Final Four Teams will also be identified.
Please say "hi" if you see me running around tomorrow. I will likely start out the day watching D2 singles matches. There are some brutal first round matches. They include Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent and Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu versus Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier.
WEDNESDAY,
Final Four Teams Sets | Mag Beat Hoover | Orange Defeated Jerome
There are 48 hours to go.. The final Final Four spots for the State Team Tournament were finally secured by Magnificat and Olentangy Orange last night. Mag beat North Canton Hoover and Orange defeated Dublin Jerome. Both teams won by 3-0 scores. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the State Team Tournament Draw.
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OTZ State Draws - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback; Magnificat's Audrey Smitek beat North Canton Hoover's Lilly Altman; and Olentangy Orange's Caroline Sproule defeated Dublin Jerome's Reagan Resor. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The OTZ State Draws are now "open" so that all of the photos can be viewed. For extra, super-duper player recognition, player photos are now included for all 96 players. While all player photos were eventually obtained for the boys last spring, this is the first time that it has occurred prior to States. Also note how the draws have several features that add to the States experience by providing additional information about OTZ member players, navigational links to rapidly move throughout the draws, update times so that users know when the draw was last updated, and an enlargeable site map for people who should be wearing bifocals.
States are a complete mad-house for taking photos because of updating the draws and traveling from court to court. If you want a picture of your daughter (or granddaughter or niece), let me know asap via email. I also need your absolute commitment that you will purchase at least one photo and possibly numerous photos. Click for the price of photos. At some point, I will need to start charging the same hourly rate as what a plumber, lawyer, electrician, or surgeon charges..
Work on the slide show / video begins now.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beat Ursuline Academy | TCC Defeated Lex | State Draws Available
Two more State Tournament Final Four spots were determined last night. The Southwest District D1 Final Four spot was claimed by Mason. Mason beat Ursuline Academy 3-0. Toledo Central Catholic defeated Lexington, 3-2, to earn their Northwest D2 spot. The Central and Northeast D1 Final Four spots will be determined tonight.
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Southwest District Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
The Top Players and Watch Lists were reconfigured yesterday to reflect the District results. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Northwest District results were evidently updated at some point late yesterday. Those results will be added to OTZ during tomorrow morning's update.
Today's Southwest District Qualifier group photos was courtesy of Mason coach, Mike Reid. No group photos were received from the Northeast and Northwest Districts this year.
The last two remaining final Final Four State Team spots will finally be determined tonight. Today's matches include Magnificat versus North Canton Hoover and Dublin Jerome and Olentangy Orange.
MONDAY,
Central District State Qualifiers
It is now official "draw watch" time. OTZ will post the State draws when they become available. [Now available via the link above.] The OTZ State Draws will include photos of many of the competitors and links to player information. OTZ will also tweet the draws when they become available.
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Central District Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Speaking of photos, please get your player photos into OTZ asap to be included in the OTZ State Draws. Photos of all of last year's boys were included, but several had to be taken at States. The plan is to get all of the girls' photos online by Tuesday. OTZ already has all of the girls' photos for the Central, Northeast, and Southwest Districts.
The Top Players and Watch Lists will be reviewed again today based on last week's results. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Group photos of the Southwest District Qualifiers will be posted tomorrow. Kudos to Mason coach, Mike Reid, for taking their photos.
More Final Four State Team spots will be determined tonight. They include Mason versus Ursuline Academy and Magnificat versus North Canton Hoover. Dublin Jerome and Olentangy Orange will play tomorrow night.
As soon as the OTCA Final Four teams are determined, work on the OTZ State / Team Tournament Video / Slideshow can begin. Google / YouTube has arrangements with many artists to allow their music to be used in videos, but it appears that many groups are now prohibiting this. The music is a really important part of these videos so when quality music can no longer be obtained, then the video will not be created. YouTube does have "free" music available but it simply is not usable.
SUNDAY,
Players Set for States
With 42 degree temperatures at the Central District Tournament yesterday, at least parents, players, fans, and OTZ photographers now know what they need to bring to States to stay warm. The weather was brisk, but at least it was not windy.
The State draws are expected to be released tomorrow morning. The OTZ State Draws will be posted above when they are available.
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Jerome's Nagireddy - Click to enlarge |
Full results are now included for the Central, Northeast, and Southwest Districts. The Northwest and Southeast results are not yet posted.
Matches among the top players include: Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Riverside Painesville's Angelica Ross and Westlake's Emma Peeler; Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff beat Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz; Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala defeated Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang and Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher beat Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus and Mason's Emma Kruse; West Geauga's Rylie Hanford defeated Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky and Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent beat Summit Country Day's Elizabeth  Fahrmeier and Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu defeated Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch; Hawken's Stephanie Shulman beat Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback defeated Canfield's Anna Kan; and Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier beat Oakwood's Lily McCloskey. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SATURDAY,
District Seeding Day (plus a few more qualifying spots TBD)
For many players, "qualifying for States" is the major goal. While there will still be several more qualifying spots determined today, "Districts Saturday" is all about the most skilled players positioning themselves to OHSAA state finals. While any player can be the state champion, having four tough matches in two days can be difficult for any player. There are many instances where the best player in the state is not the state champion because of difficult draws. This is especially the case for the boys when 85 degree days also play a role.
Speaking of 85 degree days, that was not the case at the Division 2 Northeast District qualifier tournament yesterday. With a few more spots to be determined, the NE D1 and D2 qualifiers are listed below.
Division I (6 spots):
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Hawken's Stephanie Shulman - Click to enlarge |
Doubles: Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie - Caitlyn Hsu; Solon's Maggie Yang - Alexis Ratner; Westlake's Demi Jhaveri - Ashley Michelich; and Highland's Emily Hadler - Rachel Fannin. Two more spots will be determined today.
Division II (5 spots):
Singles: Hawken's Stephanie Shulman; Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu; and West Geauga's Rylie Hanford. One more spot will be determined today.
Doubles: Hathaway Brown's Isabella Godsick - Megan Qiang; Hathaway Brown's Rebecca Wolf - Isabella Daverio; Laurel's Priya Khadilkar - Ria Desai; and Revere's Morgan Dobos - Amy Lazbin. One more spot will be determined today.
The depth in Northeast Ohio is ridiculously good this year and several states-worthy players will not be competing in Mason this coming Friday.
These match results will not be entered into OTZ until the Districts are finished. Hopefully all of the District Draws will be updated on the various OHSAA District sites today.
OTZ will be posting group State Qualifier photos again this year. Take your camera (or high quality) cell phone to the seeding round and take the photo prior to the girls taking the courts. Group the doubles teams by school and ask the singles players to kneel. No hats. No visors. No sunglasses. No frowns. Have the players face toward the sun (even if there is no sun). Leave space at the top and bottom for titles and names. Email the photo in its highest quality mode to OTZ following the matches today.
FRIDAY,
State Qualifiers from Central / Southwest
Blankets became part of the official team uniforms as players adjusted to the 30 degree drop in temperatures. After a chilly, windy morning at Lindner Family Tennis Center, the weather improved in the afternoon.
The Columbus Dispatch included their results online but not the Cincinnati Enquirer. The results from the Central District are now online on OTZ. While I might normally all of the Southwest results, I cannot this morning because I need to zoom off to the D2 Northeast District Tournament in Akron.
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Wyoming's Sydney Evans - Click to enlarge |
The doubles qualifiers for Central were: Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway - Dani Schoenly; Olentangy Liberty's Lexie Brengartner - Ellie MacDowell; Olentangy Orange's Erin Storrer - Kortney Reed; and Upper Arlington's Evelyn Holman - Wendy Shi.
The State Qualifers in the Southwest District were:
Division 1
Singles: Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher; Mason's Emma Kruse; and Beavercreek's Julia Bays.
Doubles: Mason's Ananya Aggarwal - Sanjana Reddy; Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal - Bridget Estes; Mason's Annie Kruse - Raina Chada; and St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby - Gabby Gockerman.
Division 2
Singles: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent; Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; and Oakwood's Lily McCloskey.
Doubles: Summit Country Day's Amy Poffenberger - Sadie Joseph; Indian Hill's Jessica August - Jessica Budde; Wyoming's Peyton Osha - Emily Mayer; and Indian Hill's Samantha Pregel - Nina Price.
This is what was going through everyone's mind yesterday at the Southwest Districts... "McNasty's is not here? Wait. What?" Many tennis fans were likely thinking "What's the point of even having Districts if the McNasty Food Truck isn't here? Like why do we even bother?" The substitute food truck (Pa's Pork Food Truck) was good, but it just didn't replace McNasty's. Hopefully McNasty's will be at States so that everything will once again become right and just in the world.
THURSDAY,
District Tournament
This is a big, District tournament day. Most of the state will be qualifying for the State tournament and all Districts will finish the seeding round on Saturday. Click for mood music.
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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 Amanda Mayotte and Abby Mayotte.
Despite the hurricane, the weather looks clear in Cincinnati so I will be leaving soon to attend their District tournament. If you see me, please say, "Hi Scott, would you like a McNasty's sandwich?"..
WEDNESDAY,
Team Final Four Spots to Columbus Academy, Oakwood, and Perrysburg
Yesterday was a big day for clinching State Team Tournament Final Four spots. Columbus Academy was the first to book its bus to Reynoldsburg by defeating Wellington. Oakwood grabbed the Southwest District spot by beating Summit Country Day. Perrysburg defeated Notre Dame Academy to get the Northwest D1 spot. In the semifinals, Olentangy Orange defeated Upper Arlington and they will face Dublin Jerome in the finals. In another notable match, Ursuline Academy beat Seven Hills. Click to view the graphical results via Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff defeated Wellington's Isabella Vegas; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier beat Oakwood's Lily McCloskey; Upper Arlington's Ella Hazelbaker defeated Olentangy Orange's Nikitha Bhimireddy; Perrysburg's Emma Carter beat Notre Dame Academy's Ciera Patton; Ursuline Academy's Brigid Lynch defeated Seven Hills' Neda Tehrani; and Columbus Academy's Himaja Reddy beat Wellington's Alexis Burkhalter. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OTZ will be on the road tomorrow to the Southwest District and to the Northeast Districts on Friday to take photos for the OTZ State Tournament video / slideshow. Last year's video is posted today. Just as a reminder, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk was the D1 State Singles Champion and Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov was the D2 State Singles Champion. The D1 and D2 doubles champions were Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway - Dani Schoenly and Hathaway Brown's Isabella Godsick - Megan Qiang, respectively. Mason was the Team Tournament Champion for D1 and Hathaway Brown was the D2 Champion.
OTZ will also post the group photos of the State Qualifiers. I plan to take the group photo of the Central District qualifiers. Photo-taker volunteers are needed from the Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, and East/Southeast Districts to recognize those players. Please ask the girls not to wear visors or hats for the photo. Please also email a photo to OTZ at its highest resolution on the same day. Please leave room at the top and bottom of the photos for titles and names. Group the doubles teams together and ask the singles players to kneel. Click Central and Southwest for example photos from last year.
TUESDAY,
Magnificat Beat Canfield | Hoover Defeated Solon
The season is starting to wrap up quickly. In State Team Tournament play, Magnificat defeated Canfield (no boxscores reported) and North Canton Hoover beat Solon. In other matches, St. Joseph Academy defeated Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the OTCA State Team Tournament draws.
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Ursuline Academy - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Ursuline Academy. They are coached by Joe Hartkemeyer. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Nina Dhaliwal, Gracie and Bridget Estes, and Brigid Lynch.
Today's matches include Ottawa Hills versus Lexington; Olentangy Orange versus Upper Arlington; and Perrysburg versus Notre Dame Academy.
MONDAY,
District Draws Released
The all-important District draws were released last night at about 10pm. The draws for Central, Northeast, and Southwest Districts are available via the links above. Nice job to the site managers for getting these out early to the players, parents, and fans..
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Whetstone - Click to team page |
Just to add to the angst and anxiety of those in the Central District, someone created a D1 doubles draw that was circulating on Sunday evening. That draw and the official draw did not match. Ten points have been deducted from Slytherin's total for messing with people. (Of course, if I were still in high school, this is exactly what I would be doing..)
Today's featured team is Whetstone. They are coached by Bucky Walters. They are this year's Columbus City League champs. They are led by Stella Thompson and Alysia Swinehart.
Barring rain, OTZ plans are to attend: the Southwest District tournament on Thursday; the Northeast D2 District Tournament on Friday; and the Central District Seeding round on Saturday. The Southwest District tournament is really nice because it is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center which is large enough to accommodate the D1 and D2 tournaments. I could also come up with other fake reasons why I like the Southwest District tournament such as the wonderful parents, delightful children, insightful coaches, etc. but let's face it, the real reason to go to the Southwest District tournament is because of McNasty's Food Truck.
The goal is to have all of the player photos for the online State draw so get that camera ready <jinx alert>, but not too ready.
SUNDAY,
Sectionals Are Completed
On a day with temperatures that were reminiscent of June, July, August, and September, the Sectionals wrapped up throughout the state. Many results are online for the Central and Southwest Districts. Nothing has been entered for the Northeast and Northwest until their online draws are completed. Hopefully that will happen today. (The Central Draws are complete except for the third/fourth place finishers.)
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UA's Noah Mizer - Click to enlarge |
Match-ups among the top players included: Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Westlake's Peeler and teammate, Olivia Rondini; Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov beat Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala defeated Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy and Jerome's Reagan Resor; Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky beat Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent defeated Indian Hill's Haley Hirsch and teammate, Lynn Kader; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini beat Rocky River's Sarah Robertson; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback defeated Canfield's Anna Kan and Canfield's Kate Ross; Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch beat Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Lynn Kader; Westlake's Emma Peeler beat Rocky River's Sarah Robertson; Olentangy's Nour Khayat defeated Lancaster's Hope Rooker; and Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy beat Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
I stayed at UA rather than travel outside of 270 to the other Central District Sectionals. Unfortunately, that is also the worst venue in the state for taking photos <not even close to an exaggeration alert>. With cars and people on one side and signage on the other, the photos of the players can be good, but viewers are too distracted to focus on them. Adding to the visual clutter of Upper Arlington, there was a nearby jackhammer to add to the distractions. The good news is that the UA courts will be ripped up and replaced when the new high school is built. When that happens, the jackhammers will sound like beautiful music.. [Ok. Just in case it is not totally clear, I really do not like taking photos at Upper Arlington..]
SATURDAY,
Central Sectional Results Online
The rains finally subsided and Central was able to play their Sectionals yesterday. Special kudos to the Columbus Dispatch for getting all of these results into the newspaper this morning, especially when considering that it was another football Friday night.
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Lancaster's Mallory Thomas - Click to enlarge |
After entering just 269 matches, the Central Sectional results are now online on OhioTennisZone. Look for these results under the OTZ Player Profiles and under the various team pages (after logging-in).
The Northeast Sectionals have been doing a great job of updating their draws and that information will be added for the OTZ coach members upon completion of their Sectionals.
Among the top players, Lancaster Hope Rooker defeated Dublin Coffman’s Hannah Qin; Dublin Jerome's Reagan Resor beat Pickerington North's Rhyan Cook; and Madi Burris (Watkins Memorial) defeated Dublin Coffman’s Clair Feit. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This is a short update today because of the massive amount of data that had to be entered and because I want to see the seeding round at Upper Arlington. That began a half hour ago.
FRIDAY,
Ursuline Academy Beat Turpin
Hopefully the weather will hold so that the state can finish its non-seeding Sectional rounds today.
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DeSales - Click to team page |
In dual match play, Ursuline Academy defeated Turpin in State Team Tournament play. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Turpin's Caitlin Fisher defeated Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal andUrsuline Academy's Bridget Estes beat Turpin's Savannah Allen. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is DeSales. They are coached by Tom Snyder. They are led by Megan Husslein, Izzy Arbona, and Cate Leithauser.
Tomorrow's update will be delayed. It takes a significant amount of time and effort to get the Central District Sectional results online.
THURSDAY,
Central District Sectionals Postponed to Friday | CA Beat New Albany
The rain continues. The critical, first round of Sectionals are postponed to tomorrow (Friday) for the Central District.
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Mount Vernon - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Upper Arlington's Ella Hazelbaker defeated Watterson's Caroline Goodlive; Columbus Academy's Carmen Merkel beat New Albany's Kary Hollenbaugh; Upper Arlington's Evelyn Holman defeated Watterson's Liza Drought; and Columbus Academy's Himaja Reddy beat New Albany's Madison Spiess. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Mount Vernon. They are coached by Steve Tier. They are led by Kristyn Conrad and Hannah Baldwin.
WEDNESDAY,
Laurel Beats Hawken
Thunderstorms led to more cancellations yesterday. Teams are even having trouble getting all of their league matches played. There were only 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 2. Match results included: Rocky River defeated St. Joseph Academy; Laurel beat Hawken; and Sycamore defeated Springboro. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Summit Country Day - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky defeated Hawken's Stephanie Shulman and Rocky River's Sarah Robertson beat St. Joseph Academy's Melissa Martin. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Summit Country Day. They are coached by Michelle Hellman. They are OTZ Team Members, and they are led by Elizabeth Fahrmeier and Amy Poffenberger.
Dual match activity will be minimal tonight as teams prepare for a big day of Sectionals tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow.
TUESDAY,
Oakwood Beats Indian Hill | Jerome Defeats Liberty | SCD Beats 7Hills
It was a big night for State Team Tournament matches. Oakwood was expected to be very good this year and this is turning out to be the case. Oakwood defeated Indian Hill 3, 2. In other OTCA matches, Dublin Jerome defeated Olentangy Liberty and Summit Country Day beat Seven Hills. Click for the updated State Team Tournament Draws.
There were 29 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 9, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 0. The close, 3-2 matches included: Worthington Kilbourne defeated Grandview; Pickerington North beat New Albany; Mount Vernon defeated Big Walnut; Wyoming beat Mason-B; Archbishop Alter defeated Carlisle; and Hilliard Darby beat Marysville. In other notable matches, Upper Arlington defeated Pickerington Central 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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Revere - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Revere. They are coached by Kathy Shisler. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Morgan Dobos, Amy Lazbin, and Nina Lazbin.
Today's matches include: St. Joseph Academy (H) versus Rocky River; St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Walnut Hills; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Bexley; and Hilliard Davidson (A) versus Pickerington Central. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OTZ Identifies State Qualifier Contenders | Sectional Start Today in NE
Sectionals start today in Northeast Ohio. There are many worthy players competing this year for States. OTZ identifies the top State Qualifier contenders for each of the four major districts listed below. The number of State spots are included in parenthesize. Click on the player names for more information about each player (where applicable).
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Pick North's Cassie Alcala - Click to enlarge |
Division I (4 spots):
Singles: Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala; Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang; Olentangy Orange's Nikitha Bhimireddy; Dublin Jerome's Reagan Resor; Pickerington North's Rhyan Cook.
Doubles: Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway - Dani Schoenly; New Albany's Valentina Di Lorenzo - Alexandra Vitellas; Olentangy Liberty's Lexie Brengartner - Ellie MacDowell; Olentangy Orange's Erin Storrer - Kortney Reed; Upper Arlington's Evelyn Holman - Wendy Shi; Upper Arlington's Ella Hazelbaker - Noah Mizer.
Division II (1 spot):
Singles: Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff; Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz.
Doubles: Columbus Academy's Carmen Merkel - Lauren Motta; Columbus Academy's Himaja Reddy - Alex Graham; Wellington's Akua Antwi-Woods - Alexis Burkhalter; Wellington's Isabella Vegas - Olivia Vegas.
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Solon's Maggie Yang - Click to enlarge |
Division I (6 spots):
Singles: Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk; Westlake's Emma Peeler; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback; Rocky River's Sarah Robertson; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini; Riverside's Angelica Ross; Canfield's Anna Kan; Brecksville's Mia Zivkovic.
Doubles: Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie - Caitlyn Hsu; Magnificat's Audrey Smitek - Alexis Ospelt; Solon's Maggie Yang - Alexis Ratner; Westlake's Demi Jhaveri - Ashley Michelich; North Canton Hoover's Katie Harcourt - Hallie Hunt; Canfield's Sydney Cianciola - Cece Economus; Magnificat's Hannah Leszcz - Kayra Koprulu; Mayfield's Shannon McGill - Katerina Ng; Solon's Ani Atluri - Amanda Weiskind; Highland's Emily Hadler - Rachel Fannin; Walsh Jesuit's Lily Joyce - Emma Kealy.
Division II (5 spots):
Singles: Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov; West Geauga's Rylie Hanford; Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch; Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu; Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; Hawken's Stephanie Shulman.
Doubles: Hathaway Brown's Isabella Godsick - Megan Qiang; Hathaway Brown's Rebecca Wolf - Isabella Daverio; Laurel's Priya Khadilkar - Ria Desai; Revere's Morgan Dobos - Amy Lazbin; Hawken's Dylan Goldberg - Natalie Cohen; Ursuline's Vy Hoang - Lexie Tsudis;
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Perryburg's Gemma Smith - Click to enlarge |
Division I (2 spots):
Singles: Clay's Madison Arquette; Toledo St. Ursula Academy's Libby Barrow; Shawnee's Aria Patel; Anthony Wayne's Kailyn Szmania.
Doubles: Perrysburg's Gemma Smith - Kyleigh Henthorn; Perrysburg's Emma Carter - Sydney Onest; Notre Dame Academy's Ciera Patton - Olivia Assenmacher; Notre Dame Academy's Gracie Bennett - Julia Loeb.
Division II (4 spots)
Singles: Galion's Kayley Gimbel; St. Mary Memorial's Clare Caywood; Lexington's Hayliegh Tucker; Lexington's Katherine Volz; Lima Central Catholic's Olivia Kesner; Perkin's Emma Lynch.
Doubles: Toledo Central Catholic's Ava McQuillin - Maverick Delp; Lexington's Sylvia Goldsmith - Gracie Pfieffer; Toledo Central Catholic's Bella Spinazze - Rachel Gorman; Perkin's Maria Schoder - Diana Schoder; Bath's Esther Bolon - Ruby Bolon; Edison's Mariah Medina - Jayla Medina.
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Turpin's Caitlin Fisher - Click to enlarge |
Division I (4 spots)
Singles: Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher; Mason's Emma Kruse; Bellbrook's Andrea Szep; Walnut Hills' Makensie Long; Turpin's Savanah Allen.
Doubles: Mason's Ananya Aggarwal - Sanjana Reddy; Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal - Bridget Estes; Mason's Annie Kruse - Raina Chada; Centerville's Sydney Khosla - Ariel Alappatt; St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby - Gabby Gockerman; Sycamore's Helen Sotropa - Sarah Wittenbaum; Lakota East's Megan Hoke - Grace Silverberg.
Division II (4 spots)
Singles: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Lynn Kader; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman; Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; Oakwood's Lily McCloskey.
Doubles: Summit Country Day's Amy Poffenberger - Sadie Joseph; Indian Hill's Jessica August - Jessica Budde; Oakwood's Sophia Russell - Natalie Connelly; Archbishop Alter's Rachel Hawley - Emily Pojman; Wyoming's Osha - Mayer; Seven Hill's Avital Isakov - Anika Parameswaran; Cincinnati Hill Chrisian Academy's Kennedy Puryear - Leanne Yuan; Indian Hill's Samantha Pregel - Nina Price.
Were any players overlooked? Contact OTZ via Feedback.
Today's matches include: St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Indian Hill; DeSales (A) versus Thomas Worthington; Ursuline Academy (A) versus Springboro; and St. Joseph Academy (A) versus Aurora. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Mason Wins GMC Title | Magnificat Beats PA's Villa Maria
It was another perfect day for tennis. Mason won the Greater Miami Conference tournament. Magnificat and Archbishop Alter recorded dual match wins over Villa Maria Academy and Eaton, respectively. Click on Previous Day's Match Results for the graphical views.
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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 OTZ Team Members, and they are led by Grace Lampman, Emily Pojman, and Ashley Vosler.
SATURDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beat Highland
The weather was finally perfect last night, but due to high school football, many tennis teams do not have Friday evening matches. There were only five matches recorded from state-wide play. They were: North Canton Hoover defeated Highland; Westerville Central beat Reynoldsburg; Chaminade-Julienne defeated Miami Valley; Upper Arlington beat Columbus School for Girls; and Columbus Academy defeated Grandview. To view the graphical representation of yesterday's matches, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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UA's Evelyn Hohman - Click to enlarge |
It appears to be quiet on the high school tennis front today. Have a match or tournament preferably inside of Columbus' 270? Contact OTZ via Feedback.
FRIDAY,
Mayfield Beat Chagrin Falls | Solon Defeated Highland | State Draw Photos
There were only a handful of matches recorded yesterday as more rain affected play. The matches included: Mayfield defeated Chagrin Falls; Solon beat Highland; Marysville defeated Big Walnut; Hudson beat Revere; and Pickerington Central defeated Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Boys' State Draws - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Highland's Emily Hadler defeated Solon's Maggie Yang; Mayfield's Caitlyn Hsu beat Chagrin Falls' Adelaide Doman; Solon's Alexis Ratner defeated Highland's Rachel Fannin; and Mayfield's Katerina Ng beat Chagrin Falls' Lucy Fricke. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
So why is the Boys State Draw sheet presented today? This past spring is the first time in which OTZ has had the photos of all the players who participated at States during States. It would be great to recognize the girls in the same manner. While it might be a jinx-worthy move to email your daughter's photo to OTZ now, please keep this in the back of your mind as your daughter competes in Sectionals and Districts. I will likely have all of the competitor photos for the Central, Southwest, and Northeast Districts. I will likely need assistance to gather photos for the Northwest and East/Southeast District competitors. Please mark your calendar for October 19 [using a small, non-jinx-worthy mark]. That is likely when you will know if your daughter will be competing at States so that you can email me her photo.
Today's matches include: Laurel (A) versus Shaker Heights and Magnificat (A) versus Gilmour Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Alter Beat Centerville | Academy Defeated Liberty
This entire paragraph could be a headline today. There were numerous really big matches yesterday. The close, 3-2 matches included: Archbishop Alter beat Centerville (50 games to 47 games); Turpin defeated Mount Notre Dame; Olentangy beat Hilliard Davidson; Worthington Christian defeated Thomas Worthington; and Ursuline Academy beat Indian Hill. In other notable matches, Columbus Academy defeated Olentangy Liberty and Seven Hills beat Cincinnati Country Day; and Mason defeated St. Ursula Academy. Overall, there were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 9, and Northeast - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Reynoldsburg - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Reynoldsburg. They are coached by Les Somogyi. They are led by Hope Chaffin and Alexa Matan. Reynoldsburg is the location for Sectionals, District finals, and the State Team Tournament.
All four of the major district sectionals now have their draws posted for viewing. The East and Southeast Districts still do not.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (H) versus Walnut Hills; Ursuline Academy (H) versus Turpin; Dublin Jerome (H) versus Pickerington North; and Dublin Coffman (H) versus Watterson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Indian Hill Beat Wyoming | Olentangy Liberty Defeated Coffman
There were a few matches played yesterday as some teams avoided the showers. Ohio is expected to be mostly dry for today's matches. There were 10 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 0. The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Coffman; Pickerington Central beat Olentangy; and St. Joseph Academy defeated Avon Lake. In other notable matches, Indian Hill defeated Wyoming and Walsh Jesuit beat Revere. 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 |
Among the top players, Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch defeated Wyoming's Sydney Evans; Olentangy Liberty's Lexie Brengartner beat Dublin Coffman's Clair Feit; Mason's Emma Kruse defeated Fairfield's Isabelle Faraci; Olentangy's Priyanka Agochiya beat Pickerington Central's Ashleigh Gilligan; St. Joseph Academy's Melissa Martin defeated Avon Lake's Bianca Henline; and Walsh Jesuit’s Tatum Carmichael beat Revere’s Nina Lazbin. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The release of the Sectional Draws is a really big deal for all tennis enthusiasts as excitement starts to build for the biggest tournament of the season. Unfortunately, the Sectional Draws for the big four districts are still not available. Northeast Ohio recently posted draws for Division I but the Division II draws have yet to be posted. Kudos to Northwest Ohio. They posted all of their draws on Monday. This is the earliest that they have ever posted their draws. The Central and Southwest District continue to be the leaders in posting their draws promptly. While many of the draws look great aesthetically, college coaches repeatedly ask for graduation years to be included so that they know when they can begin recruiting players. Not all of the draws include this information. It is also important for draws to include those players who are seeded - again - not all draws include this.
Today's featured team is Olentangy Liberty. They are coached by Will Thieman. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Maddie Atway, Dani Schoenly, and Lexie Brengartner.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (A) versus Cincinnati Country Day; St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Mason; Ursuline Academy (H) versus Indian Hill; and Delaware Hayes (A) versus Buckeye Valley. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Hathaway Brown Beat Magnificat | Updated Team & Individual Rankings
Well, the weather does look better for Wednesday... There were just two matches recorded from yesterday but one of the matches pitted two of the state's powerhouse teams against each other. Undefeated and #1 in D2, Hathaway Brown, defeated D1 #2 Magnificat, 4-1. In the other match Seton beat Harrison. To view the graphical representation of the matches, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
State Top Ten Girls Tennis Teams September 25, 2018 |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM |
| 2. Magnificat◄TEAM | Indian Hill |
| 3. Olentangy Orange◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 4. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM | Toledo Central Catholic |
| 5. Olentangy Liberty◄TEAM | Oakwood |
| 6. Pickerington North◄TEAM | Laurel◄TEAM |
| 7. Ursuline Academy◄TEAM | Summit Country Day◄TEAM |
| 8. Solon◄TEAM | Cinc. Hills Christ. Acad.◄TEAM |
| 9. N. Canton Hoover◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 10. Mayfield◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| HM: Upper Arlington◄TEAM, Perrysburg | Seven Hills◄TEAM, Archbishop Alter◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. | |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov; Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch beat Magnificat's Emily Pallaki; and Hathaway Brown's Rebecca Wolf defeated Magnificat's Kayra Koprulu. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The first major change of the season has been made to the Top Players List and Watch List. More players were added to both lists and the ranking order has changed. Note that the ranking order changes gradually, and younger players tend to move slowly up on the list.The OTZ Team Rankings have been updated. While wins/losses matter, so do the line-ups that coaches use in these matches. While scheduling has been difficult with the rain, having a great win/loss percentage matters less to OTZ than the competition that has been played. The best teams find a way to schedule great matches with other highly ranked teams.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (H) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Wellington (A) versus Bexley. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY, (3:15pm)
Central, Southwest, and Northwest Sectional Draws Available
As the Sectional Draws become available, they will be included in the table below. Currently, the Central, Southwest, and Northwest District Draws are available via the links.
OHSAA Sectional Draws |
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| Central District - Division 1 - Division 2 | |
| Northeast District - All Available | |
| Northwest District - All Available | |
| Southwest District - All Available | |
| East District - Division 1 - Division 2 | |
| Southeast District - No sites available | |
Kathy (Mrs. OTZ) and I were very fortunate to be able to attend the Ohio High School Athletic Association's Dr. Daniel Ross' retirement event this afternoon / evening. Unfortunately that meant that we missed the Central District Sectional Draw meeting where we both serve as typists. Thanks to the efforts of Kathy Kinnard and Mike O'Callaghan's teams, these draws are now available.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It looks as if it is going to be a damp day throughout the state. The teams with dual matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Hathaway Brown; Seven Hills (H) versus St. Ursula Academy; St. Joseph Academy (H) versus Rocky River; and Revere (A) versus Walsh Jesuit.
SUNDAY,
Mason Wins Flight A | St. Ursula Wins Flight B | Mag/HB Beat Liberty
It was another big day for Ohio high school tennis as the Cincinnati area completed their Coaches' Classic. Mason won the Flight A group with Ursuline Academy and Indian Hill coming in second and third, respectively. St. Ursula Academy won Flight B. The Cincinnati Enquirer's John Snodgrass wrote a great summary article about the tournament. Click to read Mason dominates Flight A at GCTCA Coaches Classic.
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Mason's Aggarwal w/Coach Reid- Click to enlarge |
In dual match play, Magnificat and Hathaway Brown beat Olentangy Liberty. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. (Note that the Liberty vs. HB match box score results have not yet been provided.)
The Sectional Draw meetings will occur throughout the state at 2pm today.
The data from yesterday's matches, including almost 120 matches from the Coaches' Classic, is available online.
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway; Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly beat Magnificat's Olivia Rondini; and Magnificat's Audrey Smitek defeated Olentangy Liberty's Lexie Brengartner. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SATURDAY,
Mason Beat Centerville | St. Ursula Academy Defeated Loveland
There were just two matches recorded from yesterday. They were both State Team Tournament matches. Mason defeated Centerville and St. Ursula Academy beat Loveland. (There are no box scores currently available for the St. Ursula Academy match.) To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the updated State Team Tournament Draw.
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Lexington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lexington. They are coached by Ron Schaub. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Sylvia Goldsmith, Gracie Pfieffer, and Hayliegh Tucker.
Olentangy Liberty travels to northeast Ohio today to play Magnificat and Hathaway Brown.
FRIDAY,
GCTCA Classic Underway
The weather was really hot yesterday in Cincinnati for the Coaches' Classic. A number of players either had or were recovering from a virus that is making the rounds in Cincinnati so they were even that much more uncomfortable.
There were 20 dual matches recorded throughout the state. The breakdown by District was: Central - 14, Southwest - 3, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 0. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bloom-Carroll defeated Circleville; Eaton beat Preble Shawnee; Olentangy Liberty defeated Olentangy; and Groveport beat Whitehall. Other notable matches included: Revere defeated Copley; Columbus Academy beat Bexley (State Tournament Match); and Oakwood defeated Bellbrook. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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CHCA's Lynn Kader - Click to enlarge |
Multi-day tournament can be painful to handle online because it is very easy to duplicate results from a previous day. For this reason, only the Flight A 1st singles will be included online today. Other scores from the tournament will be saved and processed on Sunday.
Among the top players, Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus defeated Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal and Mason’s Ananya Aggarwal; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Abby Nugent beat Sycamore's Helen Sotropa and Turpin's Caitlin Fisher; Mason's Ananya Aggarwal defeated Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly beat Olentangy's Priyanka Agochiya; Oakwood's Lily McCloskey defeated Bellbrook's Andrea Szep; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman beat Chaminade-Julienne's Lanie Sorg; Revere's Morgan Dobos defeated Copley's Nadja Milhaldova; and Pickerington North's Rhyan Cook beat Watterson's Caroline Goodlive. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
In dual match activity, St. Ursula Academy (H) will play Loveland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Olentangy Liberty Beat Pickerington North
The big Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Classic begins today and finishes on Saturday. This is a g.r.e.a.t tournament and it is great that it takes place prior to Sunday's Sectional Draw. This enables the coaches to better seed the players for Sectionals. One of the main reasons why it is such a great tournament is that the coaches gather ahead of time and they place teams in similarly skilled flights. This enables players to get matches that are more competitive. For more information, click to read the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jon Richardson's great article, Mason, Indian Hill high school tennis headline a stacked Coaches Classic. Results that are included in the Cincinnati Enquirer will be included on OTZ. I will be at Mason today for the Flight A group and for the concession stand.
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Liberty's Dani Schoenly - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Walsh Jesuit's Lily Joyce; Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway beat Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala; St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby defeated Centerville's Sydney Khosla; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini beat Walsh Jesuit's Emma Kealy; and Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly defeated Pickerington North's Rhyan Cook. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
As mentioned previously, the Cincinnati Coaches Classic takes place today. Dual matches include: Laurel (H) versus Hudson; DeSales (A) versus Hilliard Bradley; and Wellington (H) versus Grandview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
"Great" was used five times in the first paragraph. Can you find them all?
WEDNESDAY,
OTZ College Report | New Albany Beat Olentangy Liberty | Ursuline Academy Defeated St. Ursula Academy
Not only were there a large number of matches played yesterday, but many of the matches were close contests. There were 41 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 23, Southwest - 12, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: New Albany defeated Olentangy Liberty (both teams won 47 games in this close match); Granville beat Big Walnut; Edgewood defeated Ross; Logan Elm beat Bloom-Carroll; Hilliard Bradley defeated Thomas Worthington; Hilliard Darby beat Delaware Hayes; Shaker Heights defeated St. Joseph Academy; Eaton beat Milton-Union; West defeated Marion-Franklin; Dublin Coffman beat Dublin Scioto; Wellington defeated Olentangy Berlin; and Lakota East beat Oak Hills. In other notable matches, Ursuline Academy defeated St. Ursula Academy and Archbishop Alter beat Miami Valley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTZ College Player Reports - Click to view |
Among the top players, Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway defeated New Albany’s Kary Hollenbaugh; Revere’s Morgan Dobos beat Kent Roosevelt’s Maya McDaniel; Olentangy Orange’s Niki Bhimireddy defeated Pickerington Central’s Rechel Terbovich; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman beat Miami Valley's Janine Quigley; St. Joseph Academy’s Melissa Martin defeated Shaker Height’s Caitlin Bocks; Olentangy Berlin’s Ella Franz beat Wellington’s Alexis Burkhalter; and Sycamore’s Helen Sotropa defeated Lakota West’s Mea Trent. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The OhioTennisZone College Player Report has been updated with the Ohio high school tennis players who are competing in college tennis. While it is very difficult to get recruited into a D1 program, there are many Ohio ex-high school players competing in Division 2 and Division 3. This is an extensive report that required substantial amount of effort to create. There are 155 players included. If a player is missing, please submit a Feedback. For those players who were OhioTennisZone members (or part of an OTZ Team Membership) as seniors, their high school photos are included along with links to their OTZ player profiles. Others are included at the bottom of the page.
Included on the right-side navigational bar of the College Report are the players who are competing in professional tournaments and who have professional points and rankings.
Today's matches include: Delaware Hayes (A) versus Jonathan Alder;St. Joseph Academy (H) versus Olmsted Falls; and St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Centerville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mayfield Beat Riverside | First Magazine Cover
The rain had less effect than expected so there were a few matches played yesterday. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Anderson defeated Mercy McAuley and Mayfield beat Riverside Painesville. In other notable matches, Upper Arlington defeated Dublin Coffman and North Canton Hoover defeated Shaker Heights. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Platform Tennis Mag Cover Image - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Riverside's Angelica Ross defeated Mayfield's Caitlyn Hsu; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback beat Shaker Heights' Caitlin Bocks; Oakwood’s Lily McCloskey defeated Beavercreek’s Dhira Venkatranaiu; Upper Arlington's Ella Hazelbaker beat Dublin Coffman's Clair Feit; Archbishop Alter's Grace Lampman defeated Tippecanoe's Rainey Messinger; and Riverside’s Sarah Selan beat Mayfield's Katerina Ng. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This image on the right for Platform Tennis Magazine is my first magazine cover.(!) This photo was taken at last fall's Paddle Fest at Elysium Tennis. There are many tennis players like myself who also play platform tennis outside during the winter. I also created and maintain the web site, PlatformTennisZone.com, which covers the sport for central Ohio. Hoping for cooler platform tennis weather soon..
Today's matches include: St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Ursuline Academy; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Green; and Clay (A) versus Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
The Week before the Sectional Draws
The all-important Sectional Draws will be held at 2pm on Sunday throughout the state. To insure that players are given due consideration for seeding, OTZ member coaches are encouraged to submit any missed scores into OTZ as soon as possible, preferably using the OTZ score entering system.
Today will be a wet day for much of the state as remnants of Hurricane Florence affect Ohio.
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Mayfield - Click to team page |
In other tournament results, Archbishop Alter won the Miami Valley School Doubles Tournament on Saturday.
Today's featured team is Mayfield. They are coached by Alex Guthrie. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Hannah Kassaie and Katerina Ng.
The Columbus Challenger is underway. The 32 player draw includes Michael Mmoh [photo] who won the B18's at Kalamazoo in 2016 and who has played in the main draws of the US Open, Western & Southern Open, and Wimbledon. Ohio / OSU players in the main draw include: John McNally, JJ Wolf, Mikael Torpegaard, and Martin Joyce. New Albany's Robert Cash and OSU's Hunter Tubert (playing with different partners) are in the main draw for doubles. This is a $75K tournament so it is a big deal, but it is difficult to find online information about it. There is a app called ATP/WTA Live that provides some information. Click on "Challenger" at the bottom of your phone for the schedule and draws.
Today's scheduled matches include: Wellington (H) versus Columbus Academy; Seven Hills (A) versus Turpin; North Canton Hoover (H) versus Shaker Heights; Hawken (H) versus Orange; and Mayfield (A) versus Riverside. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Magnificat | Logan Elm | Watkins Memorial | UA-B Are Tournament Winners
The weather was perfect yesterday as many teams participated in tournaments. Magnificat won the Lexington Invitational. Logan Elm was the Grandview Invitational champion. Watkins Memorial and Upper Arlington-B were the champs of the Reynoldsburg Doubles Tournament and Wellington Cup, respectively
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N. Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Turpin's Caitlin Fisher defeated Sycamore's Helen Sotropa. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
I rented a lens to take to the Lexington Invite yesterday. All indoor facilities have insufficient light for good action photos. By using this lens, and software that I am trying, the pictures came out quite well. One problem is that the software takes hours of processing time to improve the photos.
Today will be a major catch-up day to setup Player Profiles and process photos from previous days.
SATURDAY,
Lexington Beat Centerville | Turpin Defeated Wyoming
With many players and parents attending homecoming football games, there were just five matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest - 1, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lexington defeated Centerville and Turpin beat Wyoming. The other matches included: Solon defeated Medina; Chaminade-Julienne beat Northmont; and Ursuline Academy defeated Kings (State Team Tournament). To view all of the results in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lexington Invite - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Turpin's Caitlin Fisher defeated Wyoming's Peyton Osha; Lexington's Sylvia Goldsmith beat Centerville's Sydney Khosla; Solon's Maggie Yang defeated Medina's Stuart; and Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal beat Kings' Guerin. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
While you might expect me to say that I love going to the Lexington Invite to: gather insight from the wonderful coaches, watch great tennis, and interact with the delightful parents, no. Not so much. It's about the cornucopia of glorious donuts and other food. Hope to see you (behind me) in the donut line.
FRIDAY,
Columbus Academy Beats Dublin Jerome | GCTA Award Winners
This week yielded the most matches of the season. There were 42 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 20, Southwest - 17, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Columbus Academy defeated Dublin Jerome; Marysville beat Grove City; East Clinton defeated Blanchester; Poland Seminary beat Jefferson Area; Middletown defeated Hamilton; Bexley beat Worthington Christian; Harrison defeated Northwest; Reynoldsburg beat Canal Winchester; and Olentangy defeated Olentangy Berlin. In another notable match, Watterson defeated DeSales. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Atway, Schoenly, Cash - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff defeated Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala beat Westerville Central's Levi Burks; Hawken's Stephanie Shulman defeated Revere's Morgan Morgan Dobos; and Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz beat Olentangy’s Priyanka Agochiya. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Greater Columbus Tennis Association (GCTA) recognized its annual award winners last night. Last year's Division I Doubles champions, Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway and Dani Schoenly, were the female players of the year. New Albany's Robert Cash received the male player of the year award. Cash was the Division I singles champion. To view the previous annual award winners, click on GCTA Awards.Today's matches include: Hawken (H) versus Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; Lexington (H) versus Centerville; Seven Hills (A) versus Miami Valley; and Solon (H) versus Medina. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
St. Ursula Academy Defeats Sycamore | Academy Beats Coffman
Teams continue to crank through matches in what could be our first full dry week of the season. There were 37 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1.
Keep in mind that the Sectional Draws are next Sunday, September 23. The goal is to include all of the matches so that OTZ member coaches are well-prepared to obtain Sectional seeding positions for their players. OTZ is currently all caught up [potential jinx statement] on processing older matches so please keep them coming.
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Dublin Coffman - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Mason's Ananya Aggarwal defeated Turpin's Caitlin Fisher; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier beat Seven Hills' Neda Tehrani; Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang defeated Pickerington Central's Rechel Terbovich; St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby beat Sycamore's Helen Sotropa; Columbus Academy's Carmen Merkel defeated Dublin Coffman's Clair Feit; Wyoming's Peyton Osha beat Lakota West's Mea Trent; and New Albany's Alexandra Vitellas defeated Olentangy's Priyanka Agochiya. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Dublin Coffman. They are coached by Brett Hundertpfund. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Claire Feit, Hannah Qin, and Cassi Shough.
Today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (H) versus Columbus Academy; Revere (H) versus Hawken; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Shaker Heights; and Clay (H) versus Findlay. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Laurel Beats Magnificat | North Canton Hoover Defeats Jackson
This is turning out to be a good week to catch-up with rained out matches. There were 40 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 13, Northeast - 6, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Laurel defeated Magnificat; Northwest beat Talawanda; Reynoldsburg defeated Big Walnut; Bexley beat Olentangy Berlin; Delaware Hayes defeated Marysville; Gahanna beat Hilliard Darby; and North Canton Hoover defeated Massillon Jackson in their bigger than huge rivalry match. In other notable matches, St. Ursula Academy defeated Wyoming and Turpin defeated Loveland. 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 Rebecca Hinze. They are Team Members. They are led by Isabella Vegas and Alexis Burkhalter.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (H) versus St. Ursula Academy; Seven Hills (H) versus Summit Country Day; and Dublin Coffman (H) versus Columbus Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Olentangy Orange Beats Dublin Jerome | Mag Defeats Westlake
Even when there is a zero percent chance of rain - it can still rain - as Olentangy Orange and Dublin Jerome's players and fans discovered. Thankfully the match was still completed after a few minutes of delay. #4 Olentangy Orange prevailed by beating #5 Dublin Jerome. There were 25 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 9, and Northeast - 1. There were a large number of close, 3-2 matches. They included: Colerain defeated Blanchester; Northwest beat Roger Bacon; Delaware Hayes defeated Hartley; Wellington beat Watterson; DeSales defeated Worthington Christian; Bloom-Carroll beat Central Crossing; Lancaster defeated Hilliard Davidson; and Thomas Worthington beat Whetstone. In other notable matches, Turpin defeated St. Ursula Academy and Magnificat beat Westlake in a State Team Tournament match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Orange's Tyler Reed - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Massillon Jackson; Hawken (H) versus Shaker Heights; Laurel (H) versus Magnificat; Thomas Worthington (H) versus Worthington Kilbourne; and Perrysburg (A) versus Sylvania Northview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OTZ Top Players / Watch Lists
With all of the poor weather, hopefully teams can catch-up this week before Hurricane Florence hits Ohio. In comparison to last year, there have been more dual matches recorded on OhioTennisZone, but that is somewhat misleading. More coaches have started reporting their scores into OTZ because they are starting to see the benefits of recognizing their teams and players to a state-wide audience of high school tennis fans and college coaches.
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OTZ Top Players - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (A) versus Olentangy Orange; North Canton Hoover (H) versus St. Joseph Academy; Â Wellington (A) versus Watterson; and Hilliard Davidson (H) versus Lancaster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
OTZ Interview with W&S Open Ball Kid, Chas Norman
Should I go pick up that ball that is six feet from the net before I serve another ball or just hope that my opponent doesn't hit a short ball? If ball kids were not invented, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro would be forced to ask this agonizing question over and over again today at the US Open while parents everywhere would be quietly murmuring and grimacing under their breaths, "picktheballup", "justpickitup", and "JUSTWALKOVERANDPICKUPTHEFREAKINGBALL". Thanks to the efforts of Chas Norman and ball kids everywhere, professional players do not have to make this gut wrenching decision after every net ball miss.
University School's Chas Norman has been a ball kid at the Western & Southern Open for three years and he responded to a few OTZ questions that tennis fans everywhere want to know about this inner sanctum of professional tennis. Norman's replies are in italics.
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Chas Norman w/Kevin Anderson- Click to Enlarge |
Let's get the really big question out of the way first. Is there really that big of a difference between the balls to justify it being discarded by the players? Norman replied, "Yes. There are definitely differences in the balls. When the point is going on I try to find the best one in my hands, and then give that to the player. I try to give them the balls in order of freshness, so most of the time they give back the least fresh." Worn or fluffy balls do not travel through the air as quickly so servers want the "fastest" balls. The six balls in use get beat up quickly and they are replaced every nine games. The exception is at the beginning of the match where new balls are used for warm-ups. Those balls are replaced after just seven games. When a ball goes into the stands, the umpire finds a similarly used ball to replace it. In some cases, the ball is retrieved from the fan and then the fan is given a new ball. Smoothly rolling the balls to transport the balls from ball kid to ball kid places less stress on the balls.
Is there a try-out for ball boys? "For your first two years you have to try out in the spring and pass both inspection and a short written test (you need to know the court numbers!). During the tryouts the staff mainly looks for improvement – they don't expect you to be perfect immediately but they do want you to improve. It helps to know how a tie break is scored!"
Are you evaluated after each match? If so, how? "We have "court monitors" that are basically chaperons for the kids assigned to that court. If they think you need to do something better they'll tell you, but otherwise we aren't officially evaluated. Of course, behind the scenes you're constantly evaluated, and the court you're assigned to changes based on your skill."
A good ball kid basically needs to be invisible. No-no's for a ball kid would be drawing attention to him or herself by juggling balls, interacting with the crowd, or throwing behind the back throws, etc. Norman's famous sunglasses are also not permitted because sunglasses can occasionally reflect light and distract players. Just to make things more interesting, Norman added, "In the warm-ups especially, there's an unspoken competition of who can catch the biggest serve and make it look easy." OTZ noted that Norman caught a 116mph serve.
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Six ball kids taking their positions - Click to Enlarge |
The process of finding and evaluating ball kids is no small task. Over 200 ball kids are needed for the Western & Southern Open, or 18 for each court. Ideally, six new ball kids are rotated after each set. When not on the court, the kids can cool down, eat, re-hydrated, and relax in an air conditioned tent. They often play cards. The ball kids are volunteers. "We pay around $50 for the shoes, but then we get a hat and two full outfits (socks, shorts, shirt, wristbands) for free."
Norman is a two-time OHSAA state tennis qualifier and he also benefits from watching how the players perform. He has "run" for Naomi Osaka (yesterday's US Open champion) and he was very impressed with how hard she struck the ball and with how close she was to the baseline. Being close to the baseline, enables players "to take time away" from opponents and to create sharper angles.
When asked who the nicest pros are that Norman and his fellow ball kids deal with, he stated, "I think my favorite players are the Bryan brothers, Denis Shapovalov, and Jamie Murray. They're all really nice (although I only know about Jamie Murray through some of my friends, who told me he ALWAYS says please and thank you!)." Here is a video clip of Shapovalov interacting with one of the ball kids during a rain shower. Click to view.
Of course, some pros are not as nice, but many times that can be attributed to superstitious tendencies, such as only wanting balls from a specific location (i.e. ad side) or wanting the towel to be presented in a certain way (i.e. doubled). One pro always wants the ball kids to have the same number of balls so he will automatically discard a ball by tapping it to the other ball kid.
Interested in seeing what the ball kid situation is like for yourself? The Columbus Challenger is coming up next week from Saturday, September 15 to Sunday, September 23. They need both adults and kids for this ball kid role. The tournament takes place at the Ohio State Indoor Varsity Tennis Center. Submit a Feedback if interested.
Believe it or not, but there were matches played yesterday. Mason defeated Dublin Jerome and Pickerington North; Magnificat beat Notre Dame Academy and Toledo Central Catholic; North Canton Hoover defeated Notre Dame Academy and Toledo St. Ursula Academy; and Hathaway Brown beat Dublin Jerome. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Toledo Central Catholic's Ava McQuillin; Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala beat Mason's Sanjana Reddy; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback defeated Notre Dame Academy's Ciera Patton; Mason's Sanjana Reddy beat Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Hathaway Brown's Rebecca Wolf defeated Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini beat Toledo Central Catholic's Maverick Delp; and Magnificat's Audrey Smitek defeated Notre Dame Academy's Ciera Patton. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SATURDAY,
Sycamore Beats Mount Notre Dame
This season is definitely looking more like the boys season. Of course, the girls get to avoid the biggest question that the boys face during their season -- will the precipatation will come in the form of snow, sleet, or rain?
Due to the rain and high school football, there were just four matches recorded from state-wide play. In State Team Tournament play, Sycamore defeated Mount Notre Dame and Mason beat Walnut Hills. In other matches, Perrysburg defeated Walsh Jesuit and Olentangy Berlin beat Worthington Kilbourne. To view the results in graphical form from yesterday, 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 Erin Ortman. They are Team Members. They are led by Emma Wood and Kaitlyn Quinn.
Tomorrow's update will include an interview with University School's Chas Norman. Just in time for the US Open Men's Final, Norman will provide OTZ readers with a behind-the-scenes view of what it is like to be a ball kid at a major tennis tournament. Norman has been a ball kid at the Western & Southern Open for the last three years.
From time-to-time, the size of the main home page needs to be reduced so that it loads faster. Fans who are interested in reading more about the boys season should do so today. Much of that content will be archived tomorrow.
The OTZ plans were to go to Pickerington North today and watch matches between Hathaway Brown, Mason, Dublin Jerome, and Pickerington North, but those matches were moved to Lakewood Racquet Club near Lexington. It is almost impossible for me to get good indoor photos (with my existing camera) so I will be working from home today.
FRIDAY,
OSU Announces Ty Tucker Tennis Center | Photo Friday | Mag > Mayfield | Solon > Laurel
Yesterday was a big day for tennis news. OSU announced the new Ty Tucker Tennis Center. This will be a $21.9 million, 75,000 square foot facility. It will include six indoor courts and theater style seating for spectators. It will be adjacent to the 10 existing outdoor courts on Olentangy River Road, and it is expected to be ready for the 2020 season. Dick and Eva Nourse are major contributors to the new facility and they were introduced on the OSU football field on Saturday (before the rain). Dick is a fellow platform tennis enthusiast. He has a silky smooth, lethal backhand drive off of the back screen that you don't see coming until it is too la
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Wellington's Alexis Burkhalter - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky defeated Solon's Maggie Yang; Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus beat Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini defeated Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie; Hawken's Stephanie Shulman beat Walsh Jesuit's Lily Joyce; and Magnificat's Audrey Smitek defeated Mayfield's Caitlyn Hsu. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. The Top Players and Watch Lists will be modified this weekend.
Because you have better things to do than work at the office today, it is also an OTZ Photo Friday. The frequent number of rainouts limited the number of photos in this week's group. Click to view the Most Recently Added Photos.
Today's matches include: Perrysburg (H) versus Walsh Jesuit; St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Wellington (H) versus Watkins Memorial.
THURSDAY,
Summit Country Day Beats CCD
Rain and lightning reduced the number of matches played yesterday. Today's weather is expected to be much the same. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Westerville Central defeated Olentangy Berlin; Anderson beat Seton; Hilliard Davidson defeated Westerville North. In other notable matches, Solon defeated Shaker Heights; Summit Country Day beat Cincinnati Country Day; Turpin defeated Springboro (three 3-setters). 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 |
The State Tournament Draws were substantially updated. Please submit a Feedback if other results have been omitted.
Among the top players, Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala defeated New Albany's Kary Hollenbaugh; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher beat Springboro's Katelyn Mazurek; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier defeated Cincinnati Country Day's Mia Masterson; and Olentangy Berlin’s Ella Franz beat Westerville Central’s Levi Burks. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is North Canton Hoover. They are coached by Ryan Shaffer. They are Team Members. They are led by Laurel Utterback, Hallie Hunt, and Lilly Altman.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Mayfield; Solon (H) versus Laurel; Seven Hills (A) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Upper Arlington; Sycamore (A) versus Oak Hills; and Thomas Worthington (H) versus Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Tennis News Articles | Solon Beats Mayfield
High school tennis may not receive as much press as other sports, but ThisWeekSports.com does a great job of preparing "season kick-off" articles for most central Ohio teams. Links to these articles are available here and they are also linked to via the team pages. (Scroll down the page for these articles.) Special thanks to Frank DiRenna, Brad Emerine, Scott Hennen, Dave Purpura, and Jarrod Ulrey for writing these articles for ThisWeekSports. Make sure that you tell them "thanks for the recognition" when you see them at matches. OTZ will link to articles from other publications if the articles are: viewable (not behind a subscription wall), team-oriented, and include quotes or information other than recent scores.
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Tennis Articles - Click to view |
Among the top players, Mason's Ananya Aggarwal defeated Sycamore's Helen Sotropa; Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie beat Solon's Maggie Yang; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy’s Abby Nugent defeated Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch; Loveland’s Peyton Beller beat Walnut Hills’ Makensie Long; Olentangy’s Nour Khayat defeated Olentangy Orange's Erin Storrer; Cincinnati Country Day’s Mia Masterson beat Seven Hills’ Neda Tehrani; Solon's Alexis Ratner defeated Mayfield's Caitlyn Hsu; and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy’s Lynn Kader beat Indian Hill's Samantha Pregel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (A) versus Oakwood; Solon (A) versus Shaker Heights; St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Walnut Hills; and Sycamore (H) versus Mount Notre Dame. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Fahrmeier | Hiryur Win MW Level 3 18's
The Midwest Level 3 in Grand Rapids finished yesterday with Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier and St. Xavier's Ronit Hiryur winning the G18 and B18 tournaments, respectively. Congratulations to them.
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Participation Levels in 2017- Click to enlarge |
Yesterday's analysis delved into the District and gender participation levels at this Midwest Level 3. Today's analysis compares this year's participation levels versus last year's. Comparing the two tables (see below), it is clear that the new Ohio High School Athletic Association Waiver (OHSAA) rule made a dramatic impact on the participation level of the girls. Seven girls played last year while 24 played in the G16-G18 tournaments this year. That is a 243% increase.
There was no change in the participation of the boys and no change was expected. There were 19 boys who played both years.This analysis will likely be done again in the spring to compare participation levels of the boys in USTA tournaments.
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Fahrmeier Hitting a Reversed Forehand - Click to enlarge |
To summarize the OHSAA rule change:
- OHSAA Waiver Process: Great
- Increase in Girls Participation Levels at MW Level 3: Great
- Increase in Highly Skilled Girls Participating in High School Tennis: Unsure
There are several big matches scheduled for today. They include: Sycamore (H) versus Mason; Mayfield (A) versus Solon; and Seven Hills (H) versus Cincinnati Country Day. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Midwest Level 3 - Day 2
Matches continue in Grand Rapids at the USTA Midwest Level 3. This is a compass draw tournament so players are able to compete in numerous, high quality matches (when there are not withdrawals). Ohio players still in the front draws in their respective tournaments include: Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier and St. Xavier's Ronit Hiryur.
Players with wins over other Ohio girls (who are playing high school tennis) include: Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier over Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway and Dani Schoenly; Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy over Unioto's Sylvia Gray; Unioto's Sylvia Gray over Mason's Annie Kruse; Ottawa Hills' Libbey Rhegness over Clay's Madison Arquette; and Riverside's Angelica Ross over Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang
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Participation Levels - Click to enlarge |
Also clear from the table is reinforcement of the ongoing concern about Northwest Ohio tennis. Northwest Ohio continues to get rewarded with a large number of high level USTA tournaments, but their players are not participating. This means that players from throughout the state have to spend money for Toledo hotel rooms to play in their tournaments while the Toledo players do not compete. For this tournament, Northwest Ohio was the closest district, but it sent the fewest number of competitors. Some Toledo USTA tournaments need to be moved to other cities.
The Midwest Level 3 wraps up today.
SUNDAY,
Midwest Level 3 | OHSAA Rule Change
As reported on July 31, the Ohio High School Athletic Association introduced a rule change to better address non-interscholastic matches (i.e. USTA tournaments) during the high school tennis season. The new rule change was put to the test this weekend with the Midwest Level 3 tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With any rule change, a few snafus are expected, but that does not appear to be the case with this change. OTZ contacted coach and / or parent members and all reported that the process to obtain the OHSAA waivers to participate in the tournament went smoothly.
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Mason's Annie Kruse - Click to enlarge |
The timing of this tournament made it a win for everyone because: players / parents have time to travel over the holiday weekend; students are unlikely to be too far behind in their studies; high school teams did not schedule matches; these tournaments offered solid competition; the tournament was rather close for Ohio players; and the tournament gave players an opportunity to pick-up more USTA ranking points. And perhaps most important, this provided OTZ with content on an otherwise slow high school tennis weekend.
OTZ member players competing in the tournament include: Clay's Madison Arquette; Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; Unioto's Sylvia Gray; Mason's Annie Kruse; Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Westlake's Ashley Michelich; Magnificat's Alexis Ospelt; Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly; Mason's Anna Tonkal; and Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang.
To follow all of the action of these girls and the Ohio boys who are competing, click on the link in the right-side navigation bar under the OTZ Girls Tennis Calendar, or click USTA Midwest Level 3.
SATURDAY,
Solon Beats Western Reserve Academy | Sycamore Defeats Lakota East
The combination of the holiday weekend and Friday night football meant there were only two matches recorded yesterday. Sycamore defeated Lakota East and Solon beat Western Reserve Academy. To view the results in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Solon - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Western Reserve Academy’s Lydia Peercy defeated Solon's Maggie Yang; Solon's Alexis Ratner beat Western Reserve Academy's Alicia Ma; and Lakota East’s Megan Hoke defeated Sycamore's Helen Sotropa . 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 OTZ Team Members. They are led by Maggie Yang, Alexis Ratner, and Amanda Weiskind.
There are no matches scheduled for this weekend.
FRIDAY,
Mag Beats Solon | Mayfield Defeats Laurel
Last night was another productive night as many teams played league matches. These matches are often not as competitive so it provides coaches to experiment with line-ups. There were 37 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 15, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hamilton Township defeated Circleville; New Richmond beat Western Brown; Logan Elm defeated Bloom-Carroll; Springboro beat Beavercreek . In other notable matches, Magnificat defeated Solon; Mayfield beat Laurel; and Wellington defeated Columbus School for Girls. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wellington's Isabella Vegas - Click to enlarge |
Mayfield's Hannah Kassaie beat Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; North Canton Hoover's Laurel Utterback defeated Massillon Perry's Thorpe; Magnificat's Audrey Smitek beat Solon's Alexis Ratner; Mayfield’s Caitlyn Hsu defeated Laurel’s Priya Khadilkar. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Are some of your scores not included on OhioTeninsZone? This long weekend would the perfect time to catch-up. Coach and parent members may always contact OTZ to get scores online. OTZ provides coaches with an easy-to-use web service for entering scores. Parents may contact OTZ for the best format to use.
Francesca Di Lorenzo's great run in the US Open ended yesterday with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to #13 Kiki Bertens. Per ESPN, Di Lorenzo's ranking is expected to rise from #197 to #158 and this should make it much easier for her to gain entry into other tournaments.
THURSDAY,
Hathaway Brown Beats Hoover
Spotty rain showers led to matches being shortened or canceled. There were just 10 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Southwest - 3, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. Matches included: Hathaway Brown defeated North Canton Hoover; Pickerington North beat Dublin Coffman; and Perrysburg defeated Toledo St. Ursula Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hawken - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hawken. They are coached by Brian Smallwood. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Stephanie Shulman and Dylan Goldberg. Dylan is a master, OTZ score-enterer person.
Francesca Di Lorenzo plays in the second round of the US Open today. Her match is on Court 10 and it will begin after an 11:00am men's match (Kukushkin vs. Chung) is finished. Francesca plays Kiki Bertens [photo from this year's W&S Open]. Per Bing.com, Bertens has an 84% chance of winning.
Caty McNally and DJ Thomas both got beat in their US Open doubles matches. Click for more information from ZooTennis.
There are several really interesting matches scheduled for tonight. They include: Magnificat (H) versus Solon; Mayfield (H) versus Laurel; Hawken (H) versus Westlake; Wellington (H) versus Columbus School For Girls; Summit Country Day (H) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Francesca Di Lorenzo Wins Round 1 in US Open | HB Beats Solon
Francesca Di Lorenzo continues her run in the US Open. After winning three matches in the qualifiers, Di Lorenzo earned her first US Open win by defeating #97 Christina McHale, 6-1, 7-6. McHale was a tough oppoent with a career high ranking of 24 (2012) and $3.7 million in career prize money. Di Lorenzo's next opponent will be Kiki Bertens (#13) who just won the Western & Southern Open. Other Ohio players competing in the US Open are Caty McNally (women's doubles) and Danny (DJ) Thomas (men's doubles). McNally and Thomas both won their respective 18's national championships in doubles and received doubles main draw spots.
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Francesca Di Lorenzo - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch defeated Solon's Maggie Yang; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini beat Walsh Jesuit's Lily Joyce; Mason's Ananya Aggarwal defeated Lakota East's Megan Hoke; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier beat Cincinnati Country Day's Mangu; St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby defeated Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal; Oakwood's Lily McCloskey beat Chaminade-Julienne's Estrada-Sanchez; Olentangy Berlin’s Ella Franz defeated Thomas Worthington's Sarina Xie; and Indian Hill's Samantha Pregel beat Miami Valley's Sarah Hinshaw. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Mrs. OTZ (Kathy) and I watched Francesca's match on ESPN+ yesterday. Thanks to Kathy's audio-video and my panicing skills, she rigged it up so that the laptop computer showed the match on our television. The sound of the match did not always sync with the video, but it was ok. I would recommend it if Francesca's next match is not on regular TV. Make sure that you allow for ESPN+ sign-up time.
There are some really good match-ups scheduled for tonight (so, ok, I take back the rain comment). Today's matches include: Summit Country Day (H) versus Oakwood; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Pickerington North; Lexington (A) versus Upper Arlington; and Seven Hills (A) versus Ursuline Academy. [Whoops - HB and Hoover are playing, too!] To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Columbus Academy Beats Olentangy Orange | Hawken Defeats Mayfield
It was another perfect weather night with numerous good matches. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 14, Southwest - 9, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Scioto defeated Wellington; Cincinnati Country Day beat Wyoming; Columbus Academy defeated Olentangy Orange; Hawken beat Mayfield; and Bexley defeated Reynoldsburg. In other notable matches, Indian Hill defeated Sycamore, plus Olentangy Berlin gets its first win in program history by defeating Hilliard Bradley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Grandview - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Grandview. They are coached by Kathy Kinnard. They are led by Taylor Fultz, Kayla Ward, and Liz McDermott.
New Albany's and Ohio State's Francesca Di Lorenzo (#193) is scheduled to play her US Open match at 1pm today. Her match is against USA's #97 Christine McHale. While Francesca is considered the underdog, she could make this an interesting match. Bing.com lists McHale's chance of winning as 65%. As a comparison, Caroline Wozniacki's chance of winning is 76% against Samantha Stosur.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus Walsh Jesuit; Solon (A) versus Hathaway Brown; Summit Country Day (A) versus Cincinnati Country Day; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Rocky River; and Perrysburg (A) versus Sylvania Southview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Updated State Team Rankings: Mason and HB Still #1
The Top Ten Team rankings have been updated. Mason and Hathaway Brown remain at the top of the rankings. In previous years, there was always "one more match" that delayed the release of new rankings. Of course, that match would get rained out but then there would be "one more match".. Expect more frequent updates this season. While some teams will have occasional blips, OTZ largely ranks the teams based on how their best line-ups perform (when uninjured). The new rankings also reflect that some players did not choose to play high school tennis this season. There were also some transfers and there were players who were expected to be eighth graders, but turned out to be freshmen. (This happens frequently with the girls.) It is great to get additional results this season with Solon, Mayfield, and North Canton Hoover joining as new team members. Those three teams along with Westlake will be interesting to watch.
State Top Ten Girls Tennis Teams August 27, 2018 |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM |
| 2. Magnificat◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 3. Pickerington North◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 4. Olentangy Orange◄TEAM | Toledo Central Catholic |
| 5. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM | Oakwood |
| 6. Olentangy Liberty◄TEAM | Laurel◄TEAM |
| 7. Ursuline Academy | Summit Country Day◄TEAM |
| 8. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | Cincinnati Hills Christ. Acad. |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 10. Mayfield◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| HM: Perrysburg, Westlake◄TEAM, North Canton Hoover◄TEAM |
Seven Hills◄TEAM, Archbishop Alter◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. | |
The State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. There have been no major surprises thus far. As always, please submit a Feedback if there are other matches that have been omitted. Also note that unlike the OTZ Top Ten Team rankings, these draws are updated whenever new results are gathered.
Results are online for the Watterson Tournament. Columbus Academy was first, Olentangy Liberty - second, and Dublin Coffman came in third. Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff was first in singles, beating Olentangy Berlin's Ella Franz in the finals. In doubles, Olentangy Liberty's Lexie Brengartner - Ellie MacDowell defeated New Albany's Valentina DiLorenzo - Alexandra Vitellas to win 1st dubs. (Valentina's sister plays in the US Open main draw on Tuesday.)
Today will be devoted to getting more Player Profiles online.
Today's matches include: Mayfield (H) versus Hawken; Sycamore (A) versus Indian Hill; and North Canton Hoover (H) versus Louisville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
HB Wins Canfield Dubs Tournament | Ursuline Academy Beats Jerome
There should be one more good week of tennis before the Labor Day break. There were numerous good tournaments and dual matches yesterday. Hathaway Brown won the Canfield Doubles Tournament and Magnificat came in second. Watterson also had their tournament yesterday that included numerous good singles and doubles match-ups, but their results were not yet available at press time. In dual match play that included the top teams, #10 Ursuline Academy defeated #3 Dublin Jerome; #4 Pickerington North beat #9 St. Ursula Academy; and (HM) Perrysburg defeated #8 D2 Lexington.
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Olentangy's Nour Khayat - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala defeated St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher beat Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier; Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal defeated Dublin Jerome's Lalasa Nagireddy; Lexington’s Sylvia Goldsmith beat Perrysburg’s Emma Carter; Â Dublin Jerome's Katherine Wang defeated Ursuline Academy's Bridget Estes; and Perrysburg's Sydney Onest beat Lexington's Gracie Pfeiffer. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Shooting conditions were so-so yesterday at the Watterson tournament. Normally it is very difficult to take photos of players who wear hats and visors because shadows mask the eyes. The cloudy conditions made it better for taking hat photos, but sun is always needed to make photos pop.
SATURDAY,
Francesca Di Lorenzo in US Open Main Draw
Yesterday was a big news day for tennis. New Albany's (and OSU's) Francesca Di Lorenzo is now in the US Open main draw after beating her opponent, Germany's Mona Barthel (#111 in the world), yesterday. Di Lorenzo beat #150 Veronica Cepede Royg and in her first round and #151 Antonia Lottner in the second to advance to the main draw. Di Lorenzo is currently ranked #191 in the world. She will face the USA's Christina McHale (#97) in the US Open in her first round. The photo today is a screen capture from the Tennis Channel of Brett Haber's after-match interview with Ann Grossman and Di Lorenzo.
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Grossman, Di Lorenzo, Haber - Click to enlarge |
There were numerous big match-up in high school tennis. They included: Pickerington North defeated Ursuline Academy; Turpin beat Sycamore; Lakota East defeated Summit Country Day; Mason beat Indian Hill; Laurel defeated Hawken and Magnificat beat Westlake To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Pickerington North's Cassie Alcala defeated Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal; Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch beat Mason's Ananya Aggarwal; Turpin's Caitlin Fisher defeated Sycamore's Helen Sotropa; Hawken's Stephanie Shulman beat Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini defeated Westlake's Demi Jhaveri; Summit Country Day's Amy Poffenberger beat Lakota East's Megan Hoke; and Pickerington North's Rhyan Cook defeated Ursuline Academy's Bridget Estes. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
FRIDAY,
#6 Olentangy Orange Beats #7 Olentangy Liberty | Solon Defeats #5 Westlake
Perfect weather led to a large number of great matches. It was the busiest night of the season thus far. There were 39 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 17, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Canal Winchester defeated Big Walnut; Gahanna beat Reynoldsburg; Solon defeated #5 Westlake; Columbus School For Girls beat Worthington Christian; Goshen defeated Clinton-Massie; Goshen beat Clinton-Massie; St. Joseph Academy defeated Western Reserve Academy; OTZ #6 Olentangy Orange beat OTZ #7 Olentangy Liberty; Thomas Worthington defeated Delaware Hayes; Wyoming beat Summit Country Day; Lancaster defeated Grove City; and Groveport beat Franklin Heights; In other notable matches, OTZ #2 Magnificat defeated Hawken; OTZ #4 Pickerington North beat Pickerington Central; and OTZ #3 D2 Columbus Academy defeated OTZ #8 D2 Lexington. 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 Roggenburk, Olivia Rondini, and Audrey Smitek.
Due to the lack of cooperation by some teams who won when they were supposed to lose, the OTZ Pre-Season Ranking will likely need to change over the weekend.. Note that OTZ does review line-ups when making these rankings so if a key player was missing, that is considered.
Today's matches include: Hawken (A) versus Laurel; Magnificat (A) versus Westlake; and Summit Country Day (A) versus Lakota East. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Oakwood Beats Ursuline Academy | Perrysburg Defeats NDA
Yesterday's matches were the most recorded to date. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Reynoldsburg defeated Mount Vernon; Seven Hills beat Wyoming; Turpin defeated Lakota East; Beavercreek beat Chaminade-Julienne; Indian Hill defeated Mount Notre Dame; and Columbus Academy beat Olentangy Berlin. In other notable matches involving the top teams, Oakwood defeated Ursuline Academy and Perrysburg beat Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Seven Hills - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Seven Hills. They are coached by Tim Drew. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Annika Alper and Neda Tehrani.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus Hawken; Mayfield (A) versus Walsh Jesuit; and Solon (A) versus Westlake. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Indian Hill Beats Lakota East | Updated Coach Directory
The season gained a bit more momentum yesterday. Now that school is back in session for many districts and the rain is starting to clear, there should be more matches played tonight. There were 22 matches recorded from state-wide play yesterday. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 10, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: New Albany defeated Pickerington Central; Summit Country Day beat Seven Hills; Clermont Northeastern defeated Blanchester; and Worthington Christian beat Grove City. In other notable matches, Hathaway Brown defeated Hawken and Indian Hill beat Lakota East. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTZ Coach Directory - Click to directory |
Among the top players, Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov defeated Hawken's Stephanie Shulman; Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch beat Hawken's Dylan Goldberg; Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier defeated Seven Hills' Neda Tehrani; Indian Hill's Hayley Hirsch beat Lakota East's Megan Hoke; St. Ursula Academy's Bella Kirby defeated Mercy McAuley's Macey; Dublin Jerome’s Lalasa Nagireddy beat Thomas Worthington’s Sarina Xie; and New Albany’s Kary Hollenbaugh defeated Pickerington Central’s Rechel Terbovich. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OhioTennisZone completed a comprehensive update of the OTZ Coach Directory yesterday. By combining several sources of information, this is the most comprehensive list of coaches available. It includes email addresses for over 97% of the coaches. Cell phone numbers and photos are posted for many coaches. Coaches must sign-in to view the email addresses and cell phone information. Note that there are a variety of ways (By School, By District, etc.) to view this information. And because this list will never be completely finished... please contact OTZ via Feedback or email if there are any changes.
Next on the docket for OTZ is to post Player Profiles for paying members. Watch for more to be added today.
Today's matches include: Perrysburg (H) versus Notre Dame Academy; St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Miamisburg; Mayfield (H) versus Hathaway Brown; and Hilliard Davidson (A) versus Whetstone. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mag Beats Rocky River
The season just cannot get up-to-speed. Rain hampered play yesterday in the Southwest and Central District. More rain is expected today. There were 14 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bloom-Carroll defeated Grandview and Westerville Central beat Grove City. In other notable matches, Hawken defeated Orange and Magnificat defeated Rocky River. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Ursuline's Bridget Estes - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Rocky River's Sarah Robertson; Hawken’s Stephanie Shuman beat Orange’s Rachel Pomerants; Unioto's Sylvia Gray defeated Lancaster's Hope Rooker; and Dublin Jerome's Reagan Resor beat Worthington Kilbourne's Hannah Lindaman. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The goal for this season is to process photos quickly and get them online. Unfortunately, the processing part takes about the same amount of time as it does to take the photos. Photos have to be reviewed, cropped, color-corrected, and placed into a database. All of the photos are for sale and there are numerous good photos that are not posted online. Because of the huge amount time involved, to get me to show you the other photos, first time customers need to buy one first. OTZ pricing is listed under Buy a Tennis Photo and the more you buy, the more you save. (Make your accountant proud by purchasing numerous photos.) The photos from the Pickerington Central Tournament are online now. To view the Pick. Central photos, click on Most Recently Added Photos.
Matches expected to be rained out today include: Hawken (A) versus Hathaway Brown; Solon (H) versus Mayfield; Clay (A) versus Maumee Valley Country Day; and Hilliard Davidson (A) versus Olentangy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Western & Southern Open
Another successful Western & Southern Open tournament finished on Sunday. It was soggy at times but the tournament was able to finish on schedule. Some of the interesting numbers provided by the Western and Southern Media Group include: Attendance - 194,035, Volunteers - 1,350, and Hotel nights booked - 10,000. As the numbers indicate, this is a massive undertaking and Ohio is fortunate to have this event in our own backyard. As some will recall from last year's Girls States (and Boys States), the South Building was under construction. That project finished in just 310 days.
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Roger - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Indian Hill; Hawken (A) versus Orange; Delaware Hayes (H) versus Big Walnut; and Magnificat (A) versus Rocky River. Click List of Upcoming Matches to view more scheduled matches.
SUNDAY,
Oakwood Wins Pickerington Central Dubs Tournament
The weather continues to throw curve balls. What was expected to be a rain-out day, turned out to be a great day for tennis and a good day for OTZ photos. In tournament play, Oakwood won the Pickerington Central Doubles Tournament and Perrysburg came in second. In the Southwestern City Schools Tournament, Grove City won and Central Crossing was second.
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Oakwood's Lily McCloskey - Click to enlarge |
There were also two dual matches recorded. Cincinnati Country Day defeated Chaminade-Julienne and Sycamore beat Brookfield East from Wisconsin. To view the exciting bar graphs from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Oakwood's Lily McCloskey and Sarah Hall won the Flight A division of the Pick Central Tournament. They beat Perrysburg's Gemma Smith and Kyleigh Henthorn. Perrysburg's Sydney Onest-Emma Carter beat Pickerington Central's Talia Dilello-Semmie Moore to win Flight B. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Western & Southern Open Finals are today. The Simona Halep versus Kiki Bertens match begins at 2pm and the Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic match starts at 4pm.
Today will be a good, fixer-upper day. OTZ uses a variety of automated processes to create each day's main blog entry and some of these processes were broken during the big PHP7 conversion that occurred this summer. It was hard to identify these problems without current results. This led to some errors. Hopefully things will be running smoothly again by the end of today.
SATURDAY,
Ursuline Academy Beats Dublin Coffman
Today could be another damp day. There were just two matches reported yesterday. Ursuline Academy defeated Dublin Coffman and Perrysburg beat Pickerington Central. To view the results in graphical form, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Perrysburg - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Ursuline Academy's Nina Dhaliwal defeated Dublin Coffman's Clair Feit, Perrysburg's Emma Carter beat Pickerington Central's Rachel Terbovich, and Perrysburg's Sydney Onest defeated Pickerington Central's Semmie Moore. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Perrysburg. They are coached by Julie Weider. They are led by Emma Carter, Gemma Smith, and Sydney Onest.
Because of the weather, today's Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament was postponed to September 8.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday | Solon Beats Walsh Jesuit
There were just a handful of high school (and Western & Southern Open) matches played due to the rain. There were only seven matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and Unioto beat Logan Elm. In another notable match, Solon defeated Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mag's Audrey Smitek - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Solon's Maggie Yang defeated Walsh Jesuit's Lilly Joyce; Unioto's Sylvia Gray beat Logan Elm's Clouse; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy’s Abby Nugent defeated Loveland’s Peyton Beller; Ursuline Academy's Gracie Estes beat Seton's Catherine Dattilo; and Solon's Alexis Ratner defeated Walsh Jesuit's Emma Kealy. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is Photo Friday and this is the first group of photos added during the girls season. There are also a few Western & Southern Open photos included as well. The W&S Open photos are permissioned so that they may be view by everyone. Please sign-in first to view all of the girls photos. Click on Most Recently Added Photos to view them.
The Top Ten Girls Photos will change throughout the season as more photos are taken. Since there are not ten great high school girls photos yet, there are a few W&S Open photos included as placeholders. Click for OTZ Top Ten Girls Photos.
There are no matches listed in the schedule today. OTZ will be at the Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament and the Pickerington Tournament on Saturday. Zoey, the psycho-puppy, will make an appearance at the CSG tournament.
THURSDAY,
Olentangy Berlin Still Winless
Rain impacted play in some districts. Rain will be a bigger problem in today's matches.
Sadly, Olentangy Berlin has never won a match in its school's entire history *. Watterson beat Olentangy Berlin yesterday. The close, 3-2 matches included: Mount Vernon defeated Marysville; Hilliard Davidson beat Hilliard Darby; and Indian Hill defeated Turpin. In other notable matches, Solon defeated Copley and Dublin Coffman beat Wellington. Overall, there were 18 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 2. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Garbine Muguruza at W&S Open - Click to enlarge |
Matches were eventually rained out at the Western & Southern Open yesterday and today will be even more difficult, weather-wise. Today's photo of Garbine Muguruza is after her loss to Lesia Tsurenko. Muguruza was very cordial in her responses to the press. Novak Djokovic (click for photo) was also interviewed. Yesterday was my first experience at being in the interview room, and it was very fascinating. The W&S Open Media Center is not open during OHSAA Girls State tournament.
Today's matches include: Perrysburg (A) versus Toledo Central Catholic; Solon (H) versus Walsh Jesuit; and Sycamore (A) versus Turpin. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
* Ok. Fine. That was Berlin's first match in its school's history. They are a new school.
WEDNESDAY,
Solon Beats Hawken
It looks like Ohio tennis gets one more good day before the rain comes. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 9, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. The match of the day was Oak Hills' win over Kettering Fairmont. This OTCA match had three, 3-setters. The close, 3-2 matches included: Worthington Kilbourne defeated Bloom-Carroll; Westerville Central beat Worthington Christian; Northwest defeated Colerain; DeSales beat Jonathan Alder; Indian Hill defeated Cincinnati Country Day; Wilmington beat Clinton-Massie; and Edgewood defeated Middletown. In another notable match, Solon defeated Hawken. 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 OTZ Team Members. They are led by Ananya Aggarwal and Sanjana Reddy. Larry Kruse is still the mascot but he now faces rabid competition from Teddy.
Today's matches include: Clay (A) versus Ottawa Hills; Hawken (H) versus Perry; Hilliard Davidson (H) versus Hilliard Darby; Solon (H) versus Copley; and Wellington (H) versus Dublin Coffman. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats Westlake | Magnificat Defeats Sycamore
Perfect weather yesterday allowed the season to ramp up quickly. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Southwest -13, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. In matches involving the OTZ Top Ten Teams, #1 Mason defeated #5 Westlake and #2 Magnificat beat Sycamore. A match between Delaware Hayes and River Valley match may end up being the closest match of the year, with Delaware winning 3-2. The match included four 3-setters. In another notable match, Mount Notre Dame defeated Summit Country Day. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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OTCA State Team Draws - Click for draws |
The OTCA State Team Tournament 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 maximize clicks and page views. As indicated in the three features that are circled, note that the most recent update date is included. 2) The navigation links allow users to quickly jump throughout the draw. 3) The team links are "click-able" to enable fans to do more research. The goal is to keep the draws updated throughout the season. Click on Feedback if you are aware of a result that is not yet posted. For the best experience, sign-in to OTZ first.
Today's matches include: Solon (A) versus Hawken; Perrysburg (H) versus Clay (Oregon); and Bloom-Carroll (A) versus Worthington Kilbourne.
MONDAY,
Hathaway Brown > Mason > Magnificat
Even though rain threaten play, weather conditions remained dry so two great high school matches could be played at Mason yesterday. OTZ #1 Mason played back-to-back matches with #2 Magnificat and then with #1-D2 Hathaway Brown. Mason won the first against Magnificat and then got beat by Hathaway Brown in the second. To view all of the detailed results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mag's Olivia Rondini - Click to enlarge |
Among the state's top players, Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk defeated Mason's Ananya Aggarwal; Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov beat Mason's Ananya Aggarwal; Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch defeated Mason's Sanjana Reddy; Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway beat Sycamore's Helen Sotropa; Magnificat's Olivia Rondini defeated Mason's Sanjana Reddy; Mason's Annie Kruse beat Magnificat's Audrey Smitek; Hathaway Brown's Megan Qiang defeated Mason's Megan Li; and Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly beat Sycamore's Fukuda. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Hopefully, no other tennis travelers got caught in the traffic jam going south to Mason yesterday. At one point I had the car in "Park" for about 15 minutes. When traffic finally did get moving again, the car in front of me did not budge. He and his fellow passenger were sound asleep.. Unfortunately that long delay eliminated any chance of me stopping by the Western & Southern Open prior to going to the Mason matches.
Yesterday was high school day at the Western & Southern Open. Click to read Cincinnati Enquirer's Scott Springer's article, "High school tennis players hit with pros at Western & Southern Open in Mason".
Matches scheduled for today include: Sycamore (H) versus Magnificat; Delaware Hayes (A) versus River Valley; Hawken (A) versus Beachwood; Perrysburg (A) versus Findlay; Solon (H) versus Howland; and St. Joseph Academy (A) versus Brush.
SUNDAY,
Mason Beats Olentangy Liberty | Wolf Advances in W&S Qualifier
The crowd and the excitement at the Western & Southern Open yesterday made it feel more like a Monday or Tuesday even though it was just the first round of qualifiers. This is such a competitive tournament that some of the big name players, who have competed well in the Grand Slams, have to qualify for the W&S Open. The good news is that Cincinnati Country Day's JJ Wolf won his first round qualifying match, 7-6, 7-6, against the #85 player in the world, Jozef Kovalik. Wolf plays against #91 Marius Copil today. Click for today's W&S Open's Order of Play.
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JJ Wolf - Click to enlarge |
The weather at the W&S made it feel more like last year's boys high school season. The grounds got hit by a deluge at about 2:30pm that delayed play for about two hours. There was intermittent rain and sunshine after that. Mrs. OTZ (Kathy) and I had hoped to be home by 8:00pm but we finally pulled into the garage at about 1:00am. Zoey, the psycho-puppy, was happy to see us.
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Francesca Di Lorenzo - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Olentangy Liberty's Maddie Atway defeated Mason's Ananya Aggarwal and Mason's Sanjana Reddy beat Olentangy Liberty's Dani Schoenly. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Photo shooting conditions were quite good yesterday during the day but the Wolf and Di Lorenzo matches were 100% under the lights. Wolf played on Center Court, which was fine for taking photos. Di Lorenzo's match got moved to court 7 and those conditions were more like taking indoor photos, which generally produces poor results.
There are three big high school matches today: #1 Mason plays #2 Magnificat and #1 (D2) Hathaway Brown. Sycamore plays #7 Olentangy Liberty.
SATURDAY,
And Away We Go...
There will be no "easing into" this season. Today's plans were blown up last night in a good way when it was discovered that JJ Wolf (Cincinnati Country Day / Ohio State) would be competing in today's Western & Southern Open Qualifier. There was more good news this morning when Francesca Di Lorenzo's (New Albany / Ohio State) name appeared on the Order of Play for qualifying. I plan to be in Mason today to watch and take photos of those matches.
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JJ Wolf at States in 2014 - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Upper Arlington's Ella Hazelbaker defeated Chaminade-Julienne's Davis. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OhioTennisZone is in its ugly duckling stage during this time of the year. Please give the service a couple of days before emailing as the reports switch from the 2017 to the 2018 season.
The photo of JJ Wolf is when he competed at States as a freshman in 2014. I believe this photo was taken in the finals in his match against teammate, Asher Hirsch (Gracie and Hayley's older brother). Wolf was forced to retire from severe leg cramps on a hot day. This is yet another reason why there needs to be more time between singles matches at States to give players more time to rest and to get hydrated.
Today's matches include: Mason (H) versus Olentangy Liberty and Sycamore (A) versus McAuley. Note that most schedules have not yet been entered by coaches.
FRIDAY, AUGUST
OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Teams (extreme beta release)
It is time to release the OhioTennisZone.com Pre-Season Top Ten Girls Teams. 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.
Pre-Season State Top Ten Girls Tennis Teams August 10, 2018 |
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM |
| 2. Magnificat◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 3. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 4. Pick. North◄TEAM | Toledo Central Catholic |
| 5. Westlake◄TEAM | Laurel◄TEAM |
| 6. Olen. Orange◄TEAM | Oakwood |
| 7. Olen. Liberty◄TEAM | Summit Country Day◄TEAM |
| 8. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 9. St. Ursula Acad.◄TEAM | Cincinnati Hills Chr. Acad. |
| 10. Ursuline Academy | Wellington◄TEAM |
| HM: Perrysburg, Springboro | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. | |
Ohio retained a large number of great players from last year. Check out the OTZ Top Players Report to see how many. (The report currently includes the 2018 graduates but they will soon be removed from the report). The state's top three teams remain: Mason, Hathaway Brown, and Magnificat.
Division I1. Last year's defending D1 Champion Mason returns a really (really) strong team. They include: Jamie Kim, Ananya Aggarwal, Sanjana Reddy, and Raina Chada. Plus, Emma, Annie, and Larry Kruse. They lost Nicole Reid to graduation.
2. Magnificat lost Alexandra Vesikallio (Villinova) and Nikita Zuber to graduation but they retain state singles champion, Anna Roggenburk. Junior Olivia Rondini also returns, plus they pick up Audrey Smitek.
3. Dublin Jerome returns Arya Dudipala, Katherine Wang, and Reagan Resor. They also pick up Dublin Coffman's Lalasa Nagireddy. They lost Vicki Chang (Carnegie Mellon) and Neha Dudipala to graduation.
4. Pickerington North returns State runner-up, Cassie Alcala, as well as Rhyan Cook and Kim Nguyen.
5. Westlake returns their top three singles players. They are Emma Peeler, Demi Jhaveri, and Ashley Michelich. All three competed at States last year.
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Mason Girl's Team - Click to enlarge |
7. The state champion doubles team of Maddie Atway and Dani Schoenly returns to Olentangy Liberty. Lexie Brengartner also returns. Liberty lost Alexis Steer (Akron) and Cellini Ko to graduation.
8. Upper Arlington returns Ella Hazelbaker, Noah Mizer, and Wendy Shi. They lost Masha Manilchuk and Lily Goldberg to graduation.
9. St. Ursula Academy gets Elizabeth Pendergast, Bella Kirby, and Taylor Kuncl back. They had no 2018 graduates.
10. Gabriella O`Connor and Nina Dhaliwal were the runners-up in last year's State dubs finals. O'Connor (Creighton) graduated while Dhaliwal returns for her sophomore year. Gracie Estes also returns, plus they add a bonus Estes (Bridget).
Honorable Mention. Perrysburg returns a deep team consisting of: Emma Carter, Sydney Onest, Gemma Smith, and Caitlyn Schankula.
Honorable Mention: Springboro (Patel**2)
Division II
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Hathaway Brown Girl's Team - Click to enlarge |
1. Hathaway Brown lost none of their top players from last year and they return the D2 singles champion, Nicole Gillinov, and the doubles champions, Megan Qiang and Isabella Godsick. Also returning are: Maddie Lynch, Rebecca Wolf, and Isabella Daverio. Their biggest problem this season might be finding opponents outside of the Big Ten to play.
2. Indian Hill still keeps one Hirsch (Hayley), but they lost one (Gracey) to Penn State. Samantha Pregel, Saskia Gobonya, Jessica Budde, and Madeline Major return. They also lost Julia Yingling to graduation.
3. Columbus Academy returns the D2 singles finalist, Sydni Ratliff. Other returning players include: Himaja Reddy, Alex Graham, Maddie Tuckerman, and Lauren Motta. They lost Georgia Tuckerman and Lexis Hughes to graduation.
4. Toledo Central Catholic will be Spinazze neutral. They lost Sophia but they pick up Isabella Spinazze. Maverick Delp and Ava McQuillin also return.
5. Laurel returns all of their top players, including their top three singles players. They are Rachel Buchinsky, Victoria Vasquez, and Priya Khadilkar.
6. Oakwood is a new name on this list, but this Southwest District team is going to be tough to beat. They return sophomores Lily McCloskey, Natalie Connelly, and Katie Ritschel, and they pick up two ranked TennisRecruiting.net players, Grace Hartman and Sarah Hall. They are not OTZ team members yet so none of their player names are highlighted.
7. Summit Country Day returns Elizabeth Fahrmeier, Amy Poffenberger, and Molly Mambort . They lost Kathryn Adam to graduation.
8. Since Lexington is close to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, this is how they travel to practice. They return Sylvia Goldsmith, Hayliegh Tucker, and Katherine Volz. Gracie Pfieffer will contribute as a freshman. Madison Mueller graduated.
9. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy is a new team on the list. Returning for CHCA are Kennedy Puryear and Leanne Yuan. They pick up TennisRecruiting.net 5-star, Abby Nugent.
10. Wellington is the second strongest Central District team. Returning players for Wellington include: Akua Antwi-Woods, Isabella Vegas, and Camille Olmstead.
Honorable Mention: Seven Hills (Neda Tehrani and Annika Alper) and Archbishop Alter (Emily Pojman and Rachel Hawley)
Note that there are additional details for players with high-lighted links. Teams with the green "◄TEAM" designation will include information about all of their players (or they soon will).
Special thanks to Tyler Stephen for his insights. Coach Stephen is the coach for Otterbein's Men's and Women's teams. OTZ also received assistance from a number of Ohio high school coaches.
Could these rankings be wrong? No. Not really. It is, however, important that teams cooperate and do what the rankings tell them to do.. Please always remember that it is "Wrong to Win" if a team is higher than your team in the OTZ rankings. Always do your part..
Were any teams left out of the discussion? Feel free to submit a Feedback to share your views. And because OhioTennisZone.com really does care about what you think, (Ok. The OTZ marketing whizzes required that be included.) you may also sign-in and share your innermost Top Ten Team thoughts by clicking on Vote for Your Own Top Ten Teams.
MONDAY, AUGUST
USTA National Championships
Numerous Ohio players are competing in this week's B16-18 and G16-18 USTA National Championships. The boys championships are being played in Kalamazoo, MI and the girls are competing in San Diego. Many of these players competed in Ohio high school tennis while others chose to compete only in high-level ITF's.
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Gilmour's Carly Cohen- Click to enlarge |
The 18 Ohio girls competing in the G16-18's are: Laurel's Rachel Buchinsky, Morgan Coburn, Gilmour Academy's Carly Cohen, Summit Country Day's Elizabeth Fahrmeier, Hathaway Brown's Nicole Gillinov, Rylie Hanford, Dalayna Hewitt (#10 seed - G18), Nataly Kader, Mason's Jamie Kim, Hathaway Brown's Maddie Lynch, Sonya Macavei, Caty McNally (#5 seed - G18), Mount Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus, Orange's Blessing Nwaozuzu, Columbus Academy's Sydni Ratliff (#17 seed - G16), Magnificat's Anna Roggenburk, Peyton Stearns (#14 seed - G18), and Centennial's Zoey Weil. Click on the player names to view their OTZ Player Profiles.
There are only seven boys in the National Championships in Kalamazoo. They are: New Albany's Robert Cash (#3 seed - B18 dubs), Saiprakash Goli, St. Xavier's Ronit Hiryur, Mason's Niraj Komatineni, Indian Hill's Andrew Pregel, Danny Thomas (#2 seed - B18), and Nicholas Williams.
The singles and doubles winners of the Boys 18 and Girls 18's receive entry into the main draws of the US Open so this is a really big deal for these players. In 2016, Cincinnati's (and OSU's) John McNally and JJ Wolf won the B18 doubles, and last year Pickerington's DJ Thomas won the B18 doubles with his partner, Vasil Kirkov. In 2009, Chase Buchanan won the B18 singles and played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the US Open. I did a detailed, brain-numbing analysis of that match. Click Gerber Analytics Brain Numbing Analysis of Tsonga vs. Buchanan Match for that report.. (Sorry, you are not done until you review the point by point trend charts.)
Last year, there were 13 Ohio girls and ten Ohio boys competing, versus 18 and 7 this year, respectively. As several people commented at last spring's Boys States, there is not as much depth in Ohio boys tennis right now.
To view the complete draws and to see the most recent results, click on USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 18 and Girls' 16 National Championships and USTA Boys' 18 and Boys' 16 National Championships.
OhioTennisZone attended the USTA Boys National Championships in Kalamazoo for the last two years but is not going this year. It is fun to watch the players, but I need to sell more photos in order to make the trip worthwhile.
THURSDAY, AUGUST
Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Awards
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) identifies its academic award winners each year. As readers would expect, there were numerous Ohio players on these lists. Congratulations to these players.
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Jerome's Emily Neal - Click to enlarge |
Women
Division I: Natalie Allen (Chaminade-Julienne - University Dayton), Lauren Ghidotti (Bishop Watterson - Xavier), Lauren Gillinov (Hathaway Brown - Yale), Alexia Meyer (Olentangy Liberty - Missouri State University), Emily Neal (Dublin Jerome - Butler), Caitlyn Merzbacher (Dublin Jerome - University of Minnesota), Jillian Milano (Carroll - Wright State University), Mollie Miller (Portsmouth - University of Cincinnati), Anna Sanford (Olentangy Orange - Ohio State University), and Danielle Wolf (Cincinnati Country Day - Ohio State University).
Division II: Brianna Brdicka (Olentangy - Ashland), Teagan McNamara (Notre Dame Academy - Belmont Abbey College), and Taylor Selby (New Albany - Eckerd College).
Division III: Meredith Breda (Indian Hill - Depauw University), Nina Cepeda (Mason - Case Western), Lynn Kelly (Mason - Ohio Northern University), Ally Persky (Hathaway Brown - Washington University in St. Louis), and Jamie Vizelman (Mayfield - Carnegie Mellon).
Men
Division I: Carlos Estrada-Sanchez (Chaminade-Julienne - Wright State University), Nathan Griffin (St. Ignatius - University of Notre Dame), Jeffrey Melvin (Upper Arlington - Boston College), Nico Mostardi (Kenston - Cleveland State), Reid Teatsorth (Findlay - University of Toledo), Jacob Wareti (Columbus Academy - Ohio State University), and JJ Wolf (Cincinnati Country Day - Ohio State University).
Division III: Deepak Indrakanti (Sycamore - Williams College), Cameron Raglin (Reynoldsburg - Amherst College), Alex Taylor (Sycamore - Williams College), Luke Tsai (Mason - University of Chicago), and Kevin Yu (Mason - California Institute of Technology).
NAIA: Alex Wittenbaum (Sycamore - Marian University).
Please let OTZ know via Feedback if a player was not included. Also let OTZ know if a player is not associated with the correct high school.
Click ITA All-Academic Awards for the complete lists.
TUESDAY,
New OHSAA Rule Goes into Effect
The Ohio High School Athletic Association has introduced a new rule this season which places Ohio on par with other Midwestern states in dealing with important USTA matches during the season. This rule was announced by OHSAA Director of Compliance and OHSAA Tennis Administrator, Roxanne Price. [This was further clarified by OTZ on August 1.]
- Ohio high school players can start the high school season when matches begin on August 10 and then obtain up to two pre-approved waivers to compete in non-high school (i.e. USTA) events until September 16. [This is what OTZ expects the top players to do if they want to compete in the Midwest Level 3 that takes place, September 1-3.]
- OR
- Ohio high school players can delay their entry into high school matches until the Non-Interscholastic Date (September 4) to play any number of USTA events. [Correction: Players will not be given waivers if they have not yet joined/played for their team prior to 9/4.] They can then play two more events after the Non-Interscholastic Date by using a pre-approved waiver until September 16. [In OTZ's opinion, this would make the high school season way too short for a player.]
As always, it is extremely important to check with and to receive permission from your coach and/or athletic director before competing in any non-high school matches.
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OHSAA's Roxanne Price - Click to enlarge |
Ohio players were always at a disadvantage to players from other states because Ohio players were locked out of major events that were important to player development. In many cases, competing in these events enabled players to get accepted into bigger tournaments later in the year and/or to receive seeds at these tournaments. To make matters even worse, players from other states could compete in these big events against a weakened field that did not include the strong Ohio players.
This rule now removes a big obstacle for players who would like to play high school tennis for their school, but could not, because of other important tournaments.
Way back on September 4, 2008 and prior to the creation of OhioTennisZone.com, I released a document, Ohio High School Tennis Analysis, that highlighted several shortcomings of Ohio high school tennis. It is very nice to see that this was the last remaining item. Click to read this oldie but goody document.
This rule is also a big plus for OhioTennisZone and for tennis fans in general. I would travel to attend big, early-season matches to watch and to take photos only to find out that some players were not competing.
Click to read the: 2018 OHSAA Girls Tennis Manual for Coaches, Ms. Price's document released this summer that highlighted the changes, and the Tennis Non-Interscholastic Waiver Request.
SATURDAY,
Four Ohio Girls in Junior Wimbledon Finals / Misc. Summer
First the great news... Three of the four players competing in the Wimbledon Junior Girls doubles finals are from Ohio. It is a big deal when this many players are from the same country. Having three from Ohio is pretty amazing. The players are: Caty McNally (from Cincinnati who won the French Open junior dubs), Dalayna Hewitt (from Cleveland area's Pepper Pike), and Peyton Stearns (Mason) are competing. Hewitt and Stearns are teaming up.
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Peyton Stearns in 2016 at OVTA G16 - Click to enlarge |
In the crappy news category, Mrs. OTZ and I have been battling with Columbus City Council on legislation for the last two years about a full-time, non-owner occupied Airbnb that is next door to us. We have no issues with people who want to host Airbnb guests in their own homes, but when investors move into residential neighborhoods snapping up homes and changing them into motels, then that is a big problem. Not only is it a nuisance to existing residents, but it also takes homes (and apartments) off the market which drives up the prices for homes and apartment rent. Other major cities have learned from this and have banned non-owner occupied Airbnbs, but not Columbus. Cleveland, Nashville, Chicago, Boston, and many other cities do not permit full-time, non-owner occupied Airbnbs in residential areas.
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bnbBlight.com - Click to go to web site |
As you would expect, I created a web site to try and combat these things. It is called bnbBlight.com. There is also a Twitter page called bnbBlight. If your city is debating this issue, contact us. This issue has been a major time sink for OTZ this summer. The State Team Tournament finished on May 27 and I had to jump full-blast into the Airbnb issue with a Columbus City Council hearing on May 29. I have still not had an opportunity to wrap up the boys season to my satisfaction. Click on the link below to follow bnbBlight via Twitter.
