Sectional/District Draws |
Ohio High School Tennis
SUNDAY,
College Tennis Underway
Going to the Australian Open to watch great tennis is a long bus ride.. There is a closer alternative. There are now plenty of great college matches taking place and the admission is typically free. While the player quality level is not on par with the majors, it is not impossible that you might also be seeing a future pro.
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OSU's/SC's Reece Yakubov - Click to enlarge |
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NKU's/Wellington's Trevor Ball - Click to enlarge |
While it is extremely convenient for me to make the two.two mile drive down to the Ohio State Ty Tucker Center to watch Ohio State and their opponents play, it is probably equally convenient for you to go watch Xavier, Case Western, University of Cincinnati, Toledo, or Cleveland State compete.
The added benefit is that D1 tennis hopefuls can see where they might fit in on a team and the same applies to potential D2 and D3 players.
It also helps to develop contacts, and by introducing yourself to one of these players now, it might lead to a "paid hit" this summer which would greatly benefit all parties.
Today's photos include Ohio State Reece Yakubov and Northern Kentucky's Trevor Ball. Yakubov played for St. Charles and he was a 3-time state qualifier (COVID-19 prevented a fourth), including a trip to the finals in dubs as a freshman. Trevor Ball played for Wellington. He would have been a favorite to win the singles championship in 2020, but COVID-19 prevented that. They both competed in the OSU/NKU match on January 15.
Ohio State has two big matches today. The OSU women play #4 Oklahoma at 11am today (Sunday) and the OSU men play against Illinois at 2:45pm. Both are at the Ty Tucker Center.
FRIDAY,
System Update Underway
Many users may notice that there have been more warning and error messages on OhioTennisZone recently as well as on the OTZ evil-step-sister sites, PlatformTennisZone.com and PickleballZone.com. The reason why is because the underlying software (PHP) that is used by these sites needed updated.
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Fixing OTZ Issues - Click to enlarge |
The organization that produces PHP is always making improvements and discontinuing older versions of its software. The problem is that the newer versions modify how they handle certain requests. This causes the software to identify and report more errors.
Who is affected? Hopefully not you, but if an error is encountered that prevents a task from being done, please submit a Feedback message. For example, if a coach tries to enter his / her team match schedule and cannot, that is a problem that needs to be reported.
What is the upside? PHP 8 runs slightly faster than the older PHP 7.3, which is what the sites previously used. Plus, most players will also now have better backhands. (Ok. Fine. I just made that up.)
This will be a "whack-a-mole" effort for a few more days as errors are identified and fixed, but the system should be solid before the season begins.
There is a great deal of work that occurs in the off-season for OhioTennisZone to function, and this is just another one of those tasks that needed to be done.
WEDNESDAY,
OHSAA Boys Season Calendar / Passing of Academy's Jack Madison
The OTZ Boys Season Calendar is being released early this year. Why? Web site usage on OhioTennisZone is already kicking into gear and there have already been a few questions about the upcoming season.
OhioTennisZone.com |
| Feb 11: ACT Test Date |
| Feb 18-20: USTA Level 4: B14, B16, B18 |
| Feb.25-26: OTCA Coach Clinic (Cleveland) |
| Mar. 6: 1st Day of Coaching |
| Mar. 11: SAT Test Date |
| Mar. 18: Coach to Enter Match Schedule on OTZ |
| Apr. 15: ACT Test Date |
| Mar. 23: Coach to Enter Roster on OTZ |
| Mar. 24: HS Season Begins |
| Mar. 27 - Apr. 2: Easter Bowl |
| Apr 1: Coach to Provide Team Picture to OTZ |
| Apr 2: Pay OTZ for Coach, Team, or Individual Mem. |
| Apr. 9: Easter |
| Apr. 15: ACT Test Date |
| Apr. 10: Non-Interscholastic Date |
| Apr. ??: Waiver Extension Ends |
| Apr 30: Sectional Tournament Draw |
| May 6: SAT Test Date |
| May 8-13: Sectional Tournament |
| May 15-20: District Tournament |
| May 26-27: State Tournament |
| May 27: State Team Tournament |
| June 3: Season Ends |
The OTZ calendar includes a few additional dates that are important to tennis players, such as the dates of several major USTA tournaments and the ACT / SAT test dates. While these dates are believed to be correct, always check with other sources before planning the rest of your future forever. The tennis dates should mimic the OHSAA Tennis Sports Calendar.
The boys season calendar is normally chaotic because of the weather and due to the timing of spring breaks. That will likely be the case again this year. The boys get far more time to prepare for the season than the girls, but the inclement weather always reduces the number of days that can be spent outdoors.
There will be no shortage of high school tune-up opportunities for players competing in USTA tournaments. Click for the Midwest Junior Tournament Schedule. Click to view the USTA National Tournament schedule. As normal, there are no high level tournaments in Central Ohio.
The boys can use waivers to play non-HS tennis during the season. The waivers should enable most boys to start the season on time (rather than waiting to play in a key tournament). The end date has not yet been published by the OHSAA. Last year, the information was here: OHSAA Waivers. Always (always, always) work with your coach, athletic director, and the OHSAA to insure that this waiver is completed well in advance and is done absolutely positively correctly.
Coaches, please do not remove players who have graduated from your roster. Fans like to see those who are no longer on the team as they compare this year's team versus last year's. This will be done by OTZ near the beginning of the season.
This calendar will remain in the right sidebar throughout the season.
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Col. Academy's Jack Madison - Click to enlarge |
There is also sad news to report. Columbus Academy's Jack Madison passed away last week. Jack was a 2021 graduate and he was a two-time OHSAA State Doubles Finalist with his cousin, Arie Tuckerman. Jack played collegiate tennis at Colorado College. Click for Jack's obituary. Click to read the Columbus Dispatch article from Frank DiRenna. An article from the Colorado College tennis team is here.
FRIDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team
Congratulations to the players selected for the OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio Girls Tennis Team for 2022.
OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio |
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Division I - Singles |
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Division II - Singles |
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Division I - Doubles |
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Division II - Doubles |
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The OTZ list is a bit different than the OHSAA All-Ohio team. While a player's performance at States is the best way to get on the team, OTZ also looks at a player's entire season and will even include players who may not have even qualified for States because of unfortunate District draws. OTZ also believes that the OHSAA team is too mechanical in its approach by granting honors only based on the round in which the player reached at States.
The number of players on the OTZ All-Ohio Team can vary from year to year based on the skill levels of the players. The normal barometer in measuring the strength of the All-Ohio team is to count the number of Division I college or high-end Division III players on the list. Thankfully, COVID-19 disruptions are finally reducing their impacts on recruiting. That said, seven players are known to be playing Division I / III college tennis. The number of Ohio D1 players on the OTZ All-Ohio team this year is seven for D1 and six for D2. In previous years, it was the following for D1: 2021 - 8; 2020 - 7, 2019 - 8, 2018 - 7, 2017 - 7, and 2016 - 6. The D2 teams have totaled: 2021 - 7, 2020 - 7, 2019 - 7, 2018 - 8, 2017 - 6, and 2016 - 6.
Note that players with the yellow PP tennis balls next to their names have Player Profiles and that more information is available for them by clicking on their names. Click to sign-up to obtain an OTZ Player Profile.
The OTZ Top Players Lists have also been updated. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. To see all of the players on one page, click on All Districts.
As for photos.. Photos from the 2022 Girls season are now uploaded on SmugMug for viewing. To order a photo, just provide the filename (i.e. DSC_1234). Click to view the SmugMug OTZ site.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER
Final OTZ Team Rankings
OTZ was tardy in wrapping up the girls season. There will be several updates in short succession.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM SS 3 Final 4 | Cin. Hills Chr. Acad.◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 2. N. Canton Hoover◄TEAM 3 Final 4 | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 3. Centerville◄TEAM 1 | Col. Academy◄TEAM 1 Final 4 |
| 4. Magnificat◄TEAM 2 | Indian Hill◄TEAM 3 |
| 5. New Albany◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Orange◄TEAM 2 |
| 6. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM 3 | Hawken◄TEAM 2 |
| 7. St. Ursula Acad.◄TEAM 1 | Archbishop Alter◄TEAM 0 |
| 8. Avon◄TEAM 1 | Kenston 0 |
| 9. Anth. Wayne◄TEAM 2 Final 4 | Bexley 1 |
| 10. Sycamore◄TEAM 0 | Wellington◄TEAM 1 |
| HM: Mass. Jackson◄TEAM 2 | Mariemont 0 |
| HM: Solon◄TEAM 1 | Seven Hills◄TEAM 0 |
| HM: Highland◄TEAM 1 | Bryan 0 Final 4 |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. State Spots 3 - Denotes Number of Spots at States. Final 4 - Denotes State Tournament District Representative. |
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It was straightforward for the top two picks in Division I (Mason and North Canton Hoover) and Division II (Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and Hathaway Brown). After that, there were numerous great choices for the middle portion of the rankings. D1 Teams included in the OTZ Pre-Season Rankings were shuffled but largely the same set of teams as in the final rankings. Anthony Wayne was; however, a nice addition. In Division II, Orange and Bexley were the big additions to the rankings.
North Canton Hoover was this season’s "Rosetta Stone" team because of the large number of top Division I and D2 teams they played from throughout the state. By comparing all of the teams that have played Hoover in the OTZ Matrix Report, it becomes clearer how they all compare. Of course, being the "Rosetta Stone" team, meant that Hoover was extremely well prepare for post season play. Mason is such a tough team but Hoover did everything that they could do to prepare for them.
If teams were viewed as “tied”, the team which had the most matches against other strong teams was given the higher ranking.
The number of State Spots that each team had is included in gray.
As always, there were situations when Team A was better than Team B which was better than Team C which was better than Team A.
There were also situations when teams were experimenting with their line-ups or they did not have key players at a match.
FRIDAY,
Top Incoming Freshman Girls | More Photos
This is the annual list of the higher-skilled incoming freshman girls. Fans and coaches like to see who the strong players are on the horizon. Using TennisRecruiting.net (TRN), OTZ has identified the top 20(ish) eighth graders in Ohio. This information should be especially helpful to the coaches who want to schedule strong opponents. Of course, it is also important to know which school these players are attending. It is normally easy to identify a few schools based on player names, but many of these players do not have older sisters (or brothers) who play tennis. Any help on this would be appreciated. Please submit a Feedback. Note that this list includes an update date at the top of the table.
OhioTennisZone.com |
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | Incoming School |
| Renee Harper - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Oak Hills |
| Elise Hedrick - 2 | Dayton (SW) | |
| Ava Kamensky - 2 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | |
| Ayumi Kashiwakura - 2 | Mason (SW) | |
| Valeria Kislyansky - 3 | Solon (NE) | |
| Abigail Lynch - 4 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | |
| Anna Mills - 3 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | Hathaway Brown |
| Raina Patel - 1 | Cleveland (NE) | |
| Perasa Poompanit - 2 | Cincinnati (SW) | Walnut Hills |
| Meher Rao - 4 | Powell (C) | |
| Saanvi Reddy - 3 | Mason (SW) | |
| Alexa Roth - 3 | Columbus (C) | Upper Arlington |
| Bhavana Singidi - 2 | Mason (SW) | |
| Gabrielle Stewart - 2 | Columbus (C) | |
| Rida Tahir - 3 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | |
| Riddhi Thorat - 2 | Columbus (C) | |
| Kamilla Toirova - 3 | Pickerington (C) | |
| Emma Wagner - 4 | Mason (SW) | |
| Chloe Zhang - 2 | Mason (SW) | |
| Angela Zhang - 2 | Mason (SW) | |
The list is sorted alphabetically and the Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
In comparison to the class of 2026 (current freshman), this is a slightly less-skilled group who have also played less tournament matches. The TRN average star ranking is 2.36 this year versus 2.68 last year. The number of tournament played averages 13.75 versus 14.64 in last year's group.
TRN has to make guesses on class years unless a player has entered this on the TRN system. Some are likely be to seventh graders.
While there are some players / parents who believe that participating in high school tennis is not worthwhile, none of the players on the list are in that super elite (i.e. Caty McNally) category. Hopefully all of these players will be included on a team.
Of the 20 players on the list, the Central District has five, Northeast - six, Northwest - none, and Southwest - nine.
Speaking of Tennis Recruiting.net, now is always the time to update player contact information on TennisRecruiting.net. This is the service that many college coaches use to reach out to prospective recruits.
Efforts are still underway with processing photos. Click on this link to view and select ones that you would like to purchase. Click on Most Recently Added Photos to view the photos added to OhioTennisZone.
After 86 days of consecutive daily updates (August 4 - October 28), there are no current plans to publish over the weekend. This does not mean that I will sleep past 5:30am (rarely do I get up that late anyway), but it does mean that I will have more time to prepare PlatformTennisZone.com for the upcoming season and to process more photos. There will be another update on Monday.
THURSDAY,
OTZ Photos on SmugMug
The OTZ camera is one of the best on the planet, but getting photos from that camera to parents who want to purchase photos of their player was like a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. OTZ provided parents with a PDF of photos to review weeks after their kids played. This process is now getting streamlined.
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Click to view and purchase OTZ Photos
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Photos are in the process of getting uploaded to SmugMug for parents to review. Parents can look for the date of the tournament or dual match and find the photos that they like best of their daughter. They only need to provide the filename of the image or the "time and date" that the image was taken to order a photo. Photos cannot directly be purchased from SmugMug because OTZ needs to "finish" (i.e. straighten, crop, enhance) the photo. OTZ also wants to manage who (i.e. parents or grandparents) purchases a photo. (Examples of "finished photos" include the players' names.)
Click to view the OTZ photos on SmugMug.
Also note that some parents with a history of purchasing photos, contacted OTZ during the season requesting photos. That means that some players will have more photos included than others.
Thirteen photos were added to OTZ today and they will continue to be added in chronological order. Meanwhile, photos will also continue to be added to SmugMug in reverse chronological order. That means that the State Team Tournament and the State tournament images were added first. Click to view the Most Recently Added Photos on OTZ.
The cost to purchase photos is on a sliding scale. The first digital photo starts at $19.99 (+ tax) and they go down in price to $12 / photo as greater quantities are purchased. The discount applies to any that are purchased during that season. For example, if you see a States photo that you want to purchase immediately, but also see a photo later on OTZ that you like, the next photo will be $17.50 (or lower). Click on Buy an OTZ Photo and look at the right side-bar for all of the prices.
Payment can be made via check or PayPal. Note that I need to be more careful about the payment process. Believe it or not, I have been burned more than once when I have delivered photos but never received payment. Also.. If you "lift" an OTZ photo off of SmugMug, that isn't being clever, it's stealing. It is no different than slipping a DVD at Best Buy into your jacket pocket and walking out without paying for it. Choose wisely.
I think everyone realizes that not only is OhioTennisZone not a lucrative endeavor, but it is also extremely time consuming. Purchasing OTZ photos helps the cause considerably.
Please contact OTZ with any questions at Feedback (or call or email).
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Usage Report: Who, What, Where from?
What is accessed on OhioTennisZone and who accesses it? It is time for the seasonal usage edition. Read on to learn what areas of the nation access OTZ the most; which players get the most views on their OTZ Player Profiles; and what team pages generate the most views. The usage covered is for the time period of August 1 to October 25, 2022.
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Mason's Aggarwal - Click to enlarge |
Mag's Bennett - Click to enlarge |
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Bexley's Bowles - Click to enlarge |
NDA's Bucher - Click to enlarge |
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NA's Francois - Click to enlarge |
Olentangy's Gerald - Click |
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DC's Ghosh-Choudhuri - Click |
Avon's A.Smitek - Click to enlarge |
From the team page perspective, the team with the most accesses was Dublin Coffman, followed by #2 Upper Arlington, #3 North Canton Hoover, #4 Magnificat, #5 Columbus Academy, #6 Mason, #7 Hathaway Brown, #8 New Albany, #9 Olentangy Berlin, and #10 Dublin Jerome. Solon and Wellington fell outside of the Top 10 this year. They were replaced by Berlin and Jerome.
While it is unknown who specifically accesses each OTZ page, note that middle school players and parents are certainly big users. Teams need to think of these OTZ Team pages as advertisements for future customers (parents and players). Of course, having an OTZ Team page for a private school is a complete no-brainer. Tennis parents value the education / tennis combination and if a school can attract a parent/player by using an OTZ $99 team membership who will then spend $65,000 on tuition over four years, that is a good return on investment.
The eight players who had the most views of their OTZ Player Profiles are (in alphabetical order): Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, Magnificat's Anna Bennett, Bexley's Amiya Bowles, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, New Albany's Richardlyne Francois, Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald, Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, and Avon's Natalie Smitek. All but Aggarwal and Bucher are new to the list this year. Natalie Smitek's sister, Audrey, was on the list last year. Click on the player names above to view their OTZ Player Profiles. The parent associated with the Player Profile may view the total number of views since the Player Profile was created. The photos of the players may be clicked to enlarge them.
The top pages accessed on OhioTennisZone (outside of this main page) are listed below and sorted in pageview order. The OTZ Personalized Report is what users see when they first login and it is new this season. The biggest usage day of the season was on the second day of States. These fall in the same order as last year.
- Central Ohio Team Lookup
- OTZ Personalized Report (page presented at sign-in)
- Girls State Draws-2022
- Northeast Ohio Team Lookup
- Girls State Team Tournament Draws
- Southwest Ohio Team Lookup
Some numbers that have not been shared in the past include the total number of users and the total number of pageviews. Per Google Analytics, there were 35,000 users who accessed OTZ from August 1 to October 25. That's a 5.2% increase over last year's 33,260 users who accessed OTZ during the same time period. For the 2020 season, the total was 28,215. The number of pageviews in 2021 was 415,986 and it jumped to 431,563 in 2022. That's a 6.8% increase. Note that the number of users counts the number of devices that people use to access OTZ. For that reason, the actual number of users is probably about half of the above.
The Google Analytics metrics for the Metro Usage were confusing this year. The use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) may be the cause. VPN's mask the location of users or provide misleading information to those trying to gather it. In Ohio, the Columbus Metro area had the most usage in Ohio, followed by Cleveland-Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton, and then Toledo.
Google Analytics is changing its approach to gathering numbers in 2023 so that may limit the amount of information gathered in the future.
Yes, Twitter is largely a waste of time. It does; however, draw people from Twitter onto the OhioTennisZone web site. It also extends the OhioTennisZone brand. During this season alone, 221,000 impressions were generated over the 86 day period. The top six OTZ tweets for the season are as follows:
- 1. September 19, 2022 - View Tweet - The OhioTennisZone.com State Top Ten Tennis Rankings have been updated. Mason (D1) and Hathaway Brown (D2) remain at the top of the rankings. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-09-19_art @OHADNewsHS @ThisWeekSports @mlaughman
- 2. August 4, 2022 - View Tweet - The OhioTennisZone.com Girls Pre-Season State Team Division I rankings are now available. Mason <no gasp> starts the season at #1. Click for the potential key contributors for each school. ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-08-04_art @OHADNewsHS @mlaughman @ThisWeekSports @tennis_point_US
- 3. September 26, 2022 - View Tweet - And away we go.. The Central District Sectional Draws are now available. Who is playing singles? How-a-bout dubs? Click and find out at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-09-26_art
- 4. October 16, 2022 - View Tweet - Yes. We are ready for States. Click for all of the State Qualifiers in seed order with links for more information about many of the players. Photo of the Central District D1 State Qualifiers. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-10-16_art. @ThisWeekSports @mlaughman @OHADNewsHS
- 5. September 16, 2022 - View Tweet - Wellington is hosting Columbus Academy. This a regular season match rather than a State Team Tournament match.
- 6. August 13, 2022 - View Tweet - Almost ready to roll at the Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament. Playing today are Hathaway Brown, CSG, Olentangy Berlin, Worthington Kilbourne, Dublin Jerome, Watterson, Olentangy Excellent, and Bexley.
OTZ appreciates its sponsors and advertisers and absolutely more are needed. Please contact OTZ for more information. Online activity continues to grow. For more information about advertising, please submit a Feedback.
Today is going to be spent on processing photos.
TUESDAY,
OHSAA Tournament Championship Points
All of the championship points were captured this year. OTZ got videos of D1 Singles, D2 Singles, and D2 Doubles. Mrs. Hinshaw graciously provided the video for D1 doubles.
Player photos were included at the end of the videos. There was also an extra point added when possible.
For best results, use full screen mode and increase the resolution to HD (for high definition)..
There is not much control over the image that is selected for the video. When time permits, this image may be tweaked.
Crank up the volume so that co-workers (or neighbors) stop by your office cube to see what is going on.
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Division I Singles: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher. |
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Division I Doubles: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen beat New Albany's Richardlyne Francois - Paige Cornelius. |
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Division II Singles: Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson. |
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Division II Doubles: Eaton's Macy Hitchcock - Mallory Hitchcock beat Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula - Addison Cassidy. |
There are always some scoring snafus found by coaches as they begin to print off their end-of-season reports. If results are incorrect, please provide:
- the *incorrect* match information. The error first needs to be located in the database and their are a zillion scores. Please include the date, the name(s) of all of the player(s) and their schools, and the score.
- then provide the correct match information which includes all of the above, but with the correct information
If the commentary is incorrect, please provide *when* the commentary was in error, the erroneous comments, and what it should be. Screen shots are always helpful.
Please keep in mind there are quite a few moving parts. The players could have reported the wrong score, the coach could have recorded it incorrectly, the newspaper may have posted it incorrectly, or maybe, just possibly, OTZ could have made an error.
Tomorrow is the OTZ usage issue which includes the most viewed teams and players.
MONDAY, - Updated 2:00pm
Mason and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy - State Team Champions
Congratulations to Mason for winning the Division I State Team Championship and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy for earning the Division II State Team Championship. While these matches are never routine and both finals were suspenseful, both teams went 3-0 against their four opponents. Mason defeated New Albany in the semis and North Canton Hoover in the finals. CHCA beat Columbus Academy in their semi-final match and Hathaway Brown in the finals. New Albany beat Anthony Wayne for third place in a tight, 3-2 match that was clinched on 1st dubs at 2-2. Columbus Academy defeated Bryan for third in Division II. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The Southwest District was the big winner for the weekend. In addition to winning both of the State Team Championships, it also won D1 Singles, D1 Doubles, and D2 Doubles. Central's Bexley was the sole winner outside of the Southwest. The States semi-final breakdowns showed how strong the Northeast also competed. In the State semi-finals, the Districts fared as follows: Northeast had seven semi-finalists, Southwest - 5, Central - 2, and Northwest -2.
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Mason - D1 State Champions - Click to enlarge |
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CHCA - State D2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
This was Mason's sixth championship in a row. Here are the photos of Mason's previous championships: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017. Unfortunately, this is Coach Mike Reid's last season with Mason. He is retiring after this season. And yes, those will be big tennis shoes to fill. Click for an OTZ interview with Mike Reid from November 2017.
These championship matches stop play as soon as a decision is clinched so many of the top court matches "Did Not Finish". Some of the ones that did finish included: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated New Albany's Richardlyne Francois North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher; Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black beat New Albany's Richardlyne Francois; Mason's Nishi Gandra defeated New Albany's Paige Cornelius; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula beat Columbus Academy's Grace Philip; and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson defeated Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya and Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Haven't made your payment to OhioTennisZone? Please don't make me be like Milton. Contact OTZ if you need an invoice. Thankfully, I still have my Swingline stapler.
Tennis-Point, an OhioTennisZone.com sponsor, was also at the State Team Tournament doing some podcasts. Of course, when buying tennis gear, please shop Tennis-Point, use this link, and enter the code: OTZ. This helps both Tennis-Point and OTZ.
Video was captured for three out of the four State Championship matches and they will be posted tomorrow.
Many coaches use OhioTennisZone to provide their players with a nice listing of their matches at the end-of-the-season gathering. Coaches are highly encouraged to contact OTZ if any additional matches need to be entered. (Old matches can still be entered.)
St. Xavier turned out to be a nice site after all for the State Team Championships. As long as they guarantee 70 degree, sunny days for future championships, I would vote for them to host it again.
OTZ is in The Final Countdown now.. OTZ has had morning updates for 82 straight days (since August 4)..
SUNDAY,
Congratulations to the State Champions | State Team Tournament Ready to Roll
Congratulations to all of the players yesterday and especially to the State Champions. Conditions were perfect for playing and watching. Play finished early - at approximately 1:30pm. Last year, the tournament ended at 4:50pm - just as rain was starting to fall.
Click for the final OTZ Enhanced State Tournament Draws.
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Mason's Aggarwal - Click to enlarge |
Centerville's Owen - Hinshaw |
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Bexley's Bowles |
Eaton's Hitchcock Sisters |
The paths to the championship for each player / team were:
Division I Singles:
Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Magnificat's Anna Bennett and North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher in the finals..
Division I Doubles:
Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen beat Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman - Paige Reese and New Albany's Richardlyne Francois - Paige Cornelius.
Division II Singles:
Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson.
Division II Doubles:
Eaton's Macy Hitchcock and Mallory Hitchcock beat Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula - Addison Cassidy.
For third place, (D1) Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black defeated Magnificat's Anna Bennett; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman - Paige Reese beat Magnificat's Caroline Moritz - Anna Mancino; (D2) Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness; Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills beat Hawken's Dani Forte - Bella Hsieh.
While the Lindner Family Tennis Center is great, the playing area that surrounds each court is much (much) larger than what high school or college players face during the season. This gives players who utilize a defensive (or retriever) style of play, a huge advantage that they otherwise would not have if the tournament was played at a high school or college facility. The Southwest District is also fortunate because it "selects" the best players for this environment because their District tournament is also played there.
State Team Tournament
The State Team Tournament will be played at St. Xavier High School this year. It will be nice to have both Division I and Division II at the same location again. It is; however, a long walk from the parking lot to the courts so please plan accordingly (i.e. bringing a wheel chair or transport chair for those with mobility issues and hiring a sherpa to go from the sidewalk to the seating area).
While it would have been great to keep this tournament in Central Ohio, there is inadequate indoor backup in case of inclement weather. The indoor clubs all have junior programs, but they can make more money and have less hassles by offering their normal adult programs rather than having big junior tournaments.
In the first round, Central teams will play the Southwest District and Northeast will play Northwest. Teams will end the contest as soon as one team gets three court wins.
Fans coming down from Northeast Ohio will need to get their NetJet cards out to get there in time.
It is Division 2's year to play first.
SATURDAY,
On to Day 2 of States
Having great weather was a nice change of pace for a States Friday. Let's see what today's weather brings. It is likely that the great weather will be matched with some great tennis.
Click the link below to follow all of the action.
https://ohiotenniszone.com/draws
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Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black - Click to enlarge |
The results of the semi-finalists are listed below:
In Division I singles, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Solon's Niya Fried and Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald; Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black beat Wooster's Ava Mathur and Turpin's Sarah Clark; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster and Avon's Natalie Smitek; and Magnificat's Anna Bennett beat Oak Hills' Morgan Lint and Rocky River's Samantha Robertson.
In Division II singles: Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Indian Hill's Caroline Brown and South Point's Meredith Riley; Bexley's Amiya Bowles beat Clyde's Curtsin Hackenburg and Orange's Alexis Nyborg; Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness defeated Orange's Blake Rothchild and Badin's Caroline Boyle; and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson beat Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay and Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu.
The doubles teams in the semi's are:
D1: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen; Magnificat's Caroline Moritz - Anna Mancino; New Albany's Richardlyne Francois - Paige Cornelius; and Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman- Paige Reese.
D2: Eaton's Macy and Mallory Hitchcock; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula - Addison Cassidy; Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills; and Hawken's Dani Forte - Bella Hsieh.
There were not enough officials yesterday to cover all of the courts. That will not be the case today. There were also matches that took place in the first round that should have been played in the second round and some second round matches that should have been played today.
Good luck to everyone today. See you at States.
THURSDAY,
It's Time
Yes, it is finally time for States. Listen to Bugs, he sums it up pretty well here.
Today's update is extremely brief so the the OTZ-mobile can get on the road early.
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OTZ Enhanced Draws - Click to draws |
Most teams traveled to Mason yesterday to practice on the courts, and hopefully enjoy a quiet evening near the Lindner Family Tennis Center. It is a really big deal to play at States so hopefully the players and their parents will take a few minutes to reflect on what they did today on the ride home. (Or better yet, as they ride ride home tomorrow.)
Please remember to include the OhioTennisZone.com draws on your cell phone. The fastest way to the draws is:
See you at States.
THURSDAY,
One More Day Until States
Today will be a travel day for most teams. After several seasons of Friday and Sunday rain-outs, it appears that the weather will not only cooperate this year, but it will be perfect.
2019 OTZ States Hype Video - Click for video |
The brackets are ready to roll with photos of all 96 participants. Most of the photos are OTZ's, but there were a few coaches and athletic departments that contributed as well. A special OTZ "Thank you" goes out to them. Now, how player photos can you memorize before tomorrow?
Please remember to include the OhioTennisZone.com draws on your cell phone. The fastest way to the draws is:
With no matches being played to discuss, it is time to go back into the archives. Several years ago, OTZ created hype videos before States. These videos included action and team photos of those players competing at States and the State Team Tournament. They had to be discontinued for numerous reasons. The primary reason was that YouTube no longer permitted professional / popular music to be used in the videos. For years, YouTube had arrangements with older artists to "revenue share" the music but that eventually stopped as well. Without fun music, it is no fun to create a video because the end product will be poor. It is too bad because Tik Tok has evidently found a way to keep the artists and its users happy. Thankfully, YouTube allows older videos to still use the music even though it cannot be used in new videos. Here is the last video created and it includes OTZ action photos of several of this year's seniors when they were freshman, including (in order): Macy Hitchcock, Lilly Black, Alexis Nyborg, Ellie Brotherton, Shyla Aggarwal, Ellie Assenmacher, Katie Zerbi, Ally Mills, Caroline Moritz, and Ava Richard. It also includes the older sisters of several players.
Things got really backed up while entering Sectional and District results and while preparing for States. If you are awaiting a reply to an email or feedback, please ping me again.
I will be zooming around States tomorrow, taking photos, and updating the draws. If you really (really) want an OTZ photo of your daughter to purchase, please let me know today. There will be a new OTZ utility added after the season that allows parents to view and to purchase photos.
Much of the older OTZ content is removed from this "home" page during States. That allows this page to load faster. Most of it will be restored after States.
See you tomorrow at States.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Video of Its Top Picks for the State Championships
It is time for another OhioTennisZone video. This video recognizes the players who are OTZ's top picks for States. The video uses a combination of OTZ action photos and videos that were taken over the last two years. Hope you find it to be interesting and informative. This should also help match a name with a face for those who attend States.
Click for OTZ Top Picks for States - Click for video |
While someday I would love to get the quality level to about 98%, the time-frames are super tight in creating this video. This video was hammered out yesterday afternoon and this morning. I would give myself about an 85% and hope it is graded on a curve..
Unfortunately, there is normally a mistake or two (in addition to obliterating the correct pronunciation of names). Please submit a Feedback if any are noticed.
The goal was to make this a five minute video and it came in very close to that. If the old Caitlin Fisher from Turpin High School video clip had not been included at the end, then it would have been even closer. Last fall's video was almost eight minutes in length.
For a better viewing experience, please click on the little gear thingy and select 1080p60 HD. The screen can also be enlarged by clicking on the partially completed "square".
Some of the players are repeats from last year's video. Click to view it. Note that OTZ receives no compensation for any advertisements that are shown.
There have been a few more photos emailed to me for the State Draws. Those will be added this afternoon after I have an opportunity to take a breath.
TUESDAY,
North Canton Hoover and New Albany Earn Final Four Spots
The final Final Four spots were finally clinched yesterday when North Canton Hoover defeated Magnificat for the NE D1 spot, and New Albany beat Dublin Coffman for the Central D1 berth. Both spots were clinched on Court 1 when the scores were 2-2. Strong winds are a great equalizer and it certainly played a role last night. It was a "Wow. You mean the girls are already in the 5th set? No, the wind is blowing the score cards around." night. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click on OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws to see the journey that all teams took to get to the Sunday championship.
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Southwest D1 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
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Southwest D2 Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Magnificat's Anna Bennett; New Albany's Richardlyne Francois beat Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri; Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova defeated New Albany's Katia Jacoby; Magnificat's Caroline Moritz beat North Canton Hoover's Addison Shiel; Magnificat's Anna Mancino defeated North Canton Hoover's Ema Papcke; and Dublin Coffman's Lauren Burkett beat New Albany's Madeleine Naumoff. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The plans for today are to prepare the "OTZ top picks for States" video.
Most of the players are familiar but please always Feedback if a name is not matched with the correct player in a photo.
MONDAY,
State Draws Now Available
Two more State Team Final Four spots will be decided today as Dublin Coffman hosts New Albany and as North Canton Hoover welcomes Magnificat.
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State Draws - Click to draws |
The OTZ - Enhanced State Draws are now available. They were made available at 10:46am. More photos will be added throughout the day. Some photos are still being acquired. To provide your player's photo, please submit a Feedback.
In other tennis news, Cincinnati Country Day's (and Ohio State's) JJ Wolf was a finalist in the Florence ATP where he lost in a close, 6-4, 6-4, match to #10 Felix Auger-Aliassime. This was Wolf's first final. Wolf's world ranking will zoom up to #56 after this tournament. [See Photo of Wolf competing at States in 2014.]
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Central D2 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Columbus hosted a MLP (Major League Pickleball) tournament over the weekend at Pickle & Chill. The finals were aired live on the CBS Sports Network. See photo taken at the finals last night. When comparing this tournament to the biggest Ohio State Men's Tennis matches held at the same facility, there was no comparison. Parking lots were packed and cars were parked up and down Knightsbridge Road. And yes, the cars were parked illegally but since Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther was in attendance, he may have given fans a bit more leeway with street parking. For those OSU fans familiar with the facility, the stadium court was the old Courts 5 and 6. Attendance totaled nearly 3,000 for the weekend. The television ratings are not yet available.
Much of yesterday was spent on prepping for the State draws. More District results will be added today. There are also NW Sectional results that will be added when they become available.
SUNDAY,
Ready for States
Ohio high school tennis is ready for Girls States. The District seeding round finished yesterday in chilly, windy conditions. All of the State Qualfiers are listed below and they are in seed order (with the exception of the Southeast/East Districts). Some but not all of the District results are online on OTZ, but they will be added throughout today.
There are group photos for the Southwest and Central D2 State Qualfiers forthcoming thanks to Mason's Mike Reid and CA's Jai Chabria, respectively, and they will be processed soon.
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Central D1 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
The lists below are still a work-in- progress. More OTZ Player Profile links (where applicable) will be added throughout the day. [now updated].
Watch for the OTZ-Enhanced State Draws tomorrow.
State Qualifiers
Central Division I
Singles: Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova, Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald, and Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster.
Doubles: Upper Arlington's Ava Richard - Isabella Roth, New Albany's Richardlyne Francois - Paige Cornelius; Dublin Coffman’s Lauren Burkett - Emily Yoshino, and Upper Arlington’s Ellis Mizer - Alice Hawley.
Central Division II
Singles: Bexley's Amiya Bowles and Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte.
Doubles: Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria - Yasemin Bilgin and Wellington's Katie Zerbi - Kate Thompson.
Northeast Division I
Singles: North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Magnificat's Anna Bennett, Avon's Natalie Smitek, Solon's Niya Fried, Wooster's Ava Mathur, and Rocky River's Samantha Robertson.
Doubles: Magnificat's Caroline Moritz - Anna Mancino; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman- Paige Reese, North Canton Hoover's Cecilia Holben - Bridget Fink, Massillon Jackson's Divya Shanmugam - Addyson Utterback, North Canton Hoover's Claire Wood - Angelina Koinoglou, and Highland's Madison Pawlak - Sarah Sgambati.
Northeast Division II
Singles: Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Orange's Alexis Nyborg, Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu, Orange's Blake Rothchild, and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay.
Doubles: Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills; Hawken's Hayley Garber - Eliana Yang; Perry's Lily Walker - Audrey Austin; Hawken's Dani Forte - Bella Hsieh; and Hathaway Brown's Alice Lin - Teagan Clark.
Northwest Division I
Singles: Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black and Anthony Wayne's Maya Boyd.
Doubles: Notre Dame Academy's Emma Nofziger - Ellie Assenmacher and Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee - Maddie Peisley.
Northwest Division II
Singles: Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness, Shawnee's Alora Patel, Lima Central Catholic's Libby Simmon, and Clyde's Curtsin Hackenburg.
Doubles: Bath's Elena Oliver - Anne Oliver, Lima Central Catholic's Paige Brinkman - Claire Janoski, Bryan's Caitlyn DeWitt - Reese Grothaus, and Port Clinton's Reagan Ruthsatz - Grace Arnold.
Southwest Division I
Singles: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, Mason's Nishi Gandra, Turpin's Sarah Clark, and Oak Hills' Morgan Lint.
Doubles: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen, St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein - Maria Poon; Mason's Risha Chada - Harshita Uppuganti; and Walnut Hills' Angela Britton - Irisa Poompanit.
Southwest Division II
Singles: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson, Indian Hill's Brooke Arington, Badin's Caroline Boyle, and Indian Hill's Caroline Brown.
Doubles: Eaton's Macy and Mallory Hitchcock, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula - Addison Cassidy, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris - Payton Puryear, and Indian Hill's Cassie Larsen - Lexi Larsen.
Southeast Division II
Singles: South Point's Meredith Riley
Doubles: Marietta's Reagan Estes - Olivia Emery
SATURDAY,
Anthony Wayne Clinches NW Final Four Spot | NE D2 Districts
The open Final Four State Team Tournament spots are almost filled. Anthony Wayne defeated Perrysburg to earn the Northwest District spot. Still to be determined are the Central D1 and Northeast D1 spots. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
It was nice seeing everyone at the Northeast D2 Districts yesterday. The results are now online. Unfortunately, since it was played indoors, the photos will be marginal at best.
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Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players in the dual match, Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black defeated Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco and Anthony Wayne's Mara Boyd beat Perrysburg's Allison Barry. In the NE District competition, Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Poland Seminary's Lucienne Hopps and Kenston's Brooke McNeal; Orange's Alexis Nyborg beat Hathaway Brown's Margaret Chen and Norton's Katarina Jovanovic; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu defeated Ursuline's Maddie Miller and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay; Orange's Blake Rothchild beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Beebe and Canfield's Whitney Miller. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Not all of the State Qualifier spots have been decided. The Northwest D1 and some of the NE D1 and D2 spots will be determined today.
Northeast Division II State Qualifiers
Singles: Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Orange's Alexis Nyborg, Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu, Orange's Blake Rothchild, and TBD
Doubles: Hathaway Brown's Ally Mills - Katie Mills; Hawken's Dani Forte - Bella Hsieh; Hawken's Hayley Garber - Eliana Yang; Perry's Lily Walkter - Audrey Austin; and TBD.
FRIDAY,
Hathaway Brown and Columbus Academy Secure Final 4 Spots | SW/NW/NE Districts
Columbu Academy beat Bexley yesterday to secure the Central D2 spot in the State Team Tournament. Hathaway Brown defeated Kenston yesterday to earn their spot.
The new State Qualifiers are listed below.
It was hard to be at the right spot at the right time to take photos at the Lindner Family Tennis Center yesterday. That is because many of the matches were very one-sided and because it is such a big facility. In all of the Division I singles matches, the losing opponents won a total of ten games in 12 matches.
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Turpin - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Turpin. They are coached by Gail Maundrell. They are led by Sarah Clark, Brooke Malone, and Reagan Gerth.
Northeast Division I
Singles: Avon's Natalie Smitek, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Solon's Niya Fried, and Magnificat's Anna Bennett.
Doubles: Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman- Paige Reese, North Canton Hoover's Cecilia Holben - Bridget Fink, Massillon Jackson's Divya Shanmugam - Addyson Utterback, Magnificat's Caroline Moritz - Anna Mancino.
Northwest Division II
Singles: Ottawa Hills' Catherine Rhegness, Lima Central Catholic's Libby Simmon, Shawnee's Alora Patel, and Clyde's Curtsin Hackenburg.
Doubles: Lima Central Catholic's Paige Brinkman - Claire Janoski, Port Clinton's Reagan Ruthsatz - Grace Arnold, Bryan's Caitlyn DeWitt - Reese Grothaus, and Bath's Elena Oliver - Anne Oliver.
Southwest Division I
Singles: Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, Mason's Nishi Gandra, Oak Hills' Morgan Lint, and Turpin's Sarah Clark.
Doubles: Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Clara Owen, Mason's Risha Chada - Harshita Uppuganti; St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein - Maria Poon; and Walnut Hills' Angela Britton - Irisa Poompanit.
Southwest Division I
Singles: Badin's Caroline Boyle, Indian Hill's Brooke Arington, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson, and Indian Hill's Caroline Brown.
Doubles: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula - Addison Cassidy, Indian Hill's Cassie Larsen - Lexi Larsen, Eaton's Macy and Mallory Hitchcock, and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris - Payton Puryear.
THURSDAY,
New Albany Beats Upper Arlington | NW D1 Districts
More perfect weather made the Northwest D1 Districts more enjoyable. Those results are now online on OTZ. The Southwest and Northeast Districts (D1) are today. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
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Notre Dame Academy - Click to team page |
In the State Team Tournament, New Albany advanced to the finals by beating Upper Arlington. NA will face Dublin Coffman in the finals. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click for the OTZ State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, Anthony Wayne's Lilly Black defeated Columbian's Ashley Reinhart and Perrysburg's Emerson Metzger; New Albany's Richardlyne Francois beat Upper Arlington's Ava Richard; New Albany's Paige Cornelius defeated Upper Arlington's Isabella Roth; Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco beat Madison's Megan Reynolds and Anthony Wayne's Emily Szul; and Anthony Wayne's Mara Boyd defeated Clay's Remi Galyas; and Toledo St. Ursula Academy's Sophie Miller. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Notre Dame Academy. They are coached by Kim Pacella. They are Team Members. They are led by Emma Nofziger, Ellie Assenmacher, and Nora Johnson.
Bexley hosts Columbus Academy in the Central D2 Finals today.
See you soon at the Southwest District qualifier.
WEDNESDAY,
CHCA in Final Four | Central District State Qualifiers
Weather conditions were perfect yesterday for the Central District Tournament. Hopefully the other districts will have similar luck. The Southwest plays their districts tomorrow at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The Northeast plays tomorrow (D1) and Friday (D2). The Northwest plays today (D1) and Thursday (D2). The Central District State Qualifiers are listed below.
CHCA advanced to the Final Four yesterday in their SW District final over Mariemont. Hathaway Brown defeated Orange to advance to the NE District final. No scores were reported for either match.
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Olentangy - Click to team page |
State Qualifiers
Central Division I
Singles: Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova, Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster, and Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald.
Doubles: Dublin Coffman’s Lauren Burkett - Emily Yoshino, New Albany's Richie Francois - Paige Cornelius, Upper Arlington's Ava Richard - Isabella Roth, and Upper Arlington’s Ellis Mizer - Alice Hawley.
Central Division II
Singles: Bexley's Amiya Bowles and Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte.
Doubles: Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria - Yasemin Bilgin and Wellington's Katie Zerbi - Kate Thompson.
Today's featured team is Olentangy. They are coached by Jeff Luxenburger. They are Team Members. They are led by Sheryl Gerald, Pranjal Agochiya, and Sydney Nickel.
New Albany plays Upper Arlington in the Central District State Tournament semi-finals.
TUESDAY,
Mason in Final Four
Mason claimed the first Final Four Spot in the State Team Tournament by beating Centerville yesterday. To view the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
District competition begins this morning in the Central District. Division I will play at Upper Arlington and D2 will be at Columbus Academy. OTZ plans are to be at UA today, SW Districts on Thursday, NE D2 Districts on Friday, and Central again on Saturday. High resolution group photos of the State Qualifiers are needed. OTZ will add the names and post them online. See D1 Central's photo from 2021. Click for State Qualifier photos from previous years. Special credit if you can identify the years in which the the two OTZ mini-munchkins played.
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Massillon Jackson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Massillon Jackson. They are coached by Jennifer Janson. They are Team Members. They are led by Paige Reese, Madison Altman, and Hana Ahmed.
Today's big dual match is Orange (A) versus Hathaway Brown. This is a NE District semi-final match.
MONDAY,
Big Week for Ohio HS Tennis
This will be big week. Not only will the State Qualifiers be determined, but also some of the State Team Tournament Final Four spots will be claimed. Mason and Centerville play tonight for the SW D1 Final Four berth. In the Central District, New Albany and Upper Arlington play on Wednesday in the Central District semi-final. Please submit a Feedback to notify OTZ of other match dates. Click for updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
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Centerville - Click to team page |
The State Team Tournament is being moved to the Southwest District. The tournament will be held at the St. Xavier courts (satellite view). For older (and/or less mobile) spectators, this site could be a challenge. It is a long walk from the parking lot to the courts. Plus, the stands are positioned up an incline. Fans who need a break from the cold weather will need to trudge back to their vehicles. On the plus side, the site will be more convenient for many of the teams since they are already in Cincinnati for States.
The new Upper Arlington courts would have been a perfect site for the State Team Tournament, but if the weather turns inclement, the Central District lacks indoor clubs willing to host the event. Tennis Ohio (the old Ohio State Indoor Facility) was a great site with its six courts but two of those courts are being converted to six pickleball courts. The facility is also now being referred to as Pickle & Chill / Tennis Ohio. See OTZ photo that was taken yesterday. These large letters are visible to those traveling on Columbus' well-traveled Henderson Road. Pickle & Chill is also hosting a Major League Pickleball Tournament this weekend. Some may recall that a guy named, LeBron James, was in the news last week for buying a Major League Pickleball team. See article.
Today's featured team is Centerville. They are coached by Scott Long. They are Team Members. They are led by Caroline Hinshaw, Clara Owen, Eve Alappatt, Arabelle MacPherson, and Eva Siler.
SUNDAY,
Ready for Districts
Sectionals were completed throughout the state yesterday. Congratulations to all of the players who will be competing in the District competition. Speaking of Districts, they will start early in the Central District this year. Play begins on Tuesday.
Click for the District draw links below and above.
The results for the Central, Northeast, and Southwest Districts are now online on OTZ. Yes, there are a bunch of them -- over 775 matches were inputted. The Northwest District draws have yet to be updated on the Northwest District web site but those will eventually be included.
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Marion Harding's Taryn Simmers - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated Sycamore's Lisa Kai and Mason's Nishi Gandra; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher beat Green's Pryor and North Canton Hoover's Addison Shiel; Avon's Natalie Smitek defeated Avon's Denver Johnson and Magnificat's Anna Bennett; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton beat Hathaway Brown's Margaret Chen and Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; Turpin's Sarah Clark defeated Milford's Mu and Oak Hills' Morgan Lint; Bexley's Amiya Bowles beat Eastmoor Academy's Dingess and Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya; Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Hawken's Beatrice Hardacre and Orange's Blake Rothchild; Indian Hill's Brooke Arington beat Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Sophia Thompson and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Lucy Snyder; Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay defeated Marington's Mason and Alliance's Lohnes; Watterson's Sara Goodlive beat Marion Harding's Simmers and Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster; Solon's Niya Fried defeated Mentor's Sikora and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming; Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova beat Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai and Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri (injury); Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson defeated Chillicothe's Flores and Reynoldsburg's Kareen Meoko; Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder beat Westerville Central's Lauren Muniu and Westerville Central's Sidney Choo; Wooster's Ava Mathur defeated Walsh Jesuit's McHale and Highland's Jo Oberhaus; and Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte beat Wellington's Olivia Cencer and Columbus School for Girls' Lanie Klatt. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo is of Marion Harding's Taryn Simmers. Simmers is a senior. Click for a nice article about her written by Rob McCurdy of the Marion Star. The sun was brutal yesterday morning for taking photos but it gradually improved.
Watch for the District draws to be included via the links above.
SATURDAY,
Chilly
Today's matches will start under chilly conditions. Tennis balls are not as bouncy under 40 degrees so there will likely be delays in some Districts.
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Lancaster - Click to team page |
All of the Sectional results that were posted by their respective Districts are now online on OTZ. Almost all include data up to the semi-final matches. There are no results from the Northwest District, nor from Southwest District Mason's D2. Hopefully that information will be posted soon.
The OTZ plan was to include results for all team and individual members. If results are not posted for your player, please submit a Feedback. Note that since Central has so many OTZ members, all of those results are online.
Today's featured team is Lancaster. They are coached by Gary Elick. They are led by Scarlett Ward, Gracyn Gagne, and Hannah Sheets.
See you at the Upper Arlington Sectional.
FRIDAY,
Sectional Data
The Central, Northeast, and Southwest Districts now have results posted that includes the semi-final data. Much of the morning will be consumed with entering that data. Some Sectionals have even played the seeding round.
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DeSales' Delaney Weber - Click to enlarge |
Watch for more information to be posted later this morning or early this afternoon.
Today's photo is of Delaney Weber of DeSales. She competed at the Upper Arlington Sectional yesterday.
THURSDAY,
Anthony Wayne Beats Notre Dame Academy
The number of dual matches remained low yesterday with Districts either playing in the Sectionals or preparing for them. Anthony Wayne defeated Notre Dame Academy in the State Team Tournament. They advance to the finals against Perrysburg. Gahanna defeated DeSales. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Gahanna - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Gahanna. They are coached by Chris Schwinnen. They are Team Members. They are led by Frankie Nuss, Natalia Garcia, and Daniela Guzman.
Efforts are still underway to enter the Sectional results on OTZ.
WEDNESDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Highland
Efforts are underway to enter results from the Sectionals. This will take awhile.. I try to push just to the edge of eye-strain. Note that most of the Sectionals update their draws and they are accessible via the above links.
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Bexley - Click to team page |
There were two dual matches played yesterday. North Canton Hoover defeated Highland and Hudson beat Magnificat. The Hoover victory puts them in the Northeast finals in the State Team Tournament against Magnificat. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. To see up-to-date draws, click on OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Highland's Jo Oberhaus; Magnificat's Anna Mancino beat Hudson's Liu; and North Canton Hoover's Addison Shiel defeated Highland's Mackenzie Pawlak. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Bexley. They are coached by Heath Goolsby. They are led by Amiya Bowles and Mia Ehrsam.
Today's only match included in the OTZ schedule is Big Walnut (H) versus Gahanna.
TUESDAY,
Dublin Coffman Beats Olentangy
With Sectionals underway in several Districts, the number of dual matches declined. The biggest match of the evening was in the State Team Tournament where Dublin Coffman defeated Olentangy.
All five of the matches recorded were from the Central District. The close, 3-2 matches included: DeSales defeated Worthington Christian; Hilliard Bradley beat Lancaster; and Central Crossing defeated Ready. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Whetstone - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Whetstone. They are coached by Bucky Walters. They are led by Avery Halteman and Maybelene McNamara
Check with your coach or player about matches scheduled for today. The ones included on OTZ were likely entered prior to the Sectional draws.
MONDAY,
Sectionals Begin Today
Sectionals begin today in the Northeast and Southwest Districts. The Central District kicks into gear tomorrow. The plan is to wait until the seeding rounds begin before the results are posted on OTZ; otherwise, too many duplicate scores are typically posted.
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Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin - Click to team page |
The OTZ College Report was updated yesterday. There will continue to be tweaks as players are added and removed.
Today's featured team is Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. They are coached by Harvey Schrager. They are led by Elena Fleming, Lucy Paulin, and Caroline Stepnowski.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Pickerington Central and Dublin Scioto (H) versus Westerville Central. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
OTZ College Report
The OhioTennisZone College Report for the 2022-2023 season is now available. It includes information on 125 Ohio high school players who are (or will be) competing in D1, D2, and D3 college tennis programs. High school tennis players tend to do well academically after high school, and this report is a way to recognize them by making it easy for fans to see where they are attending college and what their college majors are. (Perhaps you will even want to hire one of these players when they graduate from college and include them on your company's tennis team..) It is also fun to see how much the players have changed physically since their high school years.
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OTZ College Report - Click to report |
This report includes easy access to each player's OTZ Player Profile, the player's high school profile photo, his/her college tennis web site, and one click access to a player's OTZ action photos.
This report includes 10 recruits, 28 freshmen, 32 sophomores, 31 juniors, and 24 seniors.
Because this report is very time consuming to create, note that this it is not exhaustive. OTZ primarily focuses on players who had OTZ Player Profiles (or in other words were team or individual OTZ members).
Players who did not have OTZ Player Profiles are often still listed, especially if the college coach is an OTZ member.
This report will be tweaked over time because many colleges have not yet updated their rosters for this year.
This report includes an occasional update on how Ohio's professional players are doing on the tour. This information was updated last week and it is in the right-side navigation bar.
SATURDAY,
Ready for Sectionals
Sectionals begin next week. For a small number of schools and players, this is the first step necessary to reach States. For most schools, this wil be the last week of the girls tennis season.
Even though today's update included eight new scores, none of the matches were played yesterday.
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Anthony Wayne - Click to team page |
This will be a "catch-up" day. The Top Players Lists have not been reviewed recently so they will be updated. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Anthony Wayne. They are coached by Jim Sutto. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Lilly Black, Mara Boyd, and Emily Szul.
Dublin Jerome and Hathaway Brown are scheduled to play today at Jerome.
FRIDAY,
Magnificat Beats Avon
In the marquee match of the night, Magnificat defeated Avon, 3-2. This win puts Mag in the finals of the Northeast District. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 2, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hilliard Darby defeated Westerville Central; Franklin Heights beat Groveport; Columbus School For Girls defeated Worthington Kilbourne; and Bloom-Carroll beat Ready. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Lexington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lexington. They are coached by Jansen Webster. They are led by Jade Adkins.
There is just one match in the system today. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (H) versus Avon Lake.
THURSDAY,
Sycamore Beats Springboro | Columbus Academy Defeats Olentangy
Dual match play will be winding down after tonight as teams focus on Sectionals next week. The bigger matches last night were Sycamore defeated Springboro and Columbus Academy beat Olentangy. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8 and Southwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Buckeye Valley defeated Delaware Hayes; London beat Washington CH; and Worthington Kilbourne defeated DeSales. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Ready - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Ready. They are coached by Dan Skuce. They are led by Kayla Thomas and Bella Kirk.
Tonight is the Greater Columbus Tennis Association Award Banquet. Hope to see a few of you there. (My tennis game does not lend itself to receiving a tennis award, but I am a board member and I take photos..)
Despite having the evening tied up, the plans are to still have a Photo Friday tomorrow.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (A) versus Avon and North Canton Hoover (H) versus Laurel. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Summit Country Day
Spotty weather led to a few cancellations yesterday. In one of the bigger matches, Olentangy defeated Wellington. There were 11 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Seven Hills defeated Summit Country Day; Hudson beat Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and Upper Arlington-B defeated Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Columbus Academy - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Columbus Academy. They are coached by Marc Wurtzman. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Arya Chabria, Grace Philip, and Tamanna Arya.
All of the Sectional draws have been posted. They are listed at the top of the page.
On our way back from Cincinnati on Sunday, it seemed as if there was a "tree trimmer truck" parade as they headed south on I-71 to work on hurricane damage. It will be interesting to see how much the hurricane affects Ohio. Hopefully it will not impact the Sectionals.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Laurel and Seven Hills (A) versus Ursuline Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats SUA | Centerville Defeats Turpin
The Southwest District finals are now set for the State Team Tournament after Mason defeated St. Ursula Academy and Centerville beat Turpin. Mason and Centerville are expected to play next week.
There were just six matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3 and Southwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Archbishop Alter defeated Tippecanoe and Ready beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Westerville South - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Westerville South. They are coached by Macie Kercsmar. They are led by Natalie Ma and Leanne Ngo. I think Coach Kercsmar is the first OTZ player who has become a coach. See photo of Coach Kercsmar playing for Big Walnut.
Today's matches include: Archbishop Hoban (H) versus North Canton Hoover; Perrysburg (T) versus Anthony Wayne; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Gahanna. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Sectional Draws Available (for some)
Great job, Central and Southwest District people. The complete Sectional draws are now available for these two Districts. Normally, Central leads the pack by getting their draws up by Sunday evening, and then it is quickly followed by a Sectional or two from the Southwest. This is the first year that all of the Southwest draws have been live by Monday morning. Expect the Northeast to be next, followed by the Northwest. Both may take a few days.
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Jordan Thompson - Click to enlarge |
College coaches really appreciate having player school years on the draws. It really helps them with recruiting. The Central and Southwest do a great job with this, and it is great that they help their kids by doing it.
Some early observations..
Eaton's Macy and Mallory Hitchcock will be playing doubles this year. Macy was the State Singles Champion for the last two years. Mallory was the state doubles champion last year with Grace Murphy. They will be one of the teams to beat. Another strong team will be Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula and Addison Cassidy.
Bexley's Amiya Bowles is seeded second in her Sectional but it is unlikely that she will finish second at her Sectional or at Districts. With other players switching to (or playing) doubles, Bowles will be a favorite along with Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Orange's Alexis Nyborg, and Indian Hill's Brooke Arington.
Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw and Clara Owen are once again teaming up. They are the defending D1 doubles champs and they will be the team to beat.
Click below for the current draws that are available.
The OTZ State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. Aware of other updates? Click on Feedback.
I zoomed back to Columbus from Lexington on Saturday to take photos at the ATP Challenger. It was won by the U.K.'s Jordan Thompson (see photo above). The photo was taken during his match with OSU's Cannon Kingsley.
On Sunday, Mrs. OTZ and I attended an Open House at the GE Aviation Additive facility where our daughter, Lauren, works. This is where they "print" jet engine parts using specialized powders and lasers. Mrs. OTZ and I are both big proponents of STEM programs. The U.S. needs more people who make things that others want to buy, rather than people who have no idea how to make anything, but they think that it must be easy to do..
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Mason and Magnificat (A) versus Hudson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Mason Wins GCTCA Flight A | Centerville is Lex Invite Champ
Yesterday was a big tournament day. Hopefully the results will answer a few player skill-related questions for seeding purposes at today's Sectional Draws. Mason was the big winner of the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches' Association Flight A group. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy came in second. Sycamore won the Flight B. Centerville won the Lexington Invitational, and Magnificat was the runner-up.
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Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw - Click to enlarge |
The weather caused a change in plans yesterday. The OTZ intent was to go to Mason for Flights A and C, but an audible was called at 7am for a switch to the Lexington Invite. I needed to back in Columbus at 1:15pm so the rain delay at Mason made that unworkable. The Southwest District will be the next opportunity to see the Cincinnati-area teams.
In Flight A, court 1 singles, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated St. Ursula Academy's Elle Schuermann; Indian Hill's Brooke Arington; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Ananya Annapantula; and Mason's Nishi Gandra. A six game pro-set was used. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo was taken at Lexington yesterday and it is of Caroline Hinshaw. She is a senior at Centerville. Hinshaw and her partner, Clara Owen, won first doubles at Lexington yesterday. They are also the defending State D1 doubles champions.
Hopefully the Sectional draws will be posted on OTZ for at least a few Districts today.
SATURDAY,
Mag Beats SJA
In yesterday's play, Centerville defeated Lexington; Magnificat beat St. Joseph Academy; and in a tight, 3-2 match, Hilliard Bradley defeated Hilliard Darby. To view all of the graphical results, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Roger - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw defeated Lexington's Jade Adkins; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Copley's Shria Kavaturu and Revere's Maddie Kavenagh; Magnificat's Anna Bennett defeated St. Joseph Academy's Ella Kowalski; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai beat Hilliard Darby's Carrlene Webb; Centerville's Clara Owen defeated Lexington's Eva Mumford; and Highland's Jo Oberhaus beat Copley's Cassandra Komlanc. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It was an amazing career for Roger Federer. It is also nice to see him move on after this great career. This photo was taken at the Western & Southern in 2018.
The Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Classic Tournament begins today. This is a great tournament with a great format. At this point in the season, I want to see players competing in what they are going to be doing in Sectionals (singles or doubles). OTZ will be traveling to Mason for Flights A and C. Some of the best OTZ photos have been taken at this tournament thanks to the great competition and outdoor setting. (The rain may throw a monkey wrench into everyone's plans though..)
Lexington also has its tournament today. Schools participating in this tournament include: Lexington, Dublin Coffman, Perrysburg, Magnificat, Columbus Academy, Centerville, and Canfield.
FRIDAY,
Turpin Beats SUA | CSG Defeats Wellington | Photo Friday
And just like that, it is time to figure out where the snowblower is in the garage.. In the most noteworthy matches of the evening, Turpin defeated St. Ursula Academy, Columbus School For Girls beat Wellington, and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Seven Hills.
There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12 and Southwest - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland beat Mason-B; Hilliard Bradley defeated Reynoldsburg; Olentangy Berlin eat Grove City; Oak Hills defeated Lakota West; London beat Ready; and Olentangy defeated Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Thomas Worthington's Kayla Lu - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Turpin's Sarah Clark defeated St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon; Oak Hills' Morgan Lint beat Lakota West's Leah Schleibaum; Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai beat Reynoldsburg's Olivia Cox; Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte defeated Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya; Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope beat Chaminade-Julienne's Paige Harsman; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard; Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder beat Grove City's Gabriella Hougland; and Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This is the first really big Photo Friday of the season. There have been 93 action photos added this season. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to see all of them. The OTZ Top Ten'ish photos are also now available. These are the OTZ favorites and they are always subject to change. There will be a utility added soon to allow parents to view and to hopefully buy photos.Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Lexington; Magnificat (H) versus St. Joseph Academy; and Copley (T) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats CHCA
Mason defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the marquee match of the night. There were 17 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Oak Hills defeated Ursuline Academy; Centerville-B beat Badin; Lancaster defeated Grove City; Columbus Academy beat Olentangy Orange; Medina defeated Copley; and New Albany beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Mayfield - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Mayfield. They are coached by David Cole. They led by Hailey Inmon and Danielle Prilepsky.
The Columbus Challenger event is underway. Click to view the results of the Tennis Ohio Championships.
Today's matches include: Hathaway Brown (A) versus Massillon Jackson; Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Seven Hills; and Centerville (A) versus Oakwood. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Magnificat Beats Solon | Coffman Defeats Jerome
Now things are really starting to get interesting as play gets further into the State Team Tournament. Magnificat defeated Solon to advance to the semis. They will play Avon next.
There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Delaware Hayes defeated Marion Harding; Reynoldsburg beat Westerville Central; Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Scioto; Dublin Coffman beat Dublin Jerome; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin defeated Shaker Heights. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Magnificat - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Magnificat. They are coached by Chris Johnson. They are Team Members. They are led by Anna Bennett, Caroline Moritz, and Anna Mancino.
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Indian Hill; Centerville (H) versus Eaton; and Hathaway Brown (A) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats Centerville | Orange Defeats Hawken
OTZ #1 Mason defeated #4 Centerville, and #5 (D2) Orange beat #6 (D2) Hawken in the State Team Tournament. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Wooster defeated Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; Centerville-B beat Mason-B; and Loveland defeated Mount Notre Dame. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Archbishop Alter - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Archbishop Alter. They are coached by Charlie Painter. They are Team Members. They are led by Maggie Shope, Annie Gayonski, and Annie Schaefer.
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Springboro; Magnificat (H) versus Solon; Hathaway Brown (H) versus North Canton Hoover; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Archbishop Hoban. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Updated OTZ Rankings
With the Sectional Draw coming this Sunday, it is time to review the OhioTennisZone Top Ten Teams. Since the OTZ Pre-Season rankings were released in early August, a few teams have been impacted by injuries to key players. Other teams messed up by winning when they should not have. (Yes, this was rude.)
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | Hathaway Brown◄TEAM |
| 2. N. Canton Hoover◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 3. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM | Cinc. Hills Chr. Acad. ◄TEAM |
| 4. Centerville◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 5. Magnificat◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 6. St. Ursula Academy | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 7. Avon◄TEAM | Archbishop Alter◄TEAM |
| 8. New Albany◄TEAM | Kenston |
| 9. Sycamore◄TEAM | Wellington◄TEAM |
| 10. Mass. Jackson◄TEAM | Mariemont |
| HM: Solon◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| HM: Highland◄TEAM | Tippecanoe |
| HM: Upper Arlington◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
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North Canton Hoover is this season’s Rosetta Stone team because of the large number of top teams they have played from throughout the state. By comparing all of the teams that have played Hoover in the OTZ Matrix Report, it becomes clearer how they all compare.
If teams were viewed as “tied”, the team which had the most matches against other strong teams was given the higher ranking.
The big “up” movers in D1 include: Avon, New Albany, and Sycamore. The D2 “up” movers are Orange and Hawken.
As always, there are situations when Team A is better than Team B which is better than Team C which is better than Team A.
There are also situations when teams were experimenting with their line-ups or they did not have key players at a match.
There have been many scores entered over the last few days as teams have caught up on entering scores that were not submitted earlier. Please do not enter scores that are already online. (A few duplicates have been noticed and they will be removed.)
Today's matches include: Centerville (A) versus Mason; Orange (A) versus Hawken; Worthington Kilbourne (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Copley (A) versus Highland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Centerville Is the Coaches' Cup Champ | Columbus Academy Beats Hawken and Mag
It was a busy Saturday with tournaments and dual matches. Centerville won the Miami Valley Coaches' Cup (A1 Division) and Springboro was the runner-up. Gahanna was the champ of the Hilliard Davidson dubs tournament with Worthington Kilbourne coming in second.
In dual matches, Columbus Academy went on the road and defeated Hawken and Magnificat. Massillon Jackson beat Highland and Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald - Click to enlarge |
I took the long way to Hilliard Davidson for their doubles tournament yesterday.. I started bright and early to head up to Lexington for their invitational. I was about two-thirds of the way there when I received a call from Centerville’s Scott Long. An alert Centerville parent had noticed in yesterday's entry that I was zooming up to Lexington. That parent then contacted Scott to tell him that I was off by a week. Many thanks to Scott and to the Centerville parent. I got to Davidson at 8:50am and took quite a few photos there so that worked out well.
Yesterday was a big photo processing day. More will be done today.
SATURDAY,
Mason Beats Sycamore | Hawkens Defeats Avon
Mason defeated Sycamore in both a league and State Team Tournament match yesterday. Since it was a Comets versus Aviators match, the event was coined as “Battle of the Skies”.. Nice. In other matches, Hawken defeated Avon and Notre Dame Academy beat Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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North Canton Hoover - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is North Canton Hoover. They are coached by Ryan Shaffer. They are Team Members. They are led by Tess Bucher, Claire Wood, and Angelina Koinoglou.
Hilliard Davidson and Lexington are both having tournaments today. OTZ will be leaving for Lexington in a few minutes. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
NCH Coach Shaffer with 1,000 Wins | Sycamore Beats Centerville
Congratulations to North Canton Hoover Coach Ryan Shaffer. Coach Shaffer reached the 1,000 Career Wins milestone with North Canton Hoover's victory over Solon last night. He has been coaching for 35 years and he has a 1000-166 (86%) record. In addition to Hoover, he has also coached at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Malone University. There is one more active Ohio high school coach with more than 1,000 wins -- Shaker Heights' Al Slawson has approximately 1,037 wins. Read Coach Shaffer's profile for more information.
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NCH's Ryan Shaffer - Click to enlarge |
This was the longest update of the year. While there were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play, many scores were posted from earlier in the season . The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Liberty defeated Dublin Jerome; Sycamore beat Centerville; Eaton defeated Springboro; Loveland beat Milford; Olentangy Berlin defeated Pickerington North; and Westerville Central beat Granville. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw beat Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Magnificat's Anna Bennett; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein; Centerville's Clara Owen defeated Sycamore's Ivy Miller; New Albany's Richardlyne Francois beat Reynoldsburg's Kareen Meoko; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese defeated Wooster's Ava Mathur; Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson beat Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster; Columbus Academy's Arya Chabria defeated Wellington's Olivia Cencer; Worthington Christian's Meghan Mayotte beat Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt; and Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Perry's Lily Walker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
While I normally wake up much earlier on my own, I set the alarm clock at 5:30am as a safety measure. However, this time it was not set to 5:30am, it was set to 5:30pm. That is how this day is going so far..
There is just one match listed on the schedule for today. It is Avon (H) versus Hawken.
THURSDAY,
Avon Beats Jackson | Mason Defeats St. Ursula Academy
The quality of matches continue to increase as teams get further into the State Team tournament. Avon defeated Massillon Jackson in last night's tournament play. Mason also defeated St. Ursula Academy.
There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Tippecanoe defeated Eaton; Chaminade-Julienne beat Butler; Milford defeated Seven Hills; Pickerington North beat Dublin Scioto; Wilmington defeated Kettering Fairmont; Groveport beat Franklin Heights; Hilliard Darby defeated Lancaster; and Copley beat Tallmadge. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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New Albany - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Mason's Shyla Aggarwal defeated St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein; Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw beat Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Laurel's Ellie Brotherton defeated Hawken's Dani Forte; Bexley's Amiya Bowles beat Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri; Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald defeated Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard beat Pickerington North's Poeppelman; and Avon's Denver Johnson defeated Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Congratulations to Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin coach, Harvey Schrager. He just hit 833 career wins. This puts him in ninth place with wins among the coaches.
Today's featured team is New Albany. They are coached by Marc Thomas. They are Team Members. They are led by Richardlyne Francois, Paige Cornelius, and Airi Clements.
There is another ATP Challenger coming to Columbus next week. They need volunteer drivers and ball persons. Click this link for more information. The tournament runs from September 18-25 at the Tennis Ohio facility. (This facility will soon be called Pickle & Chill when Courts 5 and 6 of the old Ohio State Indoor Courts switch to six dedicated pickeball courts.)
The Ohio Tennis Coaches Association clinic will take place on February 25-26, 2023. The event moves from the Dublin, Ohio Marriott to the Chagrin Valley Athletic Club where they will have access to an indoor court. It will be interesting to see what this does to attendance.
Today's matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Solon; Centerville (A) versus Sycamore; Columbus Academy (A) versus Wellington; and Magnificat (A) versus Laurel. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Mag Beats Highland | Columbus Academy Defeats Coffman
This perfect weather is getting tiresome.. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 5, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Columbus Academy defeated Dublin Coffman; Magnificat beat Highland; Big Walnut defeated Buckeye Valley; Pickerington North beat Lancaster; Wooster defeated Madison Comprehensive; and Eaton beat Carlisle. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wellington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Wellington. They are coached by Tommy Haddow. They are Team Members. They are led by Katie Zerbi, Kate Thompson, and Olivia Cencer.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Hathaway Brown; Bexley (H) versus Dublin Coffman; Hawken (A) versus Laurel; and Olentangy (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Mason Beats CHCA | Coffman Defeats Olentangy Liberty
Mason defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the biggest night of the match. Dublin Coffman also beat Olentangy Liberty in a state team tournament match. There were 24 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 8, and Northeast - 6. The close, 3-2 matches included: Chaminade-Julienne defeated Oakwood; Ready beat Groveport; Miami Valley School defeated Eaton; and Gahanna beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Hathaway Brown - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hathaway Brown. They are coached by Greg Aten. They are Team Members. They are led by Summer Mu, Ally Mills, and Katie Mills.
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (A) versus Columbus Academy; Highland (H) versus Magnificat; St. John School (H) versus Perry; and Archbishop Hoban (A) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Marysville Beats Lancaster | Season Half-way Point
The girls tennis season is now at the half-way point, but that is a little misleading for many teams. Most schools will wrap up their seasons at the Sectional tournament during the week of October 3-8 while a small number will continue onto Districts and States. The all-important Sectional Draw is on Sunday, September 25. There are likely discussions taking place right now as coaches and players try to determine if playing singles or doubles is the best path to States.
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Orange - Click to team page |
There was a dual match reported yesterday. Marysville defeated Lancaster.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Orange. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are Team Members. They are led by Alexis Nyborg, Blake Rothchild, and Daniela DeMata-Hiciano
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (A) versus Mason; Turpin (A) versus Oak Hills; and Olentangy Liberty (A) versus Lexington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
North Canton Beats Toledo St. Ursula and Notre Dame Academy
It was quiet day for high school tennis yesterday. North Canton Hoover went on the road to the Northwest District where they beat Toledo St. Ursula Academy and Notre Dame Academy. In tournament play, Beavercreek won the Chaminade-Julienne Invitational.
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Worthington Christian - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Worthington Christian. They are coached by Stefanie Mayotte. They are led by Meghan Mayotte, Brooke Stone, and Ella Rouse.
I had an opportunity to go to the Ohio State game which was nice, but it hampered the OTZ catch-up plans. I will not mind if it rains today so that it forces me to stay indoors.
We sat on the east side of the stadium where we could see the incoming flights to Port Columbus. With yesterday being 9/10, it certainly crossed our minds how those incoming flights would have made it uncomfortable to be at the game if yesterday was 9/11. Take a few minutes to remember what happened 21 years ago. Click for a Youtube video.
SATURDAY,
Centerville Beats Magnificat | Orange Puts the Squeeze on Hawken
The best teams in the state kept their courts busy last night as they welcomed out-of-town teams. The match between #5 Centerville and #4 Magnificat match was a great one. Centerville started with a win on Court 4, and Mag responded with wins on Courts 5 and 1. Centerville then clinched with wins on Courts 3 and 2.
In other big matches, Orange defeated Hawken and North Canton Hoover beat Sylvania Northview. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Westerville Central - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Westerville Central. They are coached by Bradley Baker. They are led by Lauren Muniu and Sidney Choo. Their team photo is among the best in the state.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Centerville and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Photo Friday | Hathaway Brown Beats Hawken | Centerville Defeats Bellbrook
This is the first OTZ Photo Friday of the season. There are 16 new photos included. When images of individual players are included on this Home page, they are normally photos of seniors. On Photo Friday's, the photo most liked by the OTZ staff is posted. These images will largely be posted chronologically. This group includes photos taken on or before August 13. Work on a mechanism is underway to make it easier for fans to find and to purchase photos that they like. Sign-in first and then click for the Most Recently Added Photos to view.
Remember how nice the weather is now, because it is not going to last. There were 29 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 10, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Summit Country Day defeated Seven Hills; Franklin Heights beat Centennial; Columbus School For Girls defeated Bexley; Butler beat Troy; Dublin Jerome defeated Watterson; and Wooster beat Medina. In other big matches, Hathaway Brown defeated Hawken; Centerville beat Bellbrook; and Solon defeated Westlake (State Team Tournament). To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Jerome's Madeline Lynch - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Centerville's Caroline Hinshaw defeated Bellbrook's Maya Brink; Turpin's Sarah Clark beat Loveland's Marlee Fleming; Bexley's Amiya Bowles defeated Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt; Solon's Niya Fried beat Westlake's Madison Shami; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Amy Grace Beebe; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese beat Hudson's Erica Liu; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu defeated Hawken's Dani Forte; Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay beat Revere's Maddie Kavenagh; Watterson's Sara Goodlive defeated Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster; Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya beat Buckeye Valley's Anna Lenhart; and Seven Hills' Sohana Thompson defeated Summit Country Day's Maya Hajjar. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Somewhat surprisingly, there are some really good matches scheduled for tonight. They include: Avon (A) versus Kenston; Centerville (A) versus Magnificat; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Sylvania Northview; Turpin (A) versus Mason; and Orange (A) versus Hawken. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Indian Hill | UA Defeats Dublin Jerome
It was one of the very busiest nights of the season with numerous great matches. In matches involving the highest ranked teams, Mason defeated Indian Hill and Upper Arlington beat Dublin Jerome. The UA match was a State Team Tournament match.
There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 8, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Newark defeated Watkins Memorial; Hilliard Bradley beat Grove City; Loveland defeated Ursuline Academy; Westerville Central beat Marysville; Chaminade-Julienne defeated Eaton; Notre Dame Academy beat St. Joseph Academy; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Wellington; and Wooster beat Mayfield. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Reynoldsburg - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Reynoldsburg. They are coached by Les Somogyi. They are Team Members. They are led by Kareen Meoko and Olivia Cox.
The only thing worse than hearing someone in the crowd say, "That dot in the sky that's getting bigger and bigger must be an asteroid", is "Tonight is senior night". That's because it eliminates any ability to get back to OTZ headquarters in a reasonable amount of time. However, last night's senior night was very well done, and it is fun to see the similarities between the kids and their parents. It is also nice to see teams have their senior night early in the season while the weather is still absolutely perfect.
The GoDaddy system is slower than normal. I called GoDaddy at 6:30am to find out what was up, but I had to abandon the call because I was on hold for too long.
I am behind in creating OTZ Player Profiles. The plan is to catch-up today.
Tomorrow will be the first Photo Friday of the season.
Today's matches include: Olentangy (H) versus Dublin Coffman; Bexley (A) versus Columbus School For Girls; and Perrysburg (H) versus Bowling Green. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Indian Hill Beats Sycamore
The season resumed at a brisk pace yesterday. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 1. In one of the bigger matches, Indian Hill defeated Sycamore. The close, 3-2 matches included: Grove City defeated Thomas Worthington; Big Walnut beat Westerville Central; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Worthington Christian; Gahanna beat Dublin Scioto; Olentangy defeated Olentangy Liberty; and Tecumseh beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Solon - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Solon. They are coached by Fredrik Nyborg. They are Team Members. They are led by Niya Fried and Sasha Gorbacheva.
Today's matches include: St. Ursula Academy (H) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Columbus Academy (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
High School Play Resumes
After a busy (and wet) Labor Day weekend, it is time for Ohio high school tennis to get back in gear. Some of today's matches include: Perrysburg (A) versus Anthony Wayne; Archbishop Hoban (A) versus Laurel; and Dublin Jerome (H) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
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Avon - Click to team page |
OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws have been updated.
Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are Team Members. They are led by Natalie Smitek, Denver Johnson, and Amelia Tomak.
At the USTA BG16-18, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher (and the #7 seed) beat the #2 and #3 seeds on the way to the finals, but she got beat in the finals by the #1 seed. In doubles, Bucher and Laurel's Ellie Brotherton teamed up and won the dubs championship. Congratulations to them.
The plan was to work more on photos yesterday but the computer hard drives really needed to be backed up so that took precedence. Last week's lightning storms finally made it a priority. The "pro" with the new OTZ camera is better photos, but the "con" is that the higher frames per second and greater image resolution means more hard drive space is necessary, not only for the main computer, but also for the back-ups.
MONDAY,
USTA Level 4 Open at Grand Rapids
While high school tennis takes a break today, there are (were) numerous players competing in the Level 4 USTA tournament in Grand Rapids this weekend.
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NCH's Tess Bucher - Click to enlarge |
Girls competing this weekend in the G16-18's include (in alphabetical order): Badin's Caroline Boyle, Laurel's Ellie Brotherton, Indian Hill's Caroline Brown, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming, Hawken's Dani Forte, St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris, Sylvania Northview's Madeline Peisley, St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon, Seven Hills' Sydney Schneider, and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay.
In match-ups of the Ohio players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Laurel's Ellie Brotherton. Bucher is also the only Ohio girl remaining in the front draw.
In boys' play, Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and St. Xavier's Drew Evans are still in their respective front draws.
To follow all of the action, click on USTA BG16-18.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SUNDAY,
Rainout
The plan was to share the results of the Magnificat versus New Albany and Mag versus Upper Arlington matches today. Even though Magnificat made the effort to travel to Columbus, the weather did not cooperate. Magnificat was ahead in the match when it rained out by winning Courts 2 and 3 singles, but New Albany was leading in dubs. It appeared that it was headed to a 3-2 match to be decided on Court 1 singles. Since it it uncertain if the team match will be finished, the Court 2 and 3 matches were entered as tournament matches.
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Grove City - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Magnificat's Caroline Moritz defeated New Albany's Paige Cornelius and Magnificat's Anna Mancino beat New Albany's Airi Clements. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Grove City. They are coached by Joshua Chandler. They are led by Gabriella Hougland and Julie Moore.
SATURDAY,
OTZ Update Info | Serena / JJ
While it was disappointing to see both Serena and JJ get beat last night, it is certainly going to help OTZ productivity. The goal is to get caught up over the weekend. Today's photo of Ajla Tomljanović is from the Western & Southern Open in August. A smiling photo is rather rare in tennis so it was nice to get this one of her.
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Ajla Tomljanović at W&S Open - Click to enlarge |
Even though there were no scores reported from yesterday's play, there were eight scores from coaches who submitted results after the cut-off for yesterday's update. The OTZ update can begin as early as 4:30am and at that point, no more scores are added. It is a lot like following a recipe. Raisins cannot be added to raisin cookies after they are already in the oven. Of course, that is a bad example because raisin cookies are awful. The only reason why anyone eats a raisin cookie is because they thought it was a chocolate chip cookie when they picked it up and someone is watching so they can't put it back.. The best way to insure a score is included in the following day's update is to submit the score before 9pm on the day on which the match is played.
To view all of the results recorded from Thursday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The OTZ Watch List is starting to get tweaked. Both the Top Players and Watch List will get more additions over the weekend. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Magnificat traveled down to Columbus yesterday to play New Albany and Upper Arlington today. Hopefully they can avoid the rain.
FRIDAY,
Hawken Defeats Solon | Jackson Beats Orange | CHCA Over 7 Hills
The week is winding down as everyone starts looking forward to the weekend. There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. Versus last year, the total number of matches is down 15%.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Brecksville defeated Wooster; Hawken beat Solon; Massillon Jackson defeated Orange; Magnificat beat Kenston; and Reynoldsburg defeated Pickerington Central. In another big Southwest District match, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy defeated Seven Hills. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Big Walnut - Click to team page |
Big Walnut had their grand opening of their new courts last night and they are today's featured team. They are coached by Ryan Balaz. Their tract of land will eventually allow them to build five more courts to add to their existing five. The Google Satellite map has not been updated, but the courts are in the northern most part of this map. Big Walnut is led by Molly McLane, Rosie Hartzler, and Jaden Nelson.
Today's matches are Columbus Academy (A) versus Upper Arlington-B and Hawken (A) versus Gilmour Academy.
THURSDAY,
Avon Defeats Solon | Alter Beats Eaton | Dublin Coffman Defeats Wellington
Northeast Ohio continues to gain on the Central and Southwest Districts in terms of reporting scores. The Northeast in second in terms of OTZ usage. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: St. Joseph Academy defeated Shaker Heights; Avon beat Solon; Copley defeated Cuyahoga Falls; Olentangy Berlin beat Pickerington Central; Dublin Scioto defeated Big Walnut; and Archbishop Alter beat Eaton. In another big match, Dublin Coffman defeated Wellington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy Liberty - Click to team page |
Click for updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, Eaton's Macy Hitchcock defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Solon's Sasha Gorbacheva; Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer beat Oak Hills' Morgan Lint; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Pickerington North's Kanisha Thambyrajah; Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren; and St. Joseph Academy's Tyler Schuerlein defeated Shaker Heights' Wilson. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Olentangy Liberty. They are coached by Will Thieman. They are Team Members. They are led by Kylie Wilson and Sophia Mattis.
Today's matches include: Hawken (A) versus Solon; Kenston (H) versus Magnificat; and Massillon Jackson (H) versus Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Coffman Beats UA | Mag Defeats Hawken | Liberty Beats Jerome
Can we get to the long weekend from here? Yes, but there are quite a few good matches to take place before we get there.. There were 26 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 6, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Dublin Coffman defeated Upper Arlington; Chaminade-Julienne beat Milton-Union; Olentangy defeated Dublin Jerome; Olentangy Berlin beat Marysville; and Magnificat defeated Hawken. In another Northeast Ohio match, Massillon Jackson defeated Kenston. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Coffman - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Dublin Coffman. They are coached by Brett Hundertpfund. They are Team Members. They are led by: Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri, Dasha Chistyakova, and Lauren Burkett.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Solon; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Wellington; and Orange (H) versus Laurel. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Notre Dame Academy Beats Perrysburg
Rain interrupted play in some parts of the state, including where I was -- at the Worthington Christian versus Marysville match. Overall, there were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 8, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Pickerington North defeated Westerville Central; Worthington Christian beat Marysville; Notre Dame Academy defeated Perrysburg; and Wooster beat St. Joseph Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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By Court Report - Click to report |
Among the top players, Solon's Niya Fried defeated Strongsville's Bhouya Anoop; Notre Dame Academy's Emma Nofziger beat Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco; Badin's Caroline Boyle defeated Oak Hills' Gabrielle Kadakia; Westerville Central's Lauren Muniu beat Pickerington North's Tasha Miller; and Butler’s Natalie Schoenherr defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
During storm delays, officials commonly ask participants to leave the courts when thunder is heard. At that point, everyone stands outside of the courts in the "perceived safe area" because lightning is only permitted to strike people who are standing on the court.. Last night, it was nice to see coaches urge everyone to leave the area to go to their cars, bus, or wait in nearby buildings until the storm had past.Now that many players have competed in a few matches, the "By Court" Player Performance report is starting to be populated. This report resides under the "Tennis Statistics / Info" dropdown. To appear in the report, players need to have competed in more than six matches and to have a winning percentage that is greater than 60%. This report is a great indication of a team's depth (i.e. North Canton Hoover), and yes, it is a great way to recognize players who are playing lower in a team's line-up.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Beavercreek; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Solon; Kenston (A) versus Massillon Jackson; Magnificat (H) versus Hawken; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Dublin Coffman. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
One More Week to Labor Day
This will be a busy week as teams race to get more matches played before Labor Day. Little to no activity is expected this weekend in high school tennis. Several players; however, will be competing in Grand Rapids at a USTA Level 4 tournament.
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Marysville - Click to team page |
It was not that many years ago that players had to sit out of high school play until they were finished with USTA tournaments. That was disruptive for the teams and players because they could not be used for early-season matches. This welcome change took place under Jerry Snodgrass.
Girls competing this weekend in the G16-18's include (in alphabetical order): Badin's Caroline Boyle, Indian Hill's Caroline Brown, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming, Hawken's Dani Forte, St. Ursula Academy's Emily Jennewein, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Mika Morris, Sylvania Northview's Madeline Peisley, St. Ursula Academy's Maria Poon, Seven Hills' Sydney Schneider, and Archbishop Hoban's Haley Slay. To follow all of the action, click on USTA BG16-18.
Today's featured team is Marysville. They are coached by William Romine. They are Team Members. They are led by Emma Pzedpelski and Paige Hobbs.
Today's matches include: Hathaway Brown (A) versus Laurel; St. Ursula Academy (A) versus Turpin; and Wooster (A) versus St. Joseph Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Sycamore and New Albany
Schools took advantage of the great weather to compete in dual and tournament matches yesterday. North Canton Hoover swept Sycamore and New Albany in their trip to Columbus. NCH went 3-0 on their southern trip -- they also beat Olentangy Orange on Friday. In other play, New Albany defeated Sycamore and Magnificat beat Notre Dame Academy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Next weekend is Labor Day weekend and play is likely to be sparce.
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Liberty's Kylie Wilson - Click to enlarge |
In tournament play, Avon won the Highland Invitational. Highland was the runner-up.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer and New Albany's Richie Francois; Avon's Natalie Smitek beat Wooster's Ava Mathur and Highland's Sarah Sgambati; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett defeated Notre Dame Academy's Emma Nofziger; New Albany's Richie Francois beat Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer; and New Albany's Paige Cornelius defeated Sycamore's Ivy Miller. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's photo is of Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson. Wilson is a senior.
I am awaiting some coaches to complete their roster info before the OTZ Player Profiles can be setup. Today would be a great day to do this.
SATURDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Olentangy Orange | Avon Lake Defeats NDCL
As expected, it was a quiet evening for tennis. In the three matches that were reported, North Canton Hoover defeated Olentangy Orange; Avon Lake beat Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin; and North Royalton defeated Copley. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Newark - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. They are led by Natalie Breckenridge and Addi Taylert. Newark is close to the upcoming Intel computer chip facility which will be east of Columbus.
Some teams are hitting the road today to face strong competition. Highland is also having a tournament. Some of the dual matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Sycamore and New Albany; Dublin Jerome (A) versus Hathaway Brown and Solon; and Bexley (H) versus Lexington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Hawken Beats Jackson | Mag Defeats Solon | HB Beats Orange
It was a busy night. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 14, Southwest - 7, and Northeast - 7. The close, 3-2 matches included: Strongsville defeated Wooster; Loveland beat Walnut Hills; Hawken defeated Massillon Jackson; Dublin Scioto beat Delaware Hayes; Magnificat defeated Solon; Pickerington North beat Grove City; Eaton defeated Brookville; and Dublin Jerome beat Olentangy Berlin. Hathaway Brown defeated Orange in another big match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Highland - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; Mason’s Nishi Gandra beat Oak Hills' Morgan Lint; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Walnut Hill’s Angela Britton beat Loveland’s Marlee Fleming; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer defeated Lakota East's Reagan Gilbert; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Brecksville's Claire Martens; Hilliard Bradley's Anh Thi Thai defeated Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster beat Olentangy Berlin's Claire Emanuel; Hawken's Dani Forte defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Westerville Central's Lauren Muniu beat Gahanna's Frankie Nuss; Grove City’s Gabriella Hougland defeated Pickerington North’s Poeppelman; and Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman beat Hawken's Hayley Garber. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Highland. They are coached by Lisa Reynolds. They are Team Members. They are led by Sarah Sgambati and Jo Oberhaus.
Today's matches include: Copley (A) versus North Royalton; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Olentangy Orange; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (H) versus Avon Lake. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Indian Hill | Turpin Defeats 7 Hills
More top ranked teams clashed yesterday. Mason defeated Indian Hill and Turpin beat Seven Hills. There were 16 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 4, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 7. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. Please submit a Feedback or send an email to provide results that are not posted.
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Sycamore - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Sycamore. They are coached by Mike Teets. They are Team Members. They are led by Gabrielle Frischer and Ivy Miller.
The OTZ system appears to be running slower than normal. It is unclear why. Please give the system more time to respond when reporting scores or entering a feedback (i.e. don't push the button or link twice). OTZ purchases its hosting services from GoDaddy.
Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Columbus Academy; Magnificat (H) versus Solon; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Hawken; and Orange (H) versus Hathaway Brown. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Magnificat Beats Hathaway Brown | Jackson Defeats Solon | Coffman Beats Orange
Great weather ushered in great matches yesterday. In contests involving the top teams in the state, Magnificat defeated Hathaway Brown; Massillon Jackson beat Solon and Dublin Coffman defeated Olentangy Orange.
There were 25 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 13, Southwest - 7, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: West Carrollton beat Xenia; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Big Walnut; and London beat Jonathan Alder. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Columbus School For Girls - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Kenston's Brooke McNeal; Magnificat’s Anna Bennett beat Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu; Solon's Niya Fried defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman beat Big Walnut's Molly McLane; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster defeated Marysville's Emma Pzedpelski; Upper Arlington's Ava Richard beat Olentangy Liberty's Kylie Wilson; and Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri defeated Olentangy Orange's Ananya Swarup. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Columbus School for Girls. They are coached by Sean Delaney. They are Team Members. They are led by Lanie Klatt and Priya Mehta.
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (A) versus Turpin; Findlay (H) versus Sylvania Northview; and Westerville Central (A) versus Westerville South. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Archbishop Alter Defeats Beavercreek
After a wet weekend, the state restarted the week with a modest number of matches. There were 13 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 3, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: DeSales defeated Delaware Hayes; Dublin Scioto beat Hilliard Davidson; Loveland defeated Summit Country Day; Ready beat Grandview; Upper Arlington-B defeated Worthington Christian; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat St. John School; and St. Ursula Academy defeated Milford. In another notable match, Archbishop Alter defeated Beavercreek. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Perrysburg - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Perrysburg. They are coached by Charles Brigode. They are Team Members. They are led by Penelope Giammarco and Allison Barry.
By the end of the morning, all of the team photos that have been emailed to (or taken by) OTZ should be online. If your team's photo is not, please reach out via email or Feedback. A couple of hours were lost last night due to a power outage - probably from a squirrel showing off to his friends..
There are numerous match-ups between great teams tonight. They included: Centerville (H) versus Miamisburg; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Olentangy Orange; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Magnificat; Orange (A) versus Kenston; Solon (A) versus Massillon Jackson; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Western & Southern | Columbus City Schools
Even though Ohio high school tennis is moving into its third week, many teams have not yet gotten fully engaged. Hopefully that will change this week.
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Taylor Fritz - Click to enlarge |
Unfortunately it is unlikely to change in a positive way for Columbus City School students. The teachers went on strike early this morning for the first time since 1975. With the pandemic and now the strike, these students cannot catch a break. About a decade ago, Gerber Analytics did extensive research on how all public and private schools performed on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). Cincinnati City schools outperformed the rest of the state, primarily due to Walnut Hills. Columbus City Schools did not fare well. In this analysis, all schools were ranked versus other schools and by subject within schools. The OGT was eventually discontinued. (Maybe because the weaker schools were not improving?) Click for Gerber Analytics Top Academy Ohio High Schools Analysis (2014) and the Major Metro School Analysis (2014).
After a two year, COVID-19 induced break from the Western & Southern Open photo blinds, it was great to be back this year. More photos will be posted, but here are a few from the Taylor Fritz / Daniil Medvedev match. [Click for Fritz backhand, running forehand, and forehand.]
Six years ago, Fritz competed at one of the OSU Challengers. [See Fritz Challenger photo.] Hopefully there will be more opportunities to watch Challenger matches in the future at Tennis Ohio even though some of the courts are being converted to pickleball. The facility is being renamed, Pickle & Chill.
While it was great that the Western & Southern Open tournament was a full go this year, it was perhaps too much of a diversion for OTZ. The good news is that I got numerous great photos, but there is a substantial amount of HS catch-up necessary. Waiting for an OTZ response on any issue? Please reach out via email.
Today's matches include: Highland (H) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (H) versus St. John School; Loveland (A) versus Summit Country Day; and Delaware Hayes (A) versus DeSales. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Dublin Coffman Wins Eagles Invitational
Yesterday was a big tournament day. Dublin Coffman won the Eagles Invitational and Big Walnut won the Watkins Memorial Dubs Tournament. No dual match results were reported from yesterday's play but a few coaches entered results from earlier in the week.
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NDA's Ellie Assenmacher - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, New Albany's Richie Francois defeated Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova, Olentangy Berlin's Allison Snyder, and Columbus Academy's Tamanna Arya on her way of winning Flight A of the Eagles Invite. Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova defeated Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster and Olentangy's Sheryl Gerald.
Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Trying to get good photos of doubles players is always frustrating because the players block each other *. Today's photo is no different but at least it is somewhat interesting. The blockee was Toledo Notre Dame Academy's Ellie Assenmacher and the blocker was Emma Nofziger [see photo]. Both are seniors.
* The exception is during the boys season because the points never actually start since the boys always double fault when playing doubles. The mental calculus that the boys use is that one ace is worth 10 double faults..
SATURDAY,
Orange Beats Magnificat | Perrysburg Defeats Sylvania Northview
As expected, it was a quiet night on the tennis courts with football taking the center stage. There were just three scores reported. Perrysburg defeated Sylvania Northview and Orange beat Magnificat. Both were 3-2 matches. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Jonathan Alder - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Magnificat's Bennett; Sylvania Northview's Maddie Peisley beat Perrysburg's Penelope Giammarco; Orange's Blake Rothchild defeated Magnificat's Anna Mancino; and Sylvania Northview's Brynn Chaffee beat Perrysburg's Allison Barry. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Jonathan Alder. They are coached by Bryan Deeken. They are led by Ella Sloat and Lauren Renner.
There are at least two big tournament today including at New Albany and Canfield. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Magnificat Beats Massillon Jackson
It is time for that other fall sport to begin so there will not be as many Friday matches going forward. There were 20 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 9, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Magnificat defeated Massillon Jackson; Bexley beat Worthington Christian; Butler defeated Northmont; Wooster beat Hudson; Marysville defeated Hilliard Darby; and Eaton beat Madison Senior. Jackson was up 2-1 against Magnificat before Mag streaked back to win Courts 1 and 2 singles. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Loveland - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Loveland. They are coached by Jennifer Kapszukiewicz. They are led by Marlee Fleming and Tahlia Little.
The match-ups are too good to pass up at the Western & Southern Open so I will be zooming down to Mason today.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Westlake; Orange (H) versus Magnificat; and Seven Hills (H) versus Miami Valley School. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
New Albany Beats Dublin Jerome | Academy Defeats Indian Hill
Pesky showers are still hampering play, but that is better than the rain that is expected this weekend. There were 19 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 6, and Northeast - 7. (The Northeast continues to gain new OTZ Coach Members.) The close, 3-2 matches included: Westland defeated Franklin Heights; Milton-Union beat Butler; Oak Hills defeated Lakota East; Poland Seminary beat Struthers; St. Joseph Academy defeated Medina; Middletown beat Xenia; Columbus Academy defeated Indian Hill; and Northwestern beat Chaminade-Julienne. New Albany defeated Dublin Jerome in another notable match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Olentangy Berlin - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Olentangy Berlin. They are coached by Richard Hunt. They are Team Members. They are led by Allison Snyder and Claire Emanuel.
Today's matches include: Magnificat (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Hathaway Brown (H) versus Kenston; and Solon (A) versus St. Joseph Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Orange Beats Solon | Sycamore Defeats Highland | W&S Open Notes
It was a busy day on the high school and professional tennis courts yesterday. The number of high school matches are ramping up. This will continue as players return to school. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. There were numerous close, 3-2 matches. They included: Reynoldsburg defeated Gahanna; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin beat Mayfield; Sycamore defeated Highland; Worthington Kilbourne beat Dublin Scioto; Bexley defeated Chaminade-Julienne; Kenton Ridge beat Jonathan Alder; Shaker Heights defeated Laurel; Orange beat Solon; and Archbishop Alter defeated Badin. (These matches are sorted by how close each match was.) In another noteworthy match, Hawken defeated Kenston. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Serena Williams - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Orange's Alexis Nyborg defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer beat Highland's Sarah Sgambati; Dublin Scioto's Amelia Kunard defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman; Reynoldsburg's Kareen Meoko beat Gahanna's Frankie Nuss; Hawken’s Dani Forte defeated Kenston’s Brooke McNeal; Chaminade-Julienne’s Harsman beat Bexley’s Mia Ehrsam; Badin's Caroline Boyle defeated Archbishop Alter's Maggie Shope; and Columbus School For Girls' Lanie Klatt beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It had just started to rain as I arrived at the Western & Southern late yesterday afternoon so I went to the media center to see where things stood with the matches. As I walked in the elevator, a professional player was already in it. When the elevator reached his floor, he graciously thanked the elevator operator as he left. While riding two more floors to the media center, I mentioned to the operator that the guy who thanked him seemed like a nice guy. He agreed. I then told him that the guy who thanked him was the #1 tennis player in the world, Daniil Medvedev [see photo]. He had no idea that was Medvedev, but he was quite happy after that. Because of a gracious thank you, Medvedev not only made the elevator operator's day but now thousands of OhioTennisZone readers like him just a little bit more.. Very nice and very smart..
The ball kids who help out at the Western & Southern are occasionally high school players and sometimes I recognize them. I noticed one athletic kid who was zooming around on Center Court snagging balls during the Medvedev match. It was Mariemont's Will Stephens. Click for photo.
The atmosphere at the Western & Southern was electric prior to and during the Serena / Emma Raducanu [see photo] match. It was great to see Serena one more time before she retires. While not as mobile as in the past, if the ball was hit close to her, Serena could absolutely drill it..
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Indian Hill; Dublin Jerome (H) versus New Albany; and North Canton Hoover (H) versus Wooster. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Dublin Coffman Beats HB | Hoover Defeats Jackson | HB Beats NA
Schools continue to take advantage of the time before classes start to travel and play big matches. There were 21 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 6, Northeast - 4, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Big Walnut defeated Worthington Christian; Dublin Coffman beat Hathaway Brown; Delaware Hayes defeated Hilliard Darby; Sycamore beat Turpin; Columbus School For Girls defeated Olentangy Berlin; Hathaway Brown beat New Albany; and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin defeated Gilmour Academy.
In other big matches, North Canton Hoover defeated Massillon Jackson and Highland beat Olentangy Orange. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. |
Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese; Highland's Sarah Sgambati beat Olentangy Orange's Avery Reed; Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Elena Fleming defeated Gilmour Academy's Rondini; Hathaway Brown's Summer Mu beat Dublin Coffman's Dasha Chistyakova and New Albany's Richie Francois; Sycamore's Gabrielle Frischer defeated Bexley's Mia Ehrsam; Dublin Coffman's Pritika Ghosh-Choudhuri beat Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman defeated North Canton Hoover's Addison Shiel; and Hathaway Brown's Katie Mills beat New Albany's Paige Cornelius. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Shaun Stamps. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Ava Richard, Isabella Roth, and Alice Hawley.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) versus Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy; Highland (A) versus Sycamore; Solon (H) versus Orange; and Dublin Scioto (A) versus Worthington Kilbourne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Western & Southern Open Underway
Yesterday's rain forced numerous changes. Mason had planned to host Hathaway Brown in what would have been a great match but it got rained out. There were no matches results from yesterday's play.
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Peyton Stearns - Click to enlarge |
Mrs. OTZ and I had organized an end-of-season pickleball tournament as the final competition of our PickleballZone.com league, but it too, got rained out. On the bright side though, we were able to zoom down to Mason and watch afternoon matches at the Western & Southern Open.
There were numerous high school players at the W&S Open yesterday. If you are part of a group and you see me zooming around, stop me and I will take a group photo. I was fortunate enough to get media credentials so I hope to get down there two-three more times.
While videos are great, just a simple picture tells a great deal about a players' ability. Pros sprint to the best spot on the court that will enable them to hit the ball with the most power (and/or spin) they can impart on the ball. Before they hit the ball, their bodies are coiled to blast into the ball.. Of course, on top of that, they have the hand-eye coordination to hit the ball in the middle of the racquet. The image of Peyton Stearns is from her match yesterday against Taylor Townsend. Townsend won the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Sycamore; Hathaway Brown versus New Albany (A) and Dublin Coffman (A); North Canton Hoover (A) versus Massillon Jackson; and Highland (A) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
HB Wins CSG Dubs | Hoover Beats Wellington | Jackson Defeats UA
Yesterday was a big tournament day throughout Ohio. Hathaway Brown won the Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament and Olentangy came in second. Anthony Wayne won the Ottawa Hills Tournament and Gahanna was the Reynoldsburg Double Tournament champ. Highland was the champion of the Medina Doubles Tournament.
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Jackson's Madison Altman - Click to enlarge |
In dual matches, Massillon Jackson defeated Upper Arlington and North Canton Hoover beat Wellington. To view all of the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Wellington's Kate Thompson; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese beat Upper Arlington's Ava Richard; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman defeated Upper Arlington's Isabella Roth; and North Canton Hoover's Claire Wood beat Wellington's Olivia Cencer. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
SATURDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Olentangy | Centerville Defeats NDA
Let's copy and paste yesterday's weather and use it for the rest of the season.. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Centerville defeated Notre Dame Academy; Shaker Heights beat Copley; Ready defeated Franklin Heights; Wooster beat Massillon Perry; and Big Walnut defeated Hilliard Bradley. In another notable match, North Canton Hoover defeated Olentangy. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Wellington's Katie Zerbi - Click to enlarge |
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Upper Arlington and North Canton Hoover (A) versus Wellington. OTZ travels to CSG for their annual dubs tournament. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Jerome Defeats Wellington | Solon Beats Kenston | UA Defeated Canfield
There were several good early season match-up as some of the stronger teams competed against each other. Dublin Jerome defeated Wellington and Solon beat Kenston in 3-2 matches. Upper Arlington also beat Canfield, who traveled to Columbus to play. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 6, Southwest - 0, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Dublin Jerome - Click to team page |
Among the top players, North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher defeated Brecksville's Claire Martens; Upper Arlington's Ava Richard beat Canfield's Whitney Miller; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese defeated St. Joseph Academy's Zari Newell; Dublin Jerome's Lydia Foster beat Wellington's Katie Zerbi; Kenston's Brooke McNeal defeated Solon's Niya Fried; Big Walnut's Molly McLane beat Delaware Hayes' Tavi Jeisel Steffel; and Worthington Kilbourne's Lilly Hershey beat Canal Winchester's Ava Griggs. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Dublin Jerome. They are coached by Jeremy Mokry. This was Coach Mokry's first high school match with Jerome. They are led by Adayla Coakley and Lydia Foster. They are OTZ Team Members.
Today's matches include: North Canton Hoover (A) versus Lexington and Olentangy; Centerville (H) versus Notre Dame Academy; and Copley (H) versus Shaker Heights. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Centerville Beats MVS | Loveland Defeats Bellbrook
The girls high school season is off to a s l o w start but I think it can start to pick up steam this weekend. There were 12 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 5, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Bellbrook; Canal Winchester beat Franklin Heights; and Olentangy Berlin defeated Lancaster. In other notable matches Centerville defeated Miami Valley School and Massillon Jackson beat Revere. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Bellbrook's Maya Brink defeated Loveland's Marlee Fleming; Massillon Jackson's Paige Reese beat Revere's Maddie Kavenagh; Miami Valley School’s Kennedi Washington defeated Centerville's Eve Alappatt; Massillon Jackson's Madison Altman beat Revere's Tarini Gowda; Gahanna’s Frankie Nuss defeated Marysville's Emma |
Copley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Copley. They are coached by Jodi Mirman. They are Team Members. They are led by Shria Kavatura and Cassandra Komlanc.
Today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (A) versus Wellington; Solon (A) versus Kenston; and Big Walnut (H) versus Delaware Hayes. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. (More and more scheduled matches are being into added to OTZ.)
WEDNESDAY,
North Canton Hoover Beats Avon | Woodridge Defeats Copley
It was another day of spotty weather. Most teams have not yet gotten fully engaged with the season, and just seven matches were recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 3, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: North Canton Hoover defeated Avon; Woodridge beat Copley; and Wooster defeated Ashland. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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Delaware Hayes - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Delaware Hayes. They are coached by Dianna Hibinger. They are Team Members. They are led by Tea Ilic, Autumn Doughty, and Delaney Nelson.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus Revere; Bexley (H) versus DeSales; Highland (A) versus Medina; and Delaware Hayes (H) versus Jonathan Alder. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Highland Beats Westlake | Worthington Kilbourne Defeats Pick. Central
Even though the today's weather looks questionable, yesterday was a decent tennis day throughout most of the state. There were nine matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2, Northeast - 3, Southwest - 3, and Northwest - 1. In some of the more notable matches, Highland beat Westlake; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Pickerington Central; and Perrysburg beat Findlay. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lehman Catholic defeated Sidney; Wayne beat Bellefontaine; and Tecumseh defeated Xenia. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
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PanCan Fundraiser - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Highland's Sarah Sgambati defeated Westlake's Madison Shami; Worthington Kilbourne's Libby Alderman beat Pickerington Central's Alex Heren; Highland's Jo Oberhaus defeated Westlake's Nadia Milovich; and Worthington Kilbourne's Lilly Hershey beat Pickerington Central's Issyssis Hill. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
One of the OTZ summer tennis highlights is PanCAN, which is a fundraiser for pancreatic cancer research. This fundraising effort is provided by the Diaz Family. After a two year break due to COVID-19, the 16th annual tournament took place July 15-16. Enlarge the photo and you will likely see a few familiar faces. For more information, click on DiazTennis.org
Please start emailing *high-resolution" team photos to OhioTennisZone.com. OTZ Team Members also need to identify "which player is which" for OTZ Player Profiles. If a photo was taken by a professional, please double check with your athletic director that the photo can be used online. Need advice in taking a good team photo? Please click on How to Take a Team Photo.
Today's matches include: Copley (A) versus Woodridge; North Canton Hoover (A) versus Avon; and Wooster (H) versus Ashland. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
PickleballZone.com League Playoffs
With pickleball getting extensive coverage on the Tennis Channel this weekend, it makes sense that OTZ sister site, PickleballZone.com, receives some attention today. The PickleballZone.com league playoffs were held yesterday, and yes, it rained. The Level-1 playoffs started outdoors at Elysium Tennis for the semi-finals but action moved indoors for the finals as rained moved into Central Ohio. The Level-2 (higher skilled players) were hosted by Wedgewood Golf and Country Club. The score was tied at 13-13 on the deciding court when the rain hit. After a robust squeegee effort, it rained again. (This is not the first time that this has ever happened.) Wedgewood could have finished the match by winning two more points (at 15-13), but it was not to be. When play resumed at Elysium, Kinsale won that game and the next to secure the championship. The Level-1 champion was New Albany and the finalist was Jefferson. Click on Results | Information for all of the detailed match information.
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Kinsale - Level-2 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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New Albany - Level-1 Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Kinsale's Gabe & Alexia Meyer - Click to enlarge |
Special thanks go to Elysium Tennis for hosting the Level-1 playoffs and for allowing the final game of the Level-2 playoffs to finish at their site.
In addition to the OTZ crew, Mrs. OTZ (Kathy) is greatly involved with PickleballZone.com. She primarily handles the interactions with the 12 clubs and 26 teams. She also helps complete the one billion thousand things that my mind dreams up but never has the time to finish (i.e. the meticulously-crafted PBZ medals [see photo]).
Just as pickleball has quickly grown, the same has happened with the PBZ league. There were twice the number of matches recorded this year versus in last year's inaugural year. Another big change from last year is that the first non-club-related site, Upper Arlington Parks & Recreation joined the fray.
Eagle-eyed tennis players may notice that PickleballZone.com (PBZ) greatly resembles OhioTennisZone. The code base is the essentially the same. The PBZ captain capabilities are very similar to the "coaching privileges" that OTZ provides. (The same goes for PlatformTennisZone.com.) The big benefit is that when new capabilities (such as a report) are added to one site, the same can benefit the other two sites without too much additional effort. The most recent example of this was the "By Court" report.
For those involved with high school tennis for more than a few years, a few may recognize Alexia Meyer [see action photo and 2015 State Qualifiers] (and her family) who played on the Kinsale team. Meyer played tennis for Olentangy Liberty (2016 grad) while her brother, Gabe, played lacrosse. Alexia went on and played college tennis for Missouri State. Alexia and Gabe won the deciding match against Kinsale.
While PBZ is currently a Central Ohio offering, it could also expand to other Ohio cities.
Today's matches include: Highland (H) versus Westlake and Newark (A) versus Logan. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Note that the schedules for many teams still need to be entered.
SUNDAY,
Worthington Kilbourne & Highland - Tournament Champs
While the weather predictions early in the week looked dire, Saturday turned out to be pretty good for tennis. Worthington Kilbourne won the Delaware Hayes tournament with Marysville coming in second. Highland won its own tournament and Westlake was the runner-up. There were no dual matches reported.
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JJ Wolf - Click to enlarge |
Cincinnati's JJ Wolf has been on a roll lately on the professional circuit. He has gone from 167 in the world in April to 99 in the most recent rankings update. It will be very interesting to see how well he does at the upcoming Western & Southern Open. The photo is of JJ at an exhibition at the Upper Arlington courts grand opening.
The list of pros with Ohio ties has been updated. This list resides on the College Report page. New to the list are Katrina Scott [photo] who trains in Columbus and Kyle Seelig [photo] who played for Ohio State. Scott and Cincinnati's Peyton Sterns recently played each other in the finals of the Ohio State ITF. Scott won that closely contested match. See the photo of both players.
It is time for the playoffs in the PickleballZone.com league! This is the Central Ohio pickleball league that Mrs. OTZ and I started last summer. Wedgewood Golf and Country Club is hosting the Level-2 league playoff and Elysium Tennis is hosting the Level-1 league.( Level-2 has the more advanced players). Both of the playoffs begin at 11:00am today.
SATURDAY,
Marysville Starts with a Win
Marysville now has more wins than any other program in the state this season after defeating Mount Vernon yesterday, 5-0. Unfortunately, that was also the only score reported as rain or the threat of rain kept other schools from getting out of the blocks.
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Upper Arlington Courts - Click to enlarge |
To view all the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
The order of finish of the Marysville versus Mount Vernon match was 5-2-1-4-3. This means that first singles player, Marysville's Emma Pzedpelski, clinched the win for Marysville.
OhioTennisZone will be in ugly duckling mode over the next few days as it transitions from the 2021-22 to the 2022-23 season.
The Upper Arlington courts were finished for the girls season last year but the parking lot was still a work-in-progress. While there are still a few traffic cones preventing entry, it is very close to operational. It will be nice to have this site available for tournaments again. Hopefully this site will host the State Team Tournament for both Division I and Division II this year.
Delaware Hayes, Highland, Reynoldsburg have tournaments today.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2022 - UPDATED 10:15AM
Division II Rankings (beta release)
Hathaway Brown Starts Season as #1 in Division II (beta release)
No one at OhioTennisZone has ever lost a job by ranking Hathaway Brown as the D2 Pre-Season #1. Yet.
The Top Teams in Division I were ranked by OTZ yesterday. Today, it is Division II's turn. The rankings include a combination of teams with great depth and other teams with a strong group of 1-2-3 singles. It is normally the teams with great depth that win the championships, but it will be interesting to see how things turn out this year.
The rankings and the rational behind the rankings are listed below. They are all subject to tweaking if players decide not to play (or to play) Ohio high school tennis this fall.
Note that the Division II rankings are more difficult to create because D2 teams do not travel as well as Division I teams. Why they do not travel is a complete mystery because the same school will allow teams of other sports to travel. Plus, tennis players and parents are accustomed to traveling frequently to participate in USTA tournaments so they expect to do some travel in high school. Please remember that Columbus remains a perfect location for teams throughout the state to meet for dual matches. Schedule a match for 10:00, book another match at 1:00pm, eat Cane's Chicken at 3:00pm, and grab an ice cream cone at Graeters at 4:00pm.
Last year's seniors will be removed when this year's new results are posted.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division II | |
| 1. Hathaway Brown◄TEAM | |
| 2. Columbus Academy◄TEAM | |
| 3. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy◄TEAM | |
| 4. Indian Hill◄TEAM | |
| 5. Wellington◄TEAM | |
| 6. Archbishop Alter◄TEAM | |
| 7. Hawken◄TEAM | |
| 8. Kenston | |
| 9. Seven Hills◄TEAM | |
| 10. Laurel◄TEAM | |
◄TEAM - Denotes Team Membership so extensive OTZ information is available | |
Last year's high-performer, Eaton, is not participating in the State Team Tournament this year.
Division II
#1 Hathaway Brown returns the core of last year's #1 team including Summer Mu, Ally Mills, Katie Mills, Alice Lin. They lost Alex Wolf to graduation.
#2 Columbus Academy returns to the courts with substantial depth. They lost no key contributors to graduation. Returning are Arya Chabria, Grace Philip, Yasemin Bilgin, Anna Chang, and Tamanna Arya. Out of the above listed five players, only Chang is a senior.
#3 Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy may end up at the top of the rankings as their freshman players get up to speed. Returning players are Payton Puryear, Mika Morris, and Tara Chalasani. They pick up 5-star Addison Cassidy and 3-star Martha Thompson. They lost Lynn Kader and Julia Filomenu to graduation.
#4 Indian Hill returns their entire team which includes: Brooke Arington, Caroline Brown, Hannah Pollock, and Lexi Larsen, and Cassie Larsen.
#5 Wellington returns another solid team. Players returning are Katie Zerbi, Kate Thompson, and Olivia Cencer. They lost Alexis Burkhalter, Olivia Vegas, and Lauren Okoye to graduation.
#6 Archbishop Alter returns a talented team. Returning for Alter are: Maggie Shope, Annie Gayonski, Annie Schaefer, and Alana Baker. They lost Grace Lampman and Elisebeth Collins to graduation.
#7 Hawken kept their top players including Hayley Garber, Eliana Yang, Bella Hsieh, Beatrice Hardacre, and Tina Tewari. They lost Cassidy Feng and Jamie Park to graduation.
#8 Kenston returns Brooke McNeal, Madison Davila, Hallie Brown, and Alex Ungaro. They lost Kelsi Currington to graduation.
#9: Seven Hills lost several of their top players to graduation including: Gabriella Khaskelis, Wendy Woffington, and Shriya Sekar. Those returning include: Sohana Thompson, Sydney Schneider, and Charolette Scharfenberger.
10: Laurel returns Xavier-bound Ellie Brotherton, Samyuktha Iyer, and Abby Bee. They lost Caroline Davies and Nikhita Goel to graduation.
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin had been in Division II but they are now in D1. They were listed above in an earlier version of this list, but they were removed. They return Elena Fleming, Lucy Paulin, and Kate Harlan. They lost Brooke Begovic to graduation.
Have a good team that OTZ does not follow? Join OTZ (at least as a Coach Member) so that your scores can be submitted. Moose and Rocco are here to help.
Feel free to submit a Feedback if any obvious schools are missing from the rankings.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022
Mason Starts Season as #1 in Division I (beta release)
It is time for the OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Team Rankings. Today, the Division I teams are ranked. The Division II rankings will be posted on Friday.
The rankings and the rational behind the rankings are listed below. They are all subject to tweaking if players decide not to play Ohio high school tennis this fall. "OTZ thanks" go to several coaches who provided feedback for the list. This is; however, not a coaches poll.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | |
| 1. Mason◄TEAM | |
| 2. Dublin Coffman◄TEAM | |
| 3. North Canton Hoover◄TEAM | |
| 4. Magnificat◄TEAM | |
| 5. Centerville | |
| 6. St. Ursula Academy◄TEAM | |
| 7. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | |
| 8. Highland◄TEAM | |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | |
| 10. Upper Arlington◄TEAM | |
| HM: New Albany◄TEAM | |
| HM: Sycamore◄TEAM | |
| HM: Avon | |
◄TEAM - Denotes Team Membership so extensive OTZ information is available | |
The TennisRecruiting.net star rankings are included for many of the top incoming freshmen. Click for the complete list of top incoming freshmen that was originally published on October 29, 2021 and updated frequently since that date.
Click on player names for their OhioTennisZone Player Profiles. (Also note that if your daughter does not have an OTZ Player Profile, it is easy to obtain one by becoming an OTZ member. Please check to see if your team has an OTZ Team Membership first though before purchasing a membership.)
Division I
#1 Mason is the defending Division I champion and they start the season at #1. Mason returns great depth even though they lost key contributors to graduation. Graduates included Anna Tonkal, Rashi Loni, and Danielle Reid. They return Shyla Aggarwal (State singles champion), Harshita Uppuganti, and Risha Chada. Senior Nishi Gandra is also joining the team and she is a 5-star. The Comets also pick up several potential stars: Pratyusha Chaudhuri and Anamitra Gotike. (Both are 3-stars.) While Mason and Magnificat were neck and neck with talent last year, Mason starts the season with a sizable lead over the other schools.
#2 Dublin Coffman returns their top five players who challenged Upper Arlington for the Central District Final Four spot last year. They include: Dasha Chistyakova, Pritika Ghosh Choudhuri, Lauren Burkett, Emily Yoshino, and Bethel Binyam. Coffman has not been this high in the rankings but they appear to have the top court strength and the depth to beat a bunch of teams this fall.
#3 North Canton Hoover is one of several NE teams who will contend for a Final Four spot. They return many of their top players, including Tess Bucher, Claire Wood, and Angelina Koinoglou. They lost Lilly Altman and Izzy Warburton to graduation. They pick up Addison Sheil, a 2-star.
#4 Magnificat lost a lot of talent from their #2 ranked team last year, including Audrey Smitek, Kayra Koprulu, and Alexis Ospelt. They return: Anna Mancino, Caroline Moritz, and Maddie Nock. They pick up 5-star Anna Bennett. Natalie Smitek is playing for Avon this year.
#5 Centerville returns State dubs champions, Caroline Hinshaw and Clara Owen. Also returning are Arabelle MacPherson and Eva Siler. They lost Carmen Aliaga to graduation.
#6 St. Ursula Academy returns several key players including Emily Jennewein, Kathleen Davin, Maria Poon, and Elle Schuermann. They lost Molly Sprong to graduation.
#7 Massillon Jackson returns their three top singles players. They are Madison Altman, Paige Reese, and Rachael Williams. Also returning is Divya Shanmugam. They lost Abby Williams to graduation.
#8 Highland returns their top three players - Sarah Sgambati, Jo Oberhaus, and Ally Haynes. They also return not one, but two Pawlak's - Madison Pawlak and Mackenzie Pawlak.
#9 Solon returns a great deal of depth including: Niya Fried, Phoebe Shi, Ariel Hsieh, and Sasha Gorbacheva. They lost Ava Maersch to graduation.
#10 Upper Arlington lost Megan Basil and Anna Leach to graduation. Their returning players include: Ava Richard, Isabella Roth, and Ellis Mizer. They pick up 2-star Danielle Ball.
Other teams on the OTZ radar include:
HM: New Albany returns Richardlyne Francois, Paige Cornelius, and Madeleine Naumoff. They lost Kary Hollenbaugh to graduation.
HM: Sycamore returns Gabrielle Frischer, Mya Reardon, and Ivy Miller. They lost Keira Millerchip to graduation.
HM: Avon picks up Natalie Smitek this season and they return Denver Johnson, Amelia Tomak, and Julia Kacenjar. They could surprise a few teams this year.
Feel free to submit a Feedback if you believe that a team was overlooked or if your team is ranked too high. Please provide specific reasons why.
As always, teams are encouraged to not mess up these rankings by winning when they should not.. Win when expected and lose when expected and we'll get along just fine..
THURSDAY,
OTZ Girls State Team Draws Now Available
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Draws are now online. The draws are available at the top of this page and they will remain there throughout the season.
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State Team Tournament Draws - Click to go to draws |
As with everything else on OTZ, the goal is to enable high school tennis fans to quickly obtain the information needed rather than to maximize OTZ clicks and page views. As indicated in the four features that are highlighted: 1) the most recent update date is included; 2) the navigation links allow users to quickly jump throughout the draw sheet; 3) the Team designation means that a Team Membership was purchased and that all of the individual player information is available via their OTZ Player Profiles; and 4) the team links are "click-able" to enable fans to perform more research. For the best experience, sign-in to OTZ first. The goal is to keep the draws promptly updated throughout the season. Please click on Feedback if you are aware of a result that is not yet posted.
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State Team Tournament Participation- Click to enlarge |
The number of girls teams that enter the tournament varies from year to year. There are 116 teams participating this year and that is the same as last year. The number of girls teams by year is: 2015 - 134; 2016 - 133; 2017 - 132; 2018 - 133; 2019 - 124; 2020 - 118; 2021 - 116; and 2022 - 116. As shown in the graph, Northeast has the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 372 OHSAA girls tennis teams, 31% of the teams are competing in this tournament. (Note that last year, there were 398 girls teams in OHSAA competition.) Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing. While this information is somewhat interesting, the main benefit is that it requires that OTZ remember how Microsoft Excel pivot-tables work..
Again, please contact OTZ via Feedback or email, if a match has been played but it is not recorded. Good luck this season!
TUESDAY,
In One More Week..
The OHSAA Girls Season begins in just one more week (but hopefully you already knew that). Today's posting includes a variety of items. It provides: the key dates for the season; OTZ member information; OTZ Top 10 team update; why Top 10 teams are encouraged to be OTZ Team Members; and why graduates are still included on team rosters.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Aug. 1 (M): First Day of Coaching |
| Aug. 5 (F): High School Match Play Begins |
| Aug. 6 (Sa)-14: USTA Girls National Championships |
| Aug. 27 (Sa): SAT Test Date |
| Sep. 6 (T): Non-Interscholastic Date |
| Sep. 10 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
| Sep. 19 (M): Waiver Extension Ends |
| Sep. 25 (Su)-27: Rosh Hashanah |
| Sep. 25 (Su): Sectional Draw |
| Oct. 1 (Sa): SAT Test Date | Oct. 3 (M)-Oct. 8: Sectional Tournament |
| Oct. 4 (Tu)-5: Yom Kippur |
| Oct. 10 (M)-15: District Tournament |
| Oct. 21 (F)-22: State Tournament |
| Oct. 22 (Sa): ACT Test Date |
| Oct. 23 (Su): State Team Tournament |
| Oct. 30 (Su): HS Season Ends |
The key dates for the season are included in the table. It also includes testing dates, holidays, and, of course, the key OHSAA dates. This calendar will remain in the right-side navigation bar during the entire season.
If you are currently an OTZ Member, there is no need to go through the sign-up process again for OhioTennisZone. Please just mail or PayPal your payment to OhioTennisZone.com. Click the link for the OTZ PayPal info.
OTZ will soon post its Pre-Season Top 10 Team lists after it is clear where players are going to attend school and which girls are playing high school tennis.
It is highly encouraged that the OTZ Top 10 teams become OTZ Team Members. OhioTennisZone provides the teams in the Top 10 with a great deal of recognition and coverage. This recognition is very helpful because many middle school kids follow OTZ and they want to be a part of a program which has a winning tradition. It is a complete no-brainer for private schools to be team members because attracting strong tennis players also means more tuition dollars for the school, but it also makes sense for public schools, too. Consider an OTZ Team Membership as the cheapest and most effective advertisement that you can buy, plus it is focused on the absolute perfect audience for your program. Click on Join OTZ for more information about being a team, coach, or individual OTZ member.
Note that graduates are still included on rosters. Many fans like to see which players have graduated. Note to coaches - OTZ will remove the graduates as match play begins. It is unnecessary for coaches to remove them.
WEDNESDAY,
Summer Tennis Fun at Champions Tennis Club | Midwest Closed
There is plenty of tennis being played this summer. The Champions Tennis Club in Columbus provides a week-long, tennis clinic each summer for junior players. This year, the clinic ran from July 11-15, and approximately 60 players participated from 23 different schools in central Ohio.
The Greater Columbus Tennis Association provides a $3,000 grant for the clinic so there was no charge for the players. In addition to getting a spiffy t-shirt, the players also received lunch each day.
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Participants - Click to enlarge |
Steve Hoffman - Click to enlarge |
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Dealing aces - Click to enlarge |
It's lunch time! - Click to enlarge |
The main focus is to provide instruction to those who may not have the means to afford tennis and to hopefully enable a player to make his / her high school team. While the organizers would love to get more Columbus City League players to participate, travel to/from the clinic is a problem for many.
The clinic has been offered for more than a decade. It was even offered during the COVID-19 2020 year because there was so much demand from parents to get outdoor activities for their children. During 2020 clinic, there was; however, no lunch provided.
Steve Hoffman is the main organizer for the clinic but he gets plenty of help from 20 other volunteers who provide instruction and serve lunch.
Photos of the clinic are listed above. It is difficult to see the faces of the 70+ people in the group photo. Click to see a high resolution image of the left side and the right side of the group.
Midwest Closed
Ohio players also had numerous players who excelled in high level USTA tournaments. Those who did well in the Midwest Closed include: North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher reached the quarterfinals of the G16. Eaton's Macy Hitchcock reached the quarterfinals of the G18. Sycamore's Nick Meyers reached the B16 semifinals. In B18's, Ohio boys did especially well. Gahanna's Brandon Carpico was the Midwest Closed champion. Springboro's Sai Dore reached the semis, and St. Xavier's Drew Evans reached the quarterfinals.
THURSDAY,
Final OTZ State Team Rankings
The Final OhioTennisZone State Team Rankings are included below. Congratulations to Sycamore and Indian Hill for their respective championships in Division I and Division II. Sycamore was dominant all season and had enough strength to counter any creative line-ups. Indian Hill had just two losses this season - one to Sycamore. Both Sycamore and Indian Hill will return with strong teams next year.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Division I | Division II |
| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM 4 Final 4 | Indian Hill◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM 3 | Orange◄TEAM 5 Final 4 |
| 3. Springboro◄TEAM 2 | Seven Hills◄TEAM 2 |
| 4. New Albany◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Bexley◄TEAM 2 Final 4 |
| 5. Olentangy Orange 1 | Lexington◄TEAM 3 Final 4 |
| 6. Solon◄TEAM 1 Final 4 | Col. Academy◄TEAM 2 |
| 7. St. Xavier◄TEAM 1 | Hawken◄TEAM 2 |
| 8. Findlay◄TEAM 0 Final 4 | Oakwood◄TEAM 1 |
| 9. Dublin Jerome◄TEAM 1 | Wellington◄TEAM 0 |
| 10. Mass. Jackson◄TEAM 2 | Bryan 1 |
| HM: Avon 1 | Ottawa Hills 1 |
| HM: Walsh Jesuit 2 | |
| HM: University School◄TEAM 1 | |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. State Spots 3 - Denotes Number of Spots at States. Final 4 - Denotes State Tournament District Representative. |
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The Southwest District was by far the most dominant district in the State this season by earning both team championships. They also won the State D1 singles and doubles championships and the D2 doubles championship. These things tend to run in cycles but Southwest's dominance will not slow down next year. Lacrosse has become extremely popular in Central Ohio.
Note that the rankings also include the number of State participants (in gray) for each school. This provides a bit more background for each team. Orange was the big winner with a whopping five State spots.
Because of the frequent rainouts, creating the rankings was more difficult this season. There were many interesting match-ups that were scheduled but they went unplayed.
In addition to updates with the team rankings, the individual rankings were also updated to reflect States. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. These rankings may still be tweaked slightly.
OhioTennisZone went into intermittent update mode to launch the Central Ohio Adult Summer Pickleball Season on PickleballZone.com on June 5. Now that the pickleball season is well underway, OTZ will be revisited. This is especially the case with processing photos and photo orders.
FRIDAY,
Incoming Freshman Boys - Class of 2026
Coaches will soon be requesting information on who the strong teams are for boys season, and strong freshmen can normally step in and make an impact immediately. This list is created with the help of TennisRecruiting.net and it includes the freshmen who are in the Top 20 in Ohio. Of course, it is also important to know which school these players are attending so your help is needed with this. If you have inside knowledge of which school a player attends, please submit a Feedback.
OhioTennisZone.com
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| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | School |
| Gregory Bernadsky - 5 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Nikhil Bhimireddy - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Elijah Corrin - 3 | Canton (NE) | Canton McKinley |
| Jackson Goodman - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Shane Hand - 3 | Powell (C) | Olentangy Liberty |
| Arjun Jain - 2 | Springboro (SW) | Miami Valley School |
| Smaran Jairam - 2 | Milford (SW) | Moved to GA |
| Samanyu Jairam - 1 | Milford (SW) | Moved to GA |
| Nason Lo - 3 | Columbus (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Conor Lynch - 2 | Montgomery (SW) | St. Xavier |
| Andrew Mao - 1 | Montgomery (SW) | Sycamore |
| Aditya Nayak - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Seven Hills |
| Shailen Patel - 3 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Devan Patel - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Ashwin Ramachandran - 2 | Solon (NE) | |
| Tyler Thomas - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Rohan Thung - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Daniel Tonkal - 4 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Ethan Vass - 1 | Liberty Township (SW) | Lakota East |
| Nicholas Von Krosigk - 2 | Tipp City (SW) | Tippecanoe |
Some of the schools listed are educated guesses based on players of the same last name who are currently attending the school.
The Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
Of the 20 players on the list, the Central District has eight, Northeast - two, Northwest - zero, and Southwest - ten.
OTZ has provided daily updates since March 25. That is 71 straight days without taking a day off. There will still be an update or two next week, but OTZ will soon be going into "intermittent mode". Note that there is still a great deal of work going on in the background to enter additional scores and to process photos.
[6/7/2022: Seven tennis fans provided help with the school locations. Thank you! A process that I used with the TRN stars was out-of-sync so several were incorrect. Those were also corrected.]
THURSDAY,
OhioTennisZone.com's All-Ohio Boys Tennis Team
Congratulations to the boys selected for the OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio Boys Tennis Team for 2022.
OhioTennisZone's All-Ohio |
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Division I - Singles |
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Division II - Singles |
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Division I - Doubles |
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Division II - Doubles |
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The OTZ list is a bit different than the OHSAA All-Ohio team. While a player's performance at States is the best way to get on the team, OTZ also looks at a player's entire season and includes players who may not have even qualified for States because of unfortunate District draws. OTZ also believes that the OHSAA team is too mechanical in its approach by granting honors only based on the rounds in which players reach at States. If a player reaches the semi-finals, he is on the first team and quarter finalists are on the second team. If a player gets an unfavorable draw in the first round of States, then he might not receive any recognition. Again, their list is great, but a more subjective approach allows other deserving players to be recognized.
The number of players included on this list will vary from year to year. This year's group has about the same number of players as last year.
More players are becoming OTZ members - either by enrolling individually or via a Team Membership. OTZ members are provided with a Player Profile as indicated by the yellow-PP. Click on the player name to view his OTZ Player Profile. Click Join OTZ to obtain a Player Profile and to be recognized later on the College List.
The OTZ Top Players Lists will eventually be updated. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. To see all of the players on one page, click on All Districts.OTZ will soon list next year's top upcoming freshman players. The purpose of this list is to not only recognize the players but to also help coaches understand which teams should be included in their schedules next spring.
A few of these player profile photos will be updated as time permits.
As for action photos.. Things are still waaay backed up with other non-tennis projects that need to be addressed.
Again, congratulations to these players.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Usage Report: Who, What, Where from?
What is accessed on OhioTennisZone and who accesses it? It is time for the seasonal usage edition. Read on to learn what areas of the nation access OTZ the most. Which players get the most views on their OTZ Player Profiles; and what team pages generate the most views. The usage covered is for the time period of March 1 to May 30, 2022.
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Jackson's Altman - Click to enlarge |
Gahanna's Carpico - Click to enlarge |
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Jerome's Fickas - Click to enlarge |
Mason's Gogineni - Click to enlarge |
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Bexley's Lessard - Click to enlarge |
Sycamore's Miller |
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Orange's Pomeranets - Click |
UA's Samora - Click to enlarge |
From the team page perspective, Sycamore's team page drew the most interest during the season. The other teams in the top ten (in order) were: Massillon Jackson, Mason, Bexley, Columbus Academy, New Albany, Indian Hill, Lexington, Dublin Jerome, and Pepper Pike Orange.
While it is unknown who specifically accesses each OTZ page, note that middle school players and parents are certainly big users. Teams need to think of these OTZ Team pages as advertisements for future customers (tennis parents and players). Of course, having an OTZ Team paUge for a private school is a complete no-brainer. Tennis parents value the education / tennis combination and if a school can attract a parent/player by using an OTZ $99 team membership who will then spend $65,000 in tuition over four years, that is a return on investment that would make a CPA hug him or herself with happiness.. In fact, if a private school is not an OTZ team member,U then you know that the private school does not have a good math program..
The eight players who had the most views of their OTZ Player Profiles are (in alphabetical order): Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Dublin Jerome's Max Fickas, Mason's Vignesh Gogineni, Bexley's Sam Lessard, Sycamore's Chad Miller, Orange's Ben Pomeranets, and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora. Click on the player names above to view their OTZ Player Profiles. The parent associated with the Player Profile may view the total number of views since the Player Profile was created. The photos of the players may be clicked to enlarge them.
The top pages accessed on OhioTennisZone (outside of this main page) are listed below and they are sorted in pageview order. The OTZ Personalized Report is what users see when they first login. The biggest usage day of the season was on the second day of States.
- Central Ohio Team Lookup
- OTZ Personalized Report (page presented at sign-in)
- Boys State Draws-2022
- Boys State Team Tournament Draws
- Southwest Ohio Team Lookup
- Northeast Ohio Team Lookup
Some numbers that have not been shared in the past include the total number of users and the total number of pageviews. Per Google Analytics, there are now 33,564 users who accessed OTZ during the above time period. For the 2021 season, the total was 30,825. That's a 9% increase. The number of pageviews in 2021 was 415,986 and that increased to 465,641 in 2022. That's a 12% increase. Note that the number of users, counts the number of devices that people use to access OTZ. For that reason, the actual number of users is probably about half of the above.
There were changes in which Metro Areas use OTZ. The Cleveland-Akron Metro (with 20%) area is now much higher than the Cincinnati Metro (15%) in terms of users as more teams join OTZ from that area of the state. The Columbus Metro remains the highest at 24%. Other top areas are: Dayton (4.7%) and Toledo (4.1%). Other areas above 1% are Washington DC (3.5%), NYC (2.6%), Philadelphia (2.5%), Chicago (2.5%, and Detroit (1.3%). Interestingly, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland metro areas are all about the same in population with more than 2 million people. Cincinnati, however, would include parts of Kentucky and Indiana which would have less interest in Ohio tennis.
Yes, Twitter is largely a waste of time. It does; however, draw people from Twitter onto the OhioTennisZone web site. It also extends the OhioTennisZone brand. The top six OTZ tweets for the season are as follows. To see the actual "Tweet", click on the "[Tweet]" hyperlink.
1. Mason’s Vignesh Gogineni is the D1 State Singles Champion. He defeated Gahanna’s Brandon Carpico 6-3, 6-2. [Tweet]
2. And here they come.. The Sectional Draws for Central District D2 are now available. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-01_art [Tweet]
3. Westerville Central is hosting Lancaster in today’s match. It’s windy. It’s cool. It’s not raining. Yet. [Tweet]
4. States will be going indoors today. See you there! Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-27_art [Tweet]
5. The OHSAA State Draws for the 102nd Ohio Boys State Tennis Tournament are now available. Click for the OTZ-enhanced draws (with photos / info) at ohiotenniszone.com/tennis_state_d… @OHADNewsHS @mlaughman @ThisWeekSports @tennis_point_US @ThisWeekDave [Tweet]
6. The Sectional Draws for Central District D1 are now available. The top singles players (i.e. Brandon Carpico) chose the Pick Central #1 location. Click for more at ohiotenniszone.com/#2022-05-01_art [Tweet]
OTZ appreciates its sponsors and advertisers and absolutely more are needed. Please contact OTZ for more information. Online activity continues to grow. For more information about advertising, please submit a Feedback.
In tomorrow's update, OhioTennisZone.com presents its All-Ohio OTZ Boys Tennis Team.
For those interested in purchasing (not just looking at) OTZ photos, please let me know and I will gather photos of your son and email you a pdf of photos to review.
TUESDAY,
OHSAA Tournament Championship Points
Three out of the four championship points were captured this year. The timing of the finishes just did not allow me to be at D1 Doubles when their championship point was played. If someone captured D1 dubs on a camera or cell phone and is willing to provide that video to me, I may be able to use it for their video.
New camera gear provided a much better video image than last year, but the width of the video is less because of the camera lens that is used. This can largely be overcome when matches are played on the stadium courts (Grandstand, Court 3, and Court 10) but it is an issue on Court 11.
Player photos were included at the end of the videos. There were also a few extra points included as well.
For best results, use full screen mode and increase the resolution to HD (for high definition)..
There is not much control over the image that is selected for the video. When time permits, this image may be tweaked.
I see that advertisements are being included with the videos. OTZ does not benefit financially from these advertisements but YouTube does (and it is their platform so that is ok with me).
Crank up the volume so that co-workers (or neighbors) stop by your office cubicle to see what is going on.
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Division I Singles: Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Gahanna's Brandon Carpico. |
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Division II Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky. |
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Division II Doubles: Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger beat Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir. |
There are always some scoring snafus found by coaches as they begin to print off their end-of-season reports. If results are incorrect, please provide:
- the *incorrect* match information. The error first needs to be located in the database and their are a zillion scores. Please include the date, the name(s) of all of the player(s) and their schools, and the score.
- then provide the correct match information which includes all of the above, but with the correct information
If the commentary is incorrect, please provide *when* the commentary was in error, the erroneous comments, and what it should be. Screen shots are always helpful.
Please keep in mind there are quite a few moving parts. The players could have reported the wrong score, the coach could have recorded it incorrectly, the newspaper may have posted it incorrectly, or maybe, just possibly, OTZ could have made an error.
Tomorrow is the OTZ usage issue which includes the most viewed teams and players.
MONDAY,
Sycamore D1 | Indian Hill D2 State Team Champions
Conditions were perfect to wrap up the high school tennis seaon. There were also new champions on the pedestal this year.
Sycamore defeated New Albany and Solon on the way to their championship. Indian Hill beat Bexley and Orange. The coaches of both Indian Hill and Orange applied Bass-O-Matics to their typical line-ups which certainly made things more interesting.
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Sycamore D1 Team Champs - Click to enlarge |
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Indian Hill D2 Team Champs - Click to enlarge |
In the third place matches, New Albany defeated Findlay, and Bexley beat Lexington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Coach Mike Teets shared this about the season and his team, "It was a fantastic season with a really talented team! This group of players was on the same page from day 1 about what our goals were, and they worked extremely hard in practices and matches. I could not have asked for more effort from them, and I am grateful to have had the chance to work with them!"
As normal, OTZ choose unwisely on which site to visit first. The plan was to go to D2 (Upper Arlington), zoom to D1 (New Albany), and then be back in time to watch the end of the D2 Championships. D2 finished much earlier than D1 so I stayed in New Albany. D1 had four 3-set matches and D2 had one (in the consolation bracket).
Most matches did not go to completion. Among the top players, Sycamore's Chad Miller defeated Solon's Niko Romanov; Orange's Ben Pomeranets beat Lexington's Tommy Secrist; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy and Indian Hill's Max Berghausen; Findlay's Max Hosey beat Solon's Niko Romanov and New Albany's Declan Freedhoff; Indian Hill's Tejas Pisati defeated Bexley's Stefan Schiff; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Lexington's Tommy Secrist; New Albany's Jackson Clements defeated Findlay's Kosuke Asada; and Bexley's Stefan Schiff beat Lexington's Ethan Remy. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
There will be more OTZ content released this week and then I'll wrap up the season. The videos of the championship points will be released tomorrow. The OTZ Usage edition will be on Wednesday. Thursday will be the listing of the All-OTZ players. On Friday, the final OTZ Team Rankings will be announced.
It is always nice to talk with parents and players at this end-of season event. Many will be moving on from high school tennis but hopefully I will still see many of you again.
SUNDAY,
Congratulations to the State Champions | State Team Tournament Ready to Roll
Congratulations to all of the players yesterday and especially to the State Champions. Conditions were perfect for playing and watching. Play finished at approximately 3:15pm.
Click for the final OTZ Enhanced State Tournament Draws.
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Mason's Gogineni - Click to enlarge |
Mason's Joshi-Gangavaram |
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Orange's Pomeranets |
Indian Hill's Poffenberger-Pisati |
The State champions and the finalists are:
Division I Singles: Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Gahanna's Brandon Carpico.
Division I Doubles: Mason’s Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram beat Sycamore’s Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev.
Division II Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky.
Division II Doubles: Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger beat Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir.
Unfortunately, the McNasty Food Truck nor any other food service was at States yesterday. If conditions had been hot, the general public would have been substantially inconvenienced (or worse). Teams and tournament workers have access to water and food. The general public does not. (The teams bring their own.)
Again (and again and again), is too much being asked of these players to compete two days in a row? There was evidence of cramping in both of the singles finals. The boys even had the benefit of playing indoors on Friday and in moderate temperatures yesterday. (And of course, some of these players are also competing in the State Team Tournament today.)
The State Team Tournament will be played at two different locations today. Division I will take place at New Albany. Division II will be played at Upper Arlington. Hopefully next year, Upper Arlington will be the site for both tournaments. The tournament loses much of its "family reunion" atmosphere and appeal when it is split between two different locations. UA has not yet finished its construction of its parking lot areas.
Division I begins with match-ups between Sycamore versus New Albany and Findlay versus Solon. Sycamore is a big favorite. They beat the second ranked team in the state, Mason, 3-0 earlier in the week.
Division II begins Indian Hill versus Bexley and Orange versus Lexington. Indian Hill and Orange are expected to face off in the finals.
Remember, each match ends when a team gets to three court wins. This may go faster than many expect. I plan to start at D2 at Upper Arlington, then zoom over to D1 until they0 conclude, and then bounce back to D2 before they finish.
After 66 straight days of updates, OTZ will attempt to wrap up the season quickly this coming week.
SATURDAY,
On to Day Two of States
Yesterday was expected to be a rain-out. It was not, but conditions was still irritating enough that "going indoors" was the correct call. For D1, it was a longer day because of the later start and because there were more competitive matches. D1 had five 3-setters versus D2's two. In one-sided matches (opponent with two or less games), D1 had five matches and D2 had nine.
In the battle of the Districts, Southwest leads the way with eight in the semi-finals; Northeast has five, and Central has three.
Many of yesterday's competitors were very pleased to be at States. Today's group is in it to win it.. Do what this guy says.
Just in case you still do not have the OTZ-Enhanced State Draws on your mobile phone, they are here:
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Perrysburg's Mason Deal - Click to enlarge |
The results of the semi-finalists are listed below:
In Division I singles, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico beat Springboro's Rishi Dore and Springboro's Sainandan Dore;
Mason's Vignesh Gogineni defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Owen Alderman and Perrysburg's Mason Deal; Sycamore's Chad Miller beat Highland's Elijah Hadler and Pickerington North's Cole Alcala; and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora.
In Division II singles, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Mariemont's Will Stephens and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky beat Athens' Luke Frost and Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard and Bryan's Jay Fortner; and Legacy Christian Academy's Tucker Culpepper beat Lexington's Ethan Remy and Waverly's Penn Morrison.
The doubles teams in the semi's are:
D1: Olentangy Orange’s Parth Patel - Kallen Arledge; Mason’s Akshay Joshi - Anish Gangavaram; Sycamore’s Nicholas Meyers - Mark Karev; and Dublin Jerome’s Max Fickas - Tanish Pairu.
D2: Seven Hills’ Ethan Blatt - John Corbett; Indian Hill’s Tejas Pisati - RJ Poffenberger; Orange’s Jake Goldstein - Gabi Kalir; and Orange’s Ace Bloom - Krish Mehra.
Good luck to everyone today. See you at States.
FRIDAY,
States Going Indoors
It is no surprise but it is still disappointing. The start of States will be indoors today.
Division I will begin at noon at:
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State Draws - Click for draws |
Camargo Racquet Club
8215 Camargo Road
Cincinnati, OH 45243
Division II will begin at 10:00am at:
Five Seasons Family Sports Center
11790 Snider Road
Cincinnati, OH 45249
As learned last night, eight of the ten courts at Camargo will be available for use. Five Seasons will have four courts at 10am and eight courts at noon.
Due to indoor space limitations at Five Seasons, D2 dubs players and fans are to report no earlier than 11:30am.
There were parking issues at Camargo last year but it is unknown if those issues still exist. Just be prepared to walk or to drop off the grandparents near the door and park elsewhere. Let's save the "creative parking" techniques for when you play Tetris.
While all of this information is believed to be accurate, always check with your coach. He/she should be your main source of information.
Please note that the McNasty Food Truck was going to be at the outdoor site today but they will not be going to the indoor sites. I like peanut butter, but I was still looking forward to going to McNasty's.. That's another fun tradition that will not happen this season..
Taking OTZ photos will be a little helter skelter today. If you see me and you are going to buy a photo or two, please let me know and I will try to get a few of your son. Taking doubles photos are two billion thousand times [slight exageration alert] more difficult than taking photos of singles players. If I could, I would charge a billion dollars (in today's dollars) for each one.
Remember to save the following URL on your mobile device to stay abreast of the results.
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