Sectional Draws |
Ohio High School Tennis
SUNDAY,
OTZ Photos Available for Purchase (Includes State Tournament)
OTZ action photos of the entire boys season are now online on SmugMug to view and to purchase. Tennis is an expensive sport with lessons, clinics, tournaments, and gear totaling thousands of dollars a year. Buying a great photo for a few dollars is a way to remember the great memories associated with your son's favorite sport.
 |
OTZ Photos on SmugMug - Click to enlarge |
The photo galleries are sorted by date (most recent to oldest), and the names of the gallery include the home team and opponent (for dual matches) or the event (for tournaments). Just provide the filename of the photo (i.e. DSC_1234) to order one.
No other state has anything like OhioTennisZone to recognize the kids who play high school tennis. Most people also understand that OTZ is not exactly a lucrative endeavor. Purchasing a photo (or two or more) helps keep the site moving forward.
Most of the images posted are not "finished" so additional OTZ work must still be done before they are ready.
The OTZ photos are taken with the best action sports camera on the planet (Nikon Z9) and with the best sports lens (Nikon 70-200mm). The downfall with this is that there are almost too many photo options from which to choose. (Of course, the best solution is to buy more than one..)
Is your son interested in playing college tennis? If so, buy a photo where your son has his eye on the ball through the hitting range. Adding these photos to your son's profiles on TennisRecruiting and/or Universal Tennis Rating is a "must do". (Think of these photos as the best advertisement for your son that you can buy.)
Most people are really happy with high-resolution digital images and that is what is sold on OTZ. For those interested in a physical print, I use Midwest Photo Exchange for 5x7 prints. The cost is only $.99/image. The prices for OTZ photos are listed in the right-hand side bar of Buy an OTZ Tennis Photo. Prices go down with quantity purchased.
There is still a bit more clean-up work to do on the photo galleries. That will take place after returning from the State Team Tournament in New Albany. Hope to see you there.
SATURDAY,
Congratulations to the State Champions
Congratulations to all of the players who competed yesterday and especially to the State Champions. Conditions were perfect for playing and watching. Play finished at approximately 2:25pm. (Last year, the tournament ended at 3:15pm.)
Click for the final OTZ Enhanced State Tournament Draws.
 |
 |
Gahanna's Carpico - Click to enlarge |
St. Xavier's Dwyer-Evans |
 |
 |
Orange's Pomeranets |
Orange's Kalir-Nwaozuzu |
The State champions and the finalists are:
Division I Singles: Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu.
Division I Doubles: St. Xavier's Drew Evans - Carson Dwyer beat Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Andrew Wittenbaum.
Division II Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan.
Division II Doubles: Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu - Gabi Kalir beat Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce.
A couple more benefits of playing at Ohio State were enjoyed by fans. The scoreboard was operational so it was much easier to follow all of the action. The side-by-side matches enabled fans to enjoy multiple matches.
The State Team Tournament takes place tomorrow (Sunday) at New Albany HS. While it would have been somewhat nice to wrap-up the season today, the players could certainly use a break. Some of the players will likely have rematches from yesterday which will be interesting. Things tend to even out where teams that do not do as well in the OHSAA tournament, play better in the State Team tournament.
Here are links to articles that included States coverage: article by the Columbus Dispatch's David Purpura; article by Cleveland.com's Robert Fenbers; and article by Cincinnati Enquirer's Alex Harrison. The articles may require a subscription to view. Aware of other articles about Friday's championships? Please forward them via Feedback.
Today will be devoted to OTZ pictures. For those interested in purchasing an action photo or two, please check out OTZ later today.
FRIDAY,
On to Day Two of States
The play was great and the weather was perfect yesterday. Match play turned out to be pretty close to the OTZ projections made on Wednesday. The exceptions were the strong performances by the Central District doubles teams.
OTZ usage records were broken yesterday, thanks to the online draws. As they were yesterday, click on the graphic below or use this link to follow the action throughout the day - OhioTennisZone.com/draws.
 |
Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal - Click to enlarge |
It was nice being back at the Ohio State courts. The smaller front print meant that it was much easier to get around and see more matches. There was also just more energy because it was easier to interact with others. The Columbus Academy versus Indian Hill doubles match was really close and the cheering attracted even more attention to the match. At the Lindner Family Tennis Center (LFTC), that cheering would have largely gone unnoticed, especially if it had happened on Courts 4, 16, or 15. Of course, the big benefit will take place today because fans will be able to watch several championship matches at the same time.
With LFTC's 17 courts versus OSU's 10, play finished at about 6pm which was perhaps about a half hour to an hour later than if it were at the LFTC. The number of courts will not be an issue today.
In the District versus District competition, the Southwest won with eight semi-finalists, Central had six, Northeast had two, and the Northwest did not have any. Today, the number of champions will be counted.
The profile image of Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal was the last added to the online draws, but he was the subject of the best OTZ photo yesterday. The elevated, reaching shots are always my favorites.
 |
State Draws - Click to draws |
In matches including the top players in D1, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Solon's Niko Romanov and Mason's Greg Bernadsky; Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu beat St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood and Springboro's Rishi Dore; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Hudson's Henrique Sa and Sylvania Southview's Isaac Vens; and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Highland's Elijah Hadler and New Albany's Jackson Clements.
In Division II, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and Orange's Krish Mehra; Seven Hills' Cole Cozens beat Beachwood's Landis Teren and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Lexington's Karl Etzel and St. Vincent-St. Mary's Ben McKnight; and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock beat University School's Dean Kirchick and Wellington's Sanjan Shanker. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Players in the Semi-Finals are:
Division I
Singles: Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers, and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo.
Doubles: St. Xavier's Drew Evans - Carson Dwyer; Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Andrew Wittenbaum; Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Hummza Ali; and Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge - Nikhil Bhimireddy.
Division II
Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets, Seven Hills' Cole Cozens, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock.
Doubles: Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu - Gabi Kalir; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce; Bexley's Sam Lessard - Stefan Schiff, and Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Nason Lo.
See you at States.
THURSDAY,
Ready to Roll for States | State Team Tournament Field Set
On with the show, this is it. The State tournament begins today!
The OTZ draws are ready to roll and they will be updated throughout the day. To make things more convenient, save OhioTennisZone.com/draws on your smart phone now.
|
State Draws - Click to draws |
When the tournament was at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, the courts that players were competing on were listed on the draws to help fans get to the right place quickly. That information is probably unnecessary today since the venue is much smaller so it is unlikely to be provided.
I will be taking action photos today. If you want a photo of your son, please email me or send me a Feedback. It is unclear how much demand there will be so please contact me quickly.
The field is set for the State Team Tournament that takes place on Sunday at New Albany HS. In the first round, Central District teams play the Northwest District and Southwest plays Northeast. The teams are:
Central D1 / D2:
Olentangy Orange and Columbus Academy
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
Northeast:
Northwest:
St. John's Jesuit and Lexington
Southwest:
Sycamore and Seven Hills
Unlike the last two years, the weather should be perfect. You may even see your school's athletic director today.
See you at States.
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Video of Its Top Picks for the State Championships | SJJ in Final Four
It is time for another OhioTennisZone video. This video recognizes the players who are OTZ's top picks for States. The video uses a combination of OTZ action photos and videos that were taken over the last two years. Hope you find it to be interesting and informative. This will also help match a name with a face for those who attend States.
Click for OTZ Top Picks for States - Click for video |
Time frames are always super tight in creating these videos. This video was hammered out last night and this morning. I doubt that I ever will, but I would like to get to a 99% ok video level. This is probably about 85-90%.
The goal was to make this a five minute video and it just made it - even with the old Caitlin Fisher from Turpin High School video clip (where she hit me with a ball).
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".
Please let me know if there are any inaccuracies. There always are and you always do.
It is normally fun to review older videos. Here are a few from both prior girls and boys seasons. Click for Girls 2020, Boys 2021, Girls 2021, Boys 2022, and Girls 2022. At one point, I created "hype" videos for States but Google eventually prevented professional music from being used. That eliminated my interest. Perhaps with AI generated music, this will be possible again in the future. Here is one from Girls 2019. Most HS tennis fans will recognize many of these players. Many are still competing in college.
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.
Also.. Congratulations to St. John's Jesuit. They are the D1 Final Four representative from Northwest Ohio. They beat Lima Shawnee yesterday. In that match, St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood defeated Shawnee's Gabe Burke and Shawnee's Mason Stahl defeated St. Johns Jesuit's Zennonn Zalenski.
TUESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of St. Xavier's Drew Evans | Solon in Final Four | OHSAA Reissues State D2 Draws
It is now down to crunch time and OTZ's third (and likely last) interview of the season is with St. Xavier's Drew Evans. Evans and his partner, Carson Dwyer, are the Southwest District tournament champions, and they are certainly contenders for the State dubs championship.
 |
Evans playing against Liberty - Click to enlarge |
"My first goal of the season was to help lead my team to a successful season. And I believe I’ve achieved that goal as the team went 21-3 on the season, beating every team ranked ahead of us besides Mason. The next goal of mine was to lead the team to a state team championship. Unfortunately, that goal failed as we lost to Mason in the district semifinal. And now my goal in this part of the season is to win state with my doubles partner Carson Dwyer. I believe we have a really good shot at winning the title as his steady groundstrokes mixed with my net abilities makes us a deadly team."
As most higher level players do, he started playing tennis early. "I started playing tennis at the age of 6. It was kind of random, because none of my family members played at the time but my mom saw an ad for tennis lessons in our neighborhood and signed me up to stay active in the summer. The coach said I had a natural swing and needed to start playing, and ever since then I fell in love with the game of tennis. After I started playing, my mom thought it looked like fun, and now plays in a social tennis league and loves it. My dad plays in the summer and loves to play platform tennis in the winter." His mother, Michelle, is a physical therapist and his father, Brad, is a doctor. His older sister, Lexi, is a senior at Tennesee, majoring in marketing. His younger brother, Camron, is a junior at St. X and he plays volleyball.
Evans has remained a solid TennisRecruiting.net 4-star during juniors. His national ranking has ranged from 129 in 2020 to its current 172. His highest UTR Rating was 10.41 in January and it is 10.39 now. His UTR range is here.
 |
Evans in 2022 - Click to enlarge |
"My overall favorite shot is the overhead. As a kid I did the “high low” drill every day. The drill was hitting a volley close to the net and then hitting a scissor kick overhead. I would do this until I had to throw up. Now looking back, I’m so thankful for this drill as I can hit a strong powerful overhead anywhere on the court, and I believe my overhead is one of the best around. I would say I have two big weapons. My first weapon being my net game. I have always loved coming to the net and feel very comfortable up there finishing off points. I have pretty good touch and like I said I love my overhead. [...] My second weapon I would say is my athleticism. I grew up playing basketball, baseball, and football. In doing this, I feel like it separates me from most tennis players as they have only played tennis their whole lives. I feel with my athleticism, I can anticipate well and hit some shots like a backhand overhead that most players can’t pull off." Evans played baseball, basketball, football, and tennis until sixth grade. After sixth grade, he narrowed it down to basketball and tennis. After eighth grade, it was all tennis. His serve speed of 115 mph will complement the rest of his doubles game.
For college, "I chose to attend Western Michigan University next year to continue my academic and athletic career. I chose WMU for three main reasons. Number one being, I love the coaches there. David Morin and Stephan Payne. Coach Morin really pursued me in my college search process where other coaches just told me I [could] have spot on the team, Morin said “he wants to have me on his team.” Being wanted is always a good feeling. They are also very knowledgeable about tennis and they have a very successful coaching history at WMU to help me become the best player I can be. Number two, Western offered me the vision I always dreamed of when thinking about college. I was considering Dayton and Butler University, but those schools are quite small compared to Western. I wanted a big school atmosphere without being too big and Western provides the perfect fit. And lastly, the facilities at WMU are top notch. Our main courts are where the “Zoo” is held every year, so every year we get brand new resurfaced courts. Also, we have our own indoor facility five minutes off campus. So, I’m looking forward to taking advantage of everything Western Michigan has to offer." While Evans does plan to play in the Midwest Closed this summer, he ages out before Kalamazoo.
Evans is more of a math / science student. He took one AP - a macroeconomics class. He did take honors math classes all four years.
 |
Evans in 2021 - Click to enlarge |
As for the obligatory response about OhioTennisZone, Evans stated, " OhioTennisZone is a great and easy way to look at other teams and players in the state of Ohio. It’s really nice to see what teams are beating certain teams to get a sense where they compare. It’s also really well done and organized with a lot of great information about wins and losses and has a lot of great data to learn about your competition. I always love seeing where you rank the teams before the season (even though I thought St. X should have been a little higher this year)." In OTZ's defense, Dwyer was not known to be joining the St. X team until after the OTZ Pre-Season Rankings were released on February 23. He turned out to be pretty good..
Why play high school tennis? "My favorite part about high school tennis is I love the team aspect. As mentioned earlier, I grew up playing team sports so I’ve always enjoyed those and bonding with your teammates to achieve a common goal. As you may have heard at St. X there is a sense of brotherhood, and being a part of the tennis team there really highlights the brotherhood at X. I loved forming long lasting relationships with my teammates over my years on the St. X tennis team."
Coach Joe Jackson shared this about Evans. "Drew is “the” player every coach wants in their program. He’s the type of player you can build a program around. He is a fierce competitor and consummate team player. He embodies the three principles (3 P’s) of our program: practice with purpose, process over outcome and play for something bigger. He had been a leader and motivator for every player on the squad. St. X is a better program and I am a better coach because of Drew’s (and his parent’s) support."
The State Tournament begins on Thursday. Good luck to Drew and all of the other players.
As for other major HS tennis news, Solon defeated Avon to get the Northeast D1 Final Four spot. In that match, Solon's Niko Romanov defeated Avon's Logan DeHaven and Solon's Zach Krantz beat Avon's Jarrett Bungo.
As stated in the head-line, the OHSAA has reshuffled the D2 State Draws. Please do not get too bent out of shape over this. It has happened in the past and it will likely happen again in the future. It is unfortunate that Orange's Ben Pomeranets and Seven Hills' Cole Cozens are now in the top half of the draw. The Indian Hill’s doubles team and Orange #1 team are also in the top half. The draws will be changed on OTZ later this morning. [The OTZ draws are now updated as of 10:05AM.] (This is why I print off all of the draws as soon as they are posted..)
The OTZ Top Picks for States video should be out before Sunday.. Hopefully.
MONDAY,
It's States Week
The OHSAA draws were released on Sunday afternoon. Normally, they are expected early afternoon on Monday.
 |
Boys State Draws - Click to view |
 |
Central D2 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Some observations on the draws.. The third quarter is going to be really tough in D1 Singles with Brandon Carpico, Nick Romanov, Greg Bernadsky, and Alvin Altman all included. If both boys win in the first round, Springboro's Rishi Dore versus Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu will be a great match. Likewise could occur in the D2 Singles draw with a potential Ben Pomeranets and Jack Pollock matchup. The 3rd quarter in D1 dubs will be especially tough with the Liberty, Solon, Mason, and Avon teams. In D2 dubs, the first quarter could include an Orange versus Seven Hills match-up.
There were rumors at the Central District tournament that all 16 courts (including the indoor courts) would be used at Ohio State on Thursday. Thankfully, that is not the case. As per tournament director, Scott Long, play will be outside only unless wet or darkness.
More individual photos will be added to the draws today thanks to photos taken by Linda Remy and Mike Reid. Also thanks to Pradheep Shanker for the Central D2 State Qualifier photo.
There are still State Team Tournament matches that need to be played. Losing a day this week to the OHSAA Tournament may make it tough for some teams to wrap things up. Remaining match-ups include: Lima Shawnee versus St. John's Jesuit; Ottawa Hills versus Lexington; and Solon versus Avon. It is also possible that these matches have been played but not reported.
SUNDAY, - 5:45PM
State Draws Now Available
Well, that was fast. The OHSAA released the draws on Sunday afternoon, which is certainly a first. Normally, the time-frame is closer to 1pm on Monday. This meant that rather than spending all Monday morning preparing for the draws, this OTZ work was done on Sunday afternoon.
|
Boys State Draws - Click to view |
Normally a few more photos are included at the launch but that will be remedied soon.
As expected, the draws are getting hit hard online right now.
Click on the image to the right to view the draws.
A link to the draws will also be posted at the top of this page.
SUNDAY,
Ready for States
The District seeding rounds were finished state-wide yesterday. OTZ will now go into sprint / marathon mode to get things ready for States with one less day to do so. The results for the seeding rounds are included in the player profiles less the Southwest District results, which are not yet online. Now online on OTZ at 2:30pm.
The State qualifiers listed below are now in seed order.
Watch for the State Draws to be posted on OTZ by early afternoon tomorrow. Work on the OTZ Top Picks for States video will begin as soon as the SW District results are posted.
 |
Central D1 State Qualifiers - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated New Albany's Jackson Clements and Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu; Orange's Ben Pomeranets beat Beachwood's Landis Teren and University School's Dean Kirchick; Highland's Elijah Hadler defeated Avon's Logan DeHaven and Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman; Wellington's Sanjan Shanker beat Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Sylvania Southview’s Isaac Vens defeated St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood; Lexington's Karl Etzel beat Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse and Vermilion's Severin Kretcher. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
In the Southwest District, Seven Hills' Cole Cozens defeated Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock; and Springboro's Rishi Dore beat Mason's Greg Bernadsky and Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers.
State Qualifiers
Central Division I
Singles: #1 Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu, New Albany's Jackson Clements, and Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora.
Doubles: #1 Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Hummza Ali; New Albany's Ben Bilenko - Tyler Thomas; Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge - Nikhil Bhimireddy; and Olentangy's Sujan Sriram - Mitch MacDowell.
Central Division II
Singles: #1 Wellington's Sanjan Shanker and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue.
Doubles: #1 Bexley's Sam Lessard - Stefan Schiff and Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Nason Lo.
Northeast Division I
Singles: #1 Highland's Elijah Hadler, Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, Avon's Logan DeHaven, Hudson's Henrique Sa, Solon's Niko Romanov, and Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal.
Doubles: #1 Westlake's Rohit Jain - Xander Jhaveri; Solon's Luke LeMaster - A.J. Sidoti; Revere's Merit Wagstaff - Sam Lazbin; GlenOak's Dylan Wiles - David Marginean; Solon's Zach Krantz - Aakarsh Garg; Walsh Jesuit's Michael Ulrich - Michael Vallone.
Northeast Division II
Singles: #1 Orange's Ben Pomeranets, University School's Dean Kirchick, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Ben McKnight, Beachwood’s Landis Teren, and Orange's Krish Mehra.
Doubles: #1 Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu - Gabi Kalir; Hawken's Axel Neely - Tyler Snyder; University School's Rohan Sethi - Rohit Talasila; Orange's Ace Bloom - Gabriel Guiler; and St. John School's Jimmy Severino - Jacob Timonere.
Northwest Division I
Singles: #1 Sylvania Southview's Isaac Vens and St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood.
Doubles: #1 St. Francis DeSales' Nick Miller - Ethan Little and Findlay's Sam Swisher - Arda Dastan.
Northwest Division II
Singles: #1 Lexington's Karl Etzel, Vermilion's Severin Kretchmar, Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse, and Ottawa Hills' Savith Vijendra.
Doubles: #1 Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese; Lexington's Jake Chilcote - Owan Gongwer; Bath's Daniel and Erza Bolon; and Ottawa Hills' Darwin Posta - Charlie Estes.
Southeast Division II
Singles: Athen's Luke Frost.
Doubles: Waverly's Cam McKenzie - Caden Nibert.
Southwest Division I
Singles: #1 Springboro's Rishi Dore, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers, Mason's Greg Bernadsky, and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo.
Doubles: #1 St. Xavier's Drew Evans - Carson Dwyer; Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Andrew Wittenbaum; Mason's Eric Xu - Connor Buckingham; and Springboro's Jack Siehl - Drew Baumgartner.
Southwest Division II
Singles: #1 Seven Hills' Cole Cozens, Indian Hill's Jack Pollock; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger.
Doubles: Indian Hill's Max Berghausen - Michael Ryu; Seven Hills' Ethan Blatt - John Corbett; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce; and Cincinnati Country Day's Nikhil Shah - Christian Sprinkle.
The Ohio State Men's team will face Virginia in the National Championship finals. It begins at noon.
SATURDAY,
Columbus Academy Beats Bexley for Final Four Berth | NE D2 Districts
Columbus Academy defeated Bexley yesterday to earn the Central District D2 Final Four berth into the State Team Tournament. Click to view the graphical results via Previous Day's Match Results. Click to view the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
The Northeast D2 District identified four of their five State Qualifiers yesterday. See below.
 |
St. Xavier - Click to team page |
Among the top players, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Central Christian's Aaron Miedel and Geneva's Isaac Riddell; University School's Dean Kirchick beat Triway's McAllister and Perry's Allen Morris; St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Ben McKnight defeated Jensen Yarosh and Orange's Krish Mehra; Beachwood’s Landis Teren beat Ursuline’s Christopher Simon and Triway’s Paul Self; Columbus Academy's Nason Lo defeated Bexley's Liam Kauffman; and Orange's Krish Mehra beat Poland Seminary's Andrew Aey. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Below are the State Qualifiers for NE D2 and NW D2.
State Qualifiers
Northeast Division II
Singles: Orange's Ben Pomeranets, University School's Dean Kirchick, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Ben McKnight, Beachwood’s Landis Teren, and TBD.
Doubles: Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu - Gabi Kalir; University School's Rohan Sethi - Rohit Talasila; Orange's Ace Bloom - Gabriel Guiler; Hawken's Axel Neely - Tyler Snyder; and TBD.
Northwest Division II
Singles: Lexington's Karl Etzel, Ottawa Hills' Jack Kayse; Vermilion's Severin Kretchmar; and Ottawa Hills' Savith Vijendra.
Doubles: Lexington's Ethan Remy - Dylan Catanese; Bath's Daniel and Erza Bolon; Ottawa Hills' Darwin Posta - Charlie Estes; and Lexington's Jake Chilcote - Owan Gongwer.
Today's featured team is St. Xavier. They are coached by Joe Jackson. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Drew Evans, Carson Dwyer, and Chase Homan.
It looks like we might have a soggy start today, but good luck in today's District Seeding rounds.
FRIDAY,
Olentangy Orange in Final Four | District Tournaments
Olentangy Orange is now in the Final Four after beating New Albany in the Central D1 District Final. To view the graphical results recorded from the Orange / NA match, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click on the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws to see all of the draws.
It was also a busy day for District competition. The Northeast D1 and Southwest District State Qualifiers are listed below. Congratulations to them. The Northeast D2 District competition is today.
 |
Springboro's Rishi Dore - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players in the Northeast District, Avon's Logan DeHaven defeated North Royalton's Jerrel Rayen and Canton McKinley's Elijah Corrin; Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman beat Howland's Alexander Bakeris and Hudson's Vinny Petrucelli; Highland's Elijah Hadler defeated North Canton Hoover's Hunter Holloway and Solon's Niko Romanov; and Hudson's Henrique Sa beat Wooster's Henry Pozefsky and Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal.
In the Southwest, Springboro's Rishi Dore defeated Mason's Daniel Tonkal and Tippecanoe's Nick Von Krosigk; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers beat Troy's Yasashi Masunaga and Milford's Yusif Rustum; Mason's Greg Bernadsky defeated Wayne's Sean Yoshimura and Beavercreek's Michael Page; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Centerville's Elliot Galbraith and Butler's Juan De Dios Aguado; Seven Hills' Cole Cozens defeated Mariemont's Bennett Harris and Carlisle's Jake Rust; Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger beat Miami Valley School's Arjun Jain and Mariemont's Will Stephens; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Summit Country Day's Tyler Lammers and Northwestern's Aiden Yeager; and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock beat Oakwood's Rohan Haack and Cincinnati Country Day's Trevor Gregorsok. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
State Qualifiers
Northeast Division I
Singles: Avon's Logan DeHaven, Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman, Highland's Elijah Hadler, Hudson's Henrique Sa, and TBD.
Doubles: Solon's Luke LeMaster - A.J. Sidoti; GlenOak's Dylan Wiles - David Marginean; Revere's Merit Wagstaff - Sam Lazbin; Westlake's Rohit Jain - Xander Jhaveri; and TBD.
Southwest Division I
Singles: Springboro's Rishi Dore, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers, Mason's Greg Bernadsky, and Sycamore's Nicholas Choo.
Doubles: Mason's Eric Xu - Connor Buckingham; Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala - Andrew Wittenbaum; St. Xavier's Drew Evans - Carson Dwyer; and Springboro's Jack Siehl - Drew Baumgartner.
Southwest Division II
Singles: Seven Hills' Cole Cozens, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger and his team mate, Jack Pollock.
Doubles: Indian Hill's Max Berghausen - Michael Ryu; Cincinnati Country Day's Nikhil Shah - Christian Sprinkle; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin - Noah Boyce; and Seven Hills' Ethan Blatt - John Corbett.
Columbus Academy and Bexley play today to determine the D2 Central District representative in the State Team Final Four.
THURSDAY,
Sycamore and Orange in Final Four
Sycamore is now in the Final Four after defeating Mason, and Orange returns to the NE Final Four after their victory over Hawken yesterday. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Click on the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws to see all of the teams.
The Central District State Qualifiers are now set. Congratulations to them. They are listed below.
 |
Dublin Coffman - Click to team page |
State Qualifiers
Central Division I
Singles: Gahanna's Brandon Carpico, Pickerington North's Pavan Uppu, Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora, and New Albany's Jackson Clements.
Doubles: Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari - Hummza Ali; Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge - Nikhil Bhimireddy; New Albany's Ben Bilenko - Tyler Thomas; and Olentangy's Sujan Sriram - Mitch MacDowell.
Central Division II
Singles: Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue and Wellington's Sanjan Shanker.
Doubles: Bexley's Sam Lessard - Stefan Schiff and Columbus Academy's Rowen Lo - Nason Lo.
Today's featured team is Dublin Coffman. They are coached by Brett Hundertpfund. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Nik Shough, Shinya Akiyama, and Samrat Juvvigunta.
Today's matches include the Central District State Team finals. It will be New Albany versus Olentangy Orange and Columbus Academy versus Bexley.
Time to leave for the Southwest Districts..
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Orange's Ben Pomeranets | 7Hills Earns First Final Four Spot
Pepper Pike Orange's Ben Pomeranets is the defending Division II Singles Champion and he is the subject of the second OTZ interview of the season. He was a finalist in 2021. And unfortunately, there was no tournament in 2020. (See 1 and 2)
 |
Pomeranets at States '23 - Click to enlarge |
"My main goal for this season is to be the best leader I can be for my team. I'm lucky to be part of a talented group of boys, and there's nothing I want more than to lead my brothers to another state title. Another goal I have is to repeat my success last year and win the individual state singles title. I'm currently one of five people in the history of Orange High School to win one boy's singles title, and I'd be honored to win a second time and tie with the late Mark Rothchild, a legend in the tennis community and the father of my close friend, Ty Rothchild."
Pomeranets started playing tennis at age five and except for a couple of years doing Tae kwon do, he has focused on tennis. It is also a family affair. "My whole family plays tennis, including my parents, my younger brother, Alex, and my older sister, Rachel."
Pomeranets has remained a strong player throughout his junior career. His TennisRecruiting.net ranking is currently 96th in the nation. His annual rankings have ranged from 47 (2020) to 83 (2023). His UTR has been as high as 11.44 and it is now 11.23. His UTR range is here.
"My favorite shot is definitely my forehand. When other parts of my game have let me down in the past, my forehand has often been the shot that saves me in tight moments. I believe my biggest weapon is my competitive ability. A lot of players at a high level can hit a clean ball and move well around the court, but I think my willingness to always fight and stay disciplined has set me apart from some of my peers." When asked about what part of his game is different from last year's States, he added, "My serve has never really been a strong suit. It was always a point-starter or neutral shot for me. I have been putting in a lot of work in with my coach to strengthen it, to get the technique down [and] the accuracy, and I think I've added a couple of miles per hour.. It is definitely a much bigger weapon than it used to be". While he has not used a speed gun frequently with his serve, he estimates that it is about 121mph.. Click for comparison.
 |
After 2022 Championship - Click to enlarge |
For college he will be headed down to Blacksburg, Virginia. "Last year, I committed to play college tennis for Virginia Tech. The school checked basically all of my boxes: it has great academics, a great tennis team, a beautiful campus, and great people. I was also considering playing for Indiana University, and have spoken with some other schools like Northwestern and Cornell."
Pomeranets has hit the books hard in high school. He has taken 12 AP classes - one as a freshman, three as a sophomore, and four during his junior and senior years. His favorite AP's are Biology, Physics, and Psychology. "I am definitely more of a math / science student. I've always been very talented in mathematics, but my interests have shifted toward science in the past few years." He also added, "I've been computer programming since 3rd or 4th grade. Although it's never been something I've taken all too seriously, I've developed a few personal computer games in a handful of different languages. I'm also currently managing the computing aspect of my group's senior project, in which we are creating a robot that will be able to play some simple songs on the piano." With his high SAT scores, he will likely help boost the Virginia Tech's team GPA. Pomeranets plans to major in biomedical engineering.
All of his family is involved in the sciences. His father, Mikhail, is a software engineer, and his mother, Svetlana, is a pediatrician. Rachel, his sister, is three years older and she attends Ohio State. She will be taking the MCAT soon.
 |
Pomeranets at 2021 States - Click to enlarge |
Pomeranets will be heading down to Virginia Tech in the middle of August. Prior to leaving, he plans to play at Kalamazoo at the Boys USTA National Championship.
As for the obligatory response about OhioTennisZone, Pomeranets stated, "It's pretty awesome to have everything about Ohio high school tennis in one location. OhioTennisZone is a place that I can see how my competitors are performing in different parts of the state, how the best teams are performing against each other, as well as any important news that comes up."
Why play high school tennis? "It's really the little things that I like the most about high school tennis. The bus rides and dinners with my team, joking around with Coach Rich [Boles] and Coach Dave [Soldevilla], and the brotherhood we've created. Winning is also nice, too." Orange won the State Team Tournament in 2021 and they were runner-ups last year.
Coach Rich Bole shared this about Pomeranets, "Ben stands out for his commitment to the team, his desire to be a captain, and his willingness to play in any match. You don't see that out of all the star players in high school tennis these days. Supporters of our program will never forget Ben's rivalry with Andrew Zimcosky; the pressure he felt from losing the first few times, and how hard he worked to draw even in the rivalry and ultimately capture the title last year. I am optimistic that Ben will make another jump in tennis level next year competing in the ACC. He has accomplished about all he can playing in Northeast Ohio and high school tennis."
Pomeranets successfully got through Sectionals, and Districts begin on Friday. Hopefully fans will see him again later in May as well. [ << Non-jinxing comment.] Good luck!
There was no shortage of great dual matches yesterday. Seven Hills defeated Indian Hill; Avon beat Massillon Jackson; and St. John’s Jesuit defeated Findlay to advance in the State Team Tournament. Seven Hills is the first team to secure a Final Four berth.
Among the top players in the state, Seven Hills' Cole Cozens defeated Indian Hill's Max Berghausen; Avon's Logan DeHaven beat Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Indian Hill's Michael Ryu; St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood beat Findlay's Kosuke Asada; and Avon's A.J. Sidoti defeated Massillon Jackson's Michael Mitri.
The Southwest District D1 spot will be decided tonight when Mason (H) plays Sycamore. The NW D2 finals is also tonight - Orange (H) will face Hawken.
I will be headed over to the Central D1 District tournament shortly. Tomorrow, I will be making the drive down to the Lindner Family Tennis Center for the D1 and D2 District tournament. And yes, it is great to see everyone, watch great tennis, blah, blah, blah, but the main objective is to go to the McNasty Food Truck..
TUESDAY,
Solon Beats Brecksville | Lexington Defeats Ontario
Solon defeated Brecksville and Lexington beat Ontario to advance in the State Team Tournament. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws. Other matches included: Lakeside defeated Geneva; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy beat Western Reserve Academy; and Pickerington Central defeated Watkins Memorial. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Delaware Hayes - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Delaware Hayes. They are coached by Gary Hibinger. They are Team Members. They are led by Gabe Fogle and Grant LaMar.
Today's matches include: Mason (H) versus Sycamore and Oakwood (A) versus Centerville. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Districts Week | Updated OTZ State Top Ten Team Rankings
This will be a big week for HS tennis thanks to the District Tournaments. The District draws are already out for Central, Northeast and Northwest. Watch for the Southwest draws to be released yet this morning.
 OhioTennisZone.com
|
|
| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 3. St. Xavier◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 4. New Albany◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 5. Olentangy Orange | University School◄TEAM |
| 6. Olentangy Liberty◄TEAM | Bexley◄TEAM |
| 7. Springboro◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 8. Avon◄TEAM | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 10. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | Chaminade-Julienne |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
|
The Central District finished the D2 Sectional Seeding round yesterday. Among the top players, Columbus Academy's Connor Thornton defeated Columbus Academy's Ian Chang and Wellington's Sanjan Shanker beat Bexley's Drew Solar and Bexley's Oscar Ramsden.
The Northeast Sectional Seeding round matches included: Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Beachwood's Landis Teren and University School's Dean Kirchick; Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman beat Wooster's Henry Pozefsky and Canton McKinley's Elijah Corrin; Avon's Logan DeHaven defeated St. Ignatius' Luke Bennett and Avon's Jay Kneiss; Highland's Elijah Hadler beat Hudson's Vinny Petrucelli and Hudson's Henrique Sa; and Shaker Heights’ Ben Jamal defeated Howland’s Alexander Bakeris and Solon's Niko Romanov. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
The OhioTennisZone State Top Ten Boys Teams have been updated. The biggest mover is St. Xavier after they earned big wins over New Albany and Olentangy Liberty last weekend. To see the detailed, Match Winning %'s for each school, click OTZ Top Ten Boys Team Report. The Pre-Season Rankings are included in the right-side navigation bar.
Current OTZ plans are to go to the Central District tournament on Wednesday and to the McNasty Food Truck at the Southwest District tournament on Thursday.
Today's matches include: Indian Hill (A) versus Springboro and Lexington (A) versus Ontario. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Rain Hampers Sectional Seeding Round
Some but not all of the Sectional seeding rounds took place yesterday due to rain. In Central Ohio, Division I was completed but not Division II. D2 will be played today. Click on the above links to view the draws. The results are also online on OTZ for Central (less D2) and Southwest (less Troy) Districts. More OTZ member results will be added to later today.
 |
Hilliard Bradley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hilliard Bradley. They are coached by Colleen Baker. They are led by Neil Reddy and Shayan Manoharan.
Watch for some of the District draws to be released today.
SATURDAY,
Mason Beats St. Xavier to Advance
In the State Team Tournament, Mason defeated St. Xavier to advance. Mason will now have to face Sycamore in the Southwest District finals. There were just two other matches recorded. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated St. Vincent-St. Mary and Pickerington North beat Pickerington Central. The lack of matches being played was likely due to the rain and because of the Sectional seeding rounds that are scheduled to take place today. To view the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Centerville - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Centerville. They are coached by Scott Long. They are Team Members. They are led by Elliot Galbraith and Luke Edwards.
Good luck in today's seeding rounds. Hopefully the weather cooperates.
FRIDAY,
Olentangy Orange and Beachwood Advance in the State Team Tournament
Olentangy Orange defeated Olentangy Liberty and Beachwood beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy to advance in the State Team Tournament. Click to view the updated OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Lakeside End-of-Season Report- Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge defeated Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Beachwood’s Landis Teren beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy’s Lincoln Gates; Olentangy Orange’s Nikhil Bhimireddy defeated Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand; and Olentangy Liberty's Hummza Ali beat Olentangy Orange's Devan Patel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
One great reason why some coaches use OhioTennisZone is so that they can retrieve and share the OTZ "End of Season" or "Season to Date" report. It makes a great memento for the players. To access this report, it is listed as one of the "Coach's Tools" in the Personalized Report (which is presented after logging into OTZ).For OTZ members to get Sectional results online on OTZ, please use the format described yesterday. (This data has already been entered for the Central District teams.)
Today's matches include: Mason (A) versus St. Xavier.
THURSDAY,
Orange Beats Massillon Jackson | Sectional Results Processing Underway
There was one dual match recorded yesterday that included two strong NE District teams. Orange defeated Massillon Jackson. To view the graphical results from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
St. Charles - Click to team page |
The Sectional results for several Districts are linked to above. OTZ has included results from several of the Central Districts locations online, including for Upper Arlington, Hilliard Davidson, Columbus Academy, and Columbus School for Girls sites. The other Central District Sectionals will be added when they become available.
Among the top players, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman; Orange's Gabi Kalir beat Massillon Jackson's Ishan Tripathy; Orange's Ishan Bhatt defeated Massillon Jackson's Lucas Vassas; Olentangy Berlin's Logan Van Horne beat Upper Arlington's Ford Clark. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is St. Charles. They are coached by Costas Alevizopoulos. They are Team Members. They are led by Victor Roscoe, Andrew Kane, and Will Kennedy.
Congratulations to the players who reached Districts. For those who did not, the consolation was that yesterday was a picture perfect weather day.
WEDNESDAY,
Lexington Beats Walsh Jesuit | Olentangy Liberty Defeats Olentangy
Many Districts will be able to get off to a good start with Sectionals today. That may not be the case for the end of the week. In dual match play, Lexington defeated Walsh Jesuit and Olentangy Liberty beat Olentangy. There were still a decent number of matches recorded with 13 matches. The breakdown by District was: Central - 8, Southwest - 1, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Grove City defeated Teays Valley; DeSales beat Thomas Worthington; Dublin Scioto defeated Gahanna; Findlay beat Wapakoneta; and Loveland defeated Kings. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Cincinnati Country Day - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Cincinnati Country Day. They are coached by Brian Schubert. They are Team Members. They are led by Christian Sprinkle and Daniel Sgro-Plaut.
As mentioned to OTZ Member coaches in an email, OTZ will gather and post the Sectional results for the Central District because I have a very effective process to handle those. Plus, almost all matches include Team or individual OTZ members. For the other Districts, I am asking the coaches to email the results to me if they care to include the Sectional results in their records. The format is:
5/10/2023
DeHaven (Avon) def. Gerber (Bloomingburg) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Ja.Mossbarger-Jo.Mossbarger (Bloomingburg) def. LeMaster-Sidoti (Avon) 6-4, 6-3
Individual OTZ members from the Northeast, Northwest, or Southwest Districts may also use the above format if they want the results posted for their son or daughter. Note that any other characters (such as first names) only take me more time because I have to delete them.
Today's dual matches include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Orange.
Good luck at Sectionals.
TUESDAY,
New Albany, Bexley, and Findlay Advance in State Team Tournament
Rain affected Sectional play and dual matches yesterday. In the State Team Tournament, Bexley defeated Wellington; New Albany beat Olentangy; and Findlay defeated Sylvania Southview. The close, 3-2 matches included: Poland Seminary defeated Jefferson Area and Valley View-B beat Urbana. There were 14 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 9, Southwest - 2, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Upper Arlington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Upper Arlington. They are coached by Will Thieman. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Ethan Samora and Ford Clark. In their match against Columbus Academy yesterday, UA hosted their first night match under the lights.
Today's matches include: Findlay (H) versus Ottawa Hills and Lexington (A) versus Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Gahanna's Brandon Carpico
The first interview of the season is with Gahanna's Brandon Carpico. Carpico was the D1 State Singles Champion in 2021 as a sophomore and he was a finalist in 2022. He will be the guy to beat at States this year if things go as planned in Sectionals and Districts.
 |
Carpico at States '22 - Click to enlarge |
It is no surprise what his goals are. "To win states first and foremost. I also want to complete a perfect season, which I am on pace to do. I just have to keep it up. I am also on pace to break Gahanna Lincoln’s all time record in three years instead of four." (2020 was the COVID year.)
While he did play other sports (soccer, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse), he stayed with basketball until high school and then he focused on tennis. "I started playing [tennis] when I was 7 years old. My mom brought home a driveway tennis set for my sister and I to play. I fell in love with it and quickly moved to hitting off the garage, I was soon placed in tennis lessons."
Most great juniors tend to start with a high ranking and continue with it throughout their junior careers. Carpico's rankings are picking up steam. His TennisRecruiting.net national ranking was 108 in 2020 and now it is a very impressive 29. He has a UTR of 11.85. Click for Carpico's UTR over the last six years.
He is staying in Columbus for his college degree. "I selected THE Ohio State University. I picked OSU because it was a perfect balance between athletics and academics. I want to go into aviation and they have a top 3 program for aviation in the country. The tennis obviously speaks for itself. It is an incredible program and it was my dream school from the get go. I was considering Oklahoma, Auburn, and UCLA."
 |
Behind the yoke - Click to enlarge |
His aviation career has already started. He has 25 hours of flying experience and he has flown "solo". He primarily flies out of the Fairfield County airport. The photo of Carpico in the plane, where he is either parked or flying extremely low, is courtesy of his dad.
Not surprisingly, Carpico's father, John, is a pilot for the Ohio Department of Transportation. He can fly jets, turboprops, and helicopters. His mother, Susan, is a nurse anesthetist. His sister, Hayley, just finished her sophomore year at Ohio University where she is studying to be a nurse. Here is a nice family photo which I took when Brandon was recognized as a top junior by the Greater Columbus Tennis Association in 2021.
Carpico is an OTZ-approved math-science guy. "I loved doing science experiments in school and finding new things was always super interesting to me." He took AP courses in History, Psychology, Government, and Comparative Politics. He is not just interested in tennis. "I am a part of my school's TV program and I am also a part of my school's show choir. I sing and dance."
As for his favorite shots, "I love my forehand and my volleys. My forehand is my weapon and it is the shot I can use to win points in any scenario. I love being at the net, even when I was seven years old, I’d get lobbed all the time but I always loved being close to the net so my volleys have gotten good. I joke about it, but my tweener is world class. My [private] coach, Chase Buchanan says “I have the best tweener he’s ever seen”. It is unclear if Ohio State Coach Ty Tucker will fully appreciate this tweener.
 |
Carpico at 2021 States - Click to enlarge |
He has also worked on other shots and other parts of his game since his last States. "One of the improvements from last year is my backhand. It’s become a more offensive shot like my forehand is. Another one of the big improvements that I have made from a year ago is the improvement on my physicality. I’ve spent more time in the gym getting stronger and more flexible which has helped with injury prevention and movement. The biggest improvement however is the mental aspect. I’ve always fought really hard but I’ve gotten much better at managing the frustrations on court from a year ago." Carpico's serve clocks in at 120mph.
After high school tennis ends, he will be taking summer classes at Ohio State so that he can begin hitting with the OSU team. He will compete at the USTA Boys National Championships at Kalamazoo, but he will not be playing the Midwest Closed, which he won last year in both singles and doubles (with Ben Pomeranets).
It is a OTZ requirement that interviewees say something (really, just anything) positive about OTZ. Carpico shares, "I always look forward to seeing the results from my friends around the state. In the beginning of the year I am always interested in seeing your state rankings for the top players in the state."
Why play high school tennis? "I love being on a team. Tennis can be such a lonely sport sometimes at the big USTA tournaments, so being on a team is a great experience. My best friends joined the team this year and it makes it a lot more fun."
The State tournament actually begins this week as the Sectional tournaments kick into gear. Carpico is seeded #1 at the Upper Arlington Sectional. Best of luck!
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
The Sectionals begin today for a few areas of the state. There are still dual matches being played though. They include: Bexley (A) versus Wellington; Orange (A) versus Hawken; and Hudson (H) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
SUNDAY,
St. Xavier Beats Olentangy Liberty | Avon Defeats Walsh Jesuit
It was a great weather day with great matches, but the number of matches reported totaled just four as many teams prepared for Sectionals this week. In matches that included the top teams, St. Xavier defeated Olentangy Liberty and Avon beat Walsh Jesuit. In the other two matches reported, Big Walnut defeated Watterson and Chaminade-Julienne beat Valley View. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Grove City - Click to team page |
Among the top players,St. Xavier's Drew Evans defeated Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari; Avon's Logan DeHaven beat Walsh Jesuit's Michael Ulrich; St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer defeated Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand; Avon's Luke LeMaster beat Walsh Jesuit's Charlie Kealy; Avon's A.J. Sidoti defeated Walsh Jesuit's Michael Vallone; Watterson's Tommy OBrien beat Big Walnut's Jeevan Konduru; and Big Walnut's Evan Fisher defeated Watterson's Colby Graham. 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 Keegan Hix and Brennan Lehman.
The Ohio State Women's Team advanced to the third round of the NCAA's yesterday. The Men have another match at noon today against Louisville in their next round. Admission and parking are free.
SATURDAY,
Orange Beats US | Sycamore Defeats Springboro | St. X Downs NA
There were some great matches last night - many involving the State Team Tournament. Orange defeated University School to advance to the NE Finals in the State Team Tournament. Sycamore beat Springboro to also advance to the finals, and St. Xavier beat New Albany. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Jonathan Alder defeated Delaware Hayes; Westerville North beat Worthington Christian; Olentangy Berlin defeated Big Walnut; and Marysville beat Gahanna. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
X's and Mag's Anna Roggenburk - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Orange's Ben Pomeranets defeated University School's Rohit Talasila; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers beat Springboro's Rishi Dore; St. Xavier's Drew Evans defeated New Albany's Jackson Clements; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Springboro's Drew Baumgartner; Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu defeated University School's Rohan Sethi; St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer beat New Albany's Abhi Dandu; Avon's Logan DeHaven defeated St. Edward's Eric Vaziri; Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight beat Big Walnut's Jeevan Konduru; and Copley's Pramod Muthigi defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Lincoln Gates. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
The Ohio State Women's team defeated Xavier in the NCAA's yesterday. Today's photo is of 2x OHSAA State Singles Champion, Anna Roggenburk. Anna played for Magnificat. She is a redshirt Junior this year at Xavier. And yes, this photo of her from 2017 at States is probably the best OTZ photo.
The Ohio State Men's team plays in the first round of the NCAA today at 1pm. The OSU Women's team plays their second round match today at 4pm. Admission is free.
Dual matches today include Olentangy Liberty (H) versus St. Xavier. Hilliard Bradley is also having a doubles tournament. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Solon, Sycamore, and Olentangy Liberty Get Big Wins
Last night was probably the last big dual match night of the season and the weather nicely cooperated. In the biggest matches of the night, Solon defeated Hudson; Sycamore beat Olentangy Orange; and Olentangy Liberty defeated Upper Arlington. There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 8, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Valley View defeated Miami Valley School; Springboro beat Tippecanoe; Northwestern defeated Bellefontaine; Big Walnut beat Hilliard Davidson; Centerville-B defeated Fairfield; and Dublin Coffman beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Sycamore's Nicholas Choo - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Springboro's Rishi Dore defeated Tippecanoe's Kessler Hackenberger; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo beat Olentangy Orange's Bhimireddy; New Albany's Jackson Clements defeated Pickerington Central's Jacob Bennett; Hudson's Henrique Sa beat Solon's Niko Romanov; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Bexley's Austin Flamm; and Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight beat Worthington Kilbourne's Aja Sampath. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This is another abbreviated OTZ Photo Friday. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos. More photos will be added over the weekend. Today's featured photo is of Sycamore's Nicholas Choo in his match last night against Olentangy Orange's Nikhil Bhimireddy
Today's matches include: Oakwood (H) versus Seven Hills; New Albany (H) versus St. Xavier; Sycamore (H) versus Springboro; and Copley (H) versus Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Seven Hills Beat St. X | Mason Defeats Springboro
After days of bad weather, Ohio tennis regained its footing with a several good matches yesterday. In the Southwest District, Seven Hills defeated St. Xavier and Mason beat Springboro. There were 15 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 9 and Southwest - 6. The close, 3-2 matches included: Covington Catholic defeated Centerville; Dublin Jerome beat Dublin Coffman; DeSales defeated Bexley-B; and Canal Winchester beat Reynoldsburg. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Hudson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hudson. They are coached by Tim Morgan. They are led by Henrique Sa, Charlie Yurak, and Jason Tong.
The annual Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association had its meeting yesterday. While at least half of the meeting should have been a discussion about Ohio high school tennis, that did not turn out to be the case.. Still, it was worthwhile. I asked OHSAA Executive Director, Doug Ute, two questions. I asked about the State Tournament’s move from the Lindner Family Tennis Center (LFTC) to Ohio State and if that would be considered for future years. It definitely sounds as if it is on the table. Ohio State has three big pluses. The outdoor and indoor courts are next to each other (and we have had quite a bit of rain recently). The indoor viewing is excellent for fans, and the OSU facilities are located centrally in the state. Construction plans at the LFTC site forced the move for this spring.
I also asked about pickleball as a high school sport. He mentioned that would be up to the coaches associations. They are the big drivers for new sports (such as girls wrestling). Note that OhioTennisZone was on the leading edge of pickleball predictions back in early April 2019 with this article..
Note that while construction at the LFTC was expected to be a problem for the Southwest District tournament, that will not be the case. The construction was delayed, and the Southwest District tournament will remain at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for this spring.
Today's matches include: Indian Hill (A) versus Seven Hills; Orange (H) versus Solon; and Springboro (H) versus Tippecanoe. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Chaminade-Julienne Beats Archbishop Alter
It was a wet night for most of Ohio, but the Southwest District did play a few matches. Chaminade-Julienne defeated Archbishop Alter and Milford beat Loveland. The close, 3-2 matches included: Eaton defeated Dixie and Dayton Christian beat Miami Valley School. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Canal Winchester - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Canal Winchester. They are coached by Jill Welsh. They are Team Members. The are led by Brayden Todd and William Theuamthalaray.
Special thanks to Sycamore's Nicholas Choo for providing Flight A results for the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches' Association tournament.
Today's matches include: Oakwood (A) versus Beavercreek; Springboro (H) versus Mason; and St. Xavier (H) versus Seven Hills. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
University School Beats Solon
Wet and cold weather impacted most of the state yesterday. There was just one match recorded. University School defeated Solon in a close 3-2 match. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results. Coaches have continued to "catch-up" with past matches so there may be other results of interest.
 |
Olentangy Liberty - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Olentangy Liberty. They are coached by Adrian Tolentino. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Jay Ramakkagari, Hummza Ali, and Shane Hand.
The Northeast and Mason sectional draws are now online. The Northwest draws have still not been posted. Links to the draws are posted above.
Today's matches include: Massillon Jackson (H) versus Orange; Oak Hills (A) versus Mariemont; and Bexley (A) versus Olentangy Orange. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Sectional Draws Posted for Central / Southwest Districts
The Sectional Draws are posted for the Central and Southwest Districts (less Mason). Watch for the Northeast draws to be posted next and then the Northwest draws after that. Access to these draws will be available via the links above.
 |
Central Draws - Click to retrieve |
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. It is unclear why the Northeast and Northwest Districts do not do this. Parents, in many ways, you are the customer in this relationship. Ask for this information to be included.
The OTZ-Enhanced State Team Tournament Draws have been updated. The Southwest District is doing the best job of getting their matches played. Aware of other updates? Click on Feedback.
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
There were more tweaks made to the Top Players and Watch Lists. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest
Today's matches include: Seven Hills (H) versus Tippecanoe; Solon (H) versus University School; and Springboro (H) versus St. Xavier. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. The weather looks a little rocky for today and tomorrow, but weather conditions will improve throughout the week.
SUNDAY,
Seven Hills is the Cincy Tennis Coaches' Classic Champions | Columbus Academy Wins Lex Invite
There were several big tournaments played yesterday. Seven Hills and Mason tied for first in points in Flight A of the Greater Cincinnati Coaches Association Classic, but 7Hills won the tie-breakers. Sycamore came in a close third. Columbus Academy won the Lexington Invite, followed by Bexley, Centerville, and Lexington. The Chaminade-Julienne Doubles tournament’s top finishers were Bellbrook and Chaminade-Julienne.
 |
Lexington - Click to team page |
The Sectional draws take place throughout the state today. It is always fun to see which players go “singles” and which ones team up for dubs. For seniors who have not reached States (or Districts), this is their last chance to find the path that will get them there.
Among the top players, Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Centerville's Elliot Galbraith and Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue beat Findlay's Kosuke Asada; and Centerville's Elliot Galbraith defeated Findlay's Kosuke Asada. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.Today's featured team is Lexington. They are coached by Ron Schaub. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Ethan Remy, Dylan Catanese, and Karl Etzel.
OTZ traveled to the Lex Invite yesterday. That tournament is always a highlight of the season. It is fun to see old friends and to check out teams that I do not commonly get to see.
SATURDAY,
Sycamore Beats Mason | Centerville Defeats Lexington
There was some great matches that were mixed in with the rain. In matches that included some of the best Ohio teams, Sycamore defeated Mason in a match that included three, 3-setters, and Centerville beat Lexington. In other matches, Archbishop Alter defeated Kettering Fairmont; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy beat Woodridge; Olentangy Orange defeated Dublin Jerome (State Team); and Wooster beat West Holmes. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Poland Seminary - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Poland Seminary. They are coached by Jimmy Leslie. They are led by Andrew Aey, Hayden Hopps, and Jason Eich.
The State Team Tournament results continue to be updated. Click to view.
Today's tennis matches include the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Classic at numerous sites. OTZ will be leaving shortly for the Lexington Invite at the Lakewood Racquet Club. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Springboro Beats Centerville | New Albany Defeats Jerome | Photo Friday
Tennis activity slowed down slightly last night. There were some big district rivalries that took place - Springboro defeated Centerville and New Albany beat Dublin Jerome. The close, 3-2 matches included: Miami Valley School defeated Archbishop Alter; Bellefontaine beat London; Copley defeated Green; Worthington Kilbourne beat DeSales; and St. John School defeated Lakeside. Today looks pretty damp, but there were 30 matches recorded from state-wide play yesterday. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 13, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger - Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Springboro's Rishi Dore defeated Centerville's Elliot Galbraith; Mason's Greg Bernadsky beat Tippecanoe's Kessler Hackenberger; Avon's Logan DeHaven defeated Wooster's Pozefsky; New Albany's Jackson Clements beat Dublin Jerome's Rohan Athavale; Wellington's Sanjan Shanker defeated Olentangy Orange's Nikhil Bhimireddy; Olentangy Liberty's Shane Hand beat Marysville's Gianni Russo; Dublin Coffman's Shinya Akiyama defeated Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight; and Miami Valley School’s Rohit Jain beat Archbishop Alter’s Ethan Paul. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
This is an abbreviated OTZ Photo Friday. More photos are expected to be added later today. Click on Most Recently Added Photos. Most OTZ readers probably know that the tennis seasons are more like 73 straight days of a sprint, rather than a 73 day marathon. When life stuff gets in the way, that affects content, and it is difficult to catch-up unless there are several days of rain-outs. Having two back-to-back weeks of funerals in Findlay has put things further behind.
Today's matches include: Sycamore (H) versus Mason; Centerville (A) versus Lexington; Hawken (H) versus Shaker Heights; and University School (A) versus Avon. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Indian Hill, Orange, Springboro, and Seven Hills Earn Wins
Many of the top teams competed against each other last night. Indian Hill defeated Mason; Orange beat Avon; Springboro defeated Beavercreek; and Seven Hills beat Oakwood. There were 37 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 5. The close, 3-2 matches included: Hilliard Davidson defeated Delaware Hayes; Valley View-B beat Taylor; Wellington defeated Pickerington North; DeSales beat Westerville North; Hilliard Bradley defeated Dublin Scioto; Big Walnut beat Marysville; Archbishop Alter defeated Valley View; Moeller beat Loveland; Walsh Jesuit defeated Brecksville; Eaton beat West Carrollton; and Mount Vernon defeated Westerville Central. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Worthington Kilbourne - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Worthington Kilbourne. They are coached by Stephen Metzmaier. They are Team Members. They are led by Aja Sampath, Luka Young, and Joey English.
Much has been done, but there is much to do. It is doubtful that there will be a Photo Friday tomorrow.OTZ has provided updates for 34 straight days and there are about 37 straight days to go.
Today's matches include: Solon (H) versus University School; New Albany (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Centerville (H) versus Springboro. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Olentangy Liberty Beats Olentangy Orange | University School Defeats Hawken
The season keeps moving along. With rain in the forecast for later in the week, Ohio boys tennis is still ahead of last year's pace. The season is at 9% more matches played than last year. In the marquis matches, Olentangy Liberty defeated Olentangy Orange and University School beat Hawken. The close, 3-2 matches included: Carroll defeated Valley View; Worthington Kilbourne beat Westerville South; Canfield defeated Poland Seminary; Turpin beat Loveland; DeSales defeated St. Charles; Jonathan Alder beat Northwestern; Dublin Scioto defeated Westerville North; West Jefferson beat Ready; and Olentangy Berlin defeated Thomas Worthington. There were 37 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 19, Southwest - 12, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
DeSales - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is DeSales. They are coached by Tom Snyder. They are led by Preston Thai, Brandon Heil, and Brendan Ballard. With their win over St. Charles last night, DeSales captured their first Central Catholic League championship since 2012.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Orange; Indian Hill (A) versus Mason; Seven Hills (H) versus Oakwood; and New Albany (A) versus Bexley. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Oakwood Beats Mariemont | Findlay Defeats Perrysburg
Yesterday's chilliness did not seem to affect the number of matches played. In the two notable matches, Oakwood defeated Mariemont and Findlay beat Perrysburg.
The close, 3-2 matches included: Whitehall defeated Beechcroft; Pickerington Central beat Dublin Scioto; Tippecanoe-B defeated Milton-Union; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy beat Bay; Highland defeated Copley; Dixie beat Valley View; Grove City defeated Ready; Jonathan Alder beat London; and Olentangy defeated Dublin Coffman. There were 38 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 13, Northeast - 8, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Lakeside - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Lakeside. They are coached by Spencer Selman. They are Team Members. They are led by Jack Varckette, Ty Hamilton, and Grayson Petros.
Several coaches are now in catch-up mode to get their scores entered. OTZ is backed up on emails and feedback messages.
Today's matches include: Orange (H) versus Solon; Olentangy Orange (H) versus Olentangy Liberty; and University School (A) versus Hawken. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Sectional Seeding Week
The all-important Sectional Seeding process takes place this week. This is where coaches try to optimize the best approach for their best players to get to States or Districts. Many players would be happy to get to Districts while others have a "states or bust" mentality. One of the best approaches to win States Singles is to be so good that other strong players pursue doubles. For those without a strong supporting cast to play dubs, singles is their only option.
 |
Lakota East - Click to team page |
The Central and Southwest Districts have more options because they have some ability to select their Sectional locations. This often leads to a "super sectional" for singles or dubs. The advantage of this approach is that this strong group of players will not have to compete against the others in the District qualifying round.
Another tough situation about the seeding process is that it is difficult to optimize a solution for an entire team to reach Districts. Court 2 and 3 players often have to be sacrificed to get the best player through to the next round.
Click to view the updated Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. There is a bit more tweaking to go.
Today's featured team is Lakota East. They are coached by Jon Burchfield. They are led by Andrew Vass, Camden Frazier, and Ethan Vass.
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
The weather has been very unpredictable lately and some teams have been canceling matches based on the forecast. Bexley and Indian Hill had a great match on Saturday that was expected to be rained out.
Today's matches include: Centerville (H) versus Oakwood; Findlay (A) versus Perrysburg; and Olentangy (H) versus Upper Arlington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Sycamore and Mason Beat Orange | Indian Hills Defeats Bexley
Weather conditions turned out better than forecasted and a few matches were played outdoors. Orange made the long trip to Southwest Ohio to take on the two best teams in Division I where they got beat by Sycamore and Mason in two good matches. Indian Hill traveled to Central Ohio where they beat Bexley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Thomas Worthington - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Thomas Worthington. They are coached by Kathy Stark. They are led by Sabastian Johnson and Bhuvandeer Gattikoppula.
There will be more changes to the Top Players and Watch Lists today.
There is also too much historical information being kept on the Top Home page of OTZ which is slowing down the page load. That will also be trimmed down today.
SATURDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Bexley | Copley Defeats Mayfield
Rain affected numerous matches yesterday, but did appear that Northeast Ohio stayed dry for most of the evening. In a big match between two top ranked D2 teams, Seven Hills defeated Bexley. In two close NE District matches, Copley beat Mayfield and Poland Seminary defeated Jefferson Area.
There were seven matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3 and Northeast - 4. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Watterson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Watterson. They are coached by Tyler Johnston. They are led by Tommy O'Brien and Colby Graham.
Unless teams have indoor options, today's matches look doubtful. Orange travels to Cincinnati to play against Sycamore and Mason. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Seven Hills Defeats Mason | Massillon Jackson Beats Lexington
Seven Hills showed just how good they really are by defeating Mason, 5-0, last night. The match included three, 3-setters. In another big match, Massillon Jackson beat Lexington.
There were numerous close, 3-2 matches. They included: Westerville North defeated Worthington Kilbourne; Upper Arlington beat Dublin Coffman; Solon defeated Walsh Jesuit; Dublin Scioto beat Big Walnut; Jefferson Area defeated Lakeside; Boardman beat Poland Seminary; Ready defeated Hamilton Township; Revere beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy; and Pickerington Central defeated Lancaster. There were 39 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 14, and Northeast - 8. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Sycamore - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Sycamore. They are coached by Mike Teets. They are led by Nicholas Meyers, Nicholas Choo, Dhruv Kota and Andrew Wittenbaum. Most of their players are near the top of the Performance "By Court" Report.
Normally this would be a Photo Friday, but there is too much of a backlog at OTZ. There were visiting hours for a family friend in Findlay that I needed to attend yesterday. On the way back to Columbus, I was able to watch and take photos of the Olentangy versus Dublin Jerome match, but those action photos are not yet online.
There are some great matches planned for tonight if the weather cooperates. Today's matches include: Bexley (H) versus Seven Hills and Solon (A) versus Westlake. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Mason Beats Indian Hill | New Albany Defeats Columbus Academy
It was another great night for great tennis matches and the weather conditions were perfect. In the two marquis matches, OTZ #2 Mason defeated OTZ #3 (D2) Indian Hill and OTZ #3 New Albany beat OTZ #4 (D2) Columbus Academy. Both were 3-2 matches. There was a big crowd at the NA versus CA match.
The other close, 3-2 matches included: Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy defeated Walsh Jesuit; Sidney beat Fairborn; Lancaster defeated Grove City; Gahanna beat Watkins Memorial; Ready defeated Hartley; Solon beat Shaker Heights; and Pickerington Central defeated Thomas Worthington. There were 35 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 11, Northeast - 7, and Northwest - 1. There were also a huge number of previous day matches reported yesterday. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Olentangy Berlin - Click to team page |
In the State Team Tournament, Seven Hills defeated Valley View and Oakwood beat Miami Valley School. Click for the OTZ Enhanced State Team Draws.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Watkins Memorial's Liam Grennan; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Shaker Heights' Ben Jamal; Mason's Greg Bernadsky defeated Indian Hill's RJ Poffenberger; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue beat New Albany's Jackson Clements; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Olentangy's Sujan Sriram; Walsh Jesuit's Michael Ulrich beat Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's Lincoln Gates; Mason's Daniel Tonkal defeated Indian Hill's Ethan Camp; New Albany's Abhi Dandu beat Columbus Academy's Nason Lo; Lexington's Ethan Remy defeated Findlay's Kosuke Asada; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin beat Miami Valley School's Jain; Northwestern’s Aiden Yeager defeated Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski; Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight beat Westerville North's Shrey Shyamalan; Lakota East's Andrew Vass defeated Anderson's Ben Zhou; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle; and Tippecanoe’s Kessler Hackenberger defeated Bellbrook’s Songer. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Olentangy Berlin. They are coached by Richard Hunt. They are led by Joshua McKnight and Logan Van Horne. They are valued OTZ Team Members.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Hawken; Columbus Academy (H) versus Wellington; and Lexington (A) versus Massillon Jackson. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Mason Beats Lakota East | Olentangy Orange Defeats Upper Arlington
As high school tennis moves into more league matches, many of the contests are rather one-sided for the top teams. In two of the more noteworthy matches, Mason defeated Lakota East and Olentangy Orange beat Upper Arlington. The close, 3-2 matches included: Bellefontaine defeated Jonathan Alder; Marysville beat Thomas Worthington; Valley View-B defeated Stivers; and Big Walnut beat Westerville North. There were 36 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 17, Southwest - 16, Northeast - 2, and Northwest - 1. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Oakwood - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Oakwood. They are coached by Kim Gilbert. They are OTZ Team Members. They are led by Noah Boyce, Arick Baldwin, and Max McCloskey.
Today's matches include: Mason (A) versus Indian Hill; Lexington (A) versus Findlay; New Albany (H) versus Columbus Academy; and Solon (A) versus Shaker Heights. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Wyoming | Centerville Defeats Loveland
Poor weather conditions reduced the number of matches played yesterday. In two of the bigger matches, Seven Hills defeated Wyoming and Centerville beat Loveland. Other matches included: St. Xavier-B defeated Oak Hills and Findlay beat Clay. To view the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Hawken - Click to team page |
Click for the updated OTZ-enhanced State Team Tournament Draws.
Among the top players, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Wyoming's Conor Bergan; Centerville's Elliot Galbraith beat Loveland's Max Jody; Findlay's Kosuke Asada defeated Clay's Conley; and Oak Hills' Daniel Miller beat St. Xavier-B's Becket Enscoe. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Hawken. They are coached by David Paradzik. They are led They are led by Axel Neely, Zach Forte, and Anthony Piazza.
Today's matches include: Avon (H) versus Walsh Jesuit and Olentangy Orange (H) versus Upper Arlington.. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
OTZ Top Player and Watch Lists Updated
The OTZ Top Players and Watch Lists were updated over the weekend. Both of these lists will remain in flux with the goal of having solid lists prior to the Sectional Draws. The number of players on the top list is currently 13 and it will grow to approximately 21-25 players. The number on the Watch List varies by year. Players are listed by OTZ rank on the Top Players List and they are listed alphabetically on the Watch List.
 |
OTZ Top Players / Watch Lists - Click to report |
Everyone starts on the Watch List. Some will transition up to the Top Players List in just a few days. Many will remain on the Watch List. In general, getting to the Watch List means that a player is beating those who are already on it. Most will be at least a TennisRecruiting.net 2-star, but many players no longer play USTA tennis. The primary tool that is used to identify these players is the "By Court" Report, but due to spring break schedules, many players have not yet played the four matches that it requires to be included on this report. OTZ often gives the benefit of the doubt to seniors.
Coaches are always welcome to weigh-in on players who they feel are deserving to be included on either list.
Ohio weather returns to normal this week, but it is still pretty good. When comparing the number of dual matches with last year's, Ohio tennis is up 17% this year. See weather graph for this week.
 |
Upcoming Columbus-area Weather |
All teams that have submitted team photos to OTZ should be online. (Yes, this surprises me, too.) Contact OTZ via Feedback or email if that is not the case. The plan over the next couple of days is to add individual photos to the OTZ Player Profiles.
Today's matches include: Hawken (H) versus Orange; Mason (H) versus Springboro; Oakwood(H) versus Tippecanoe; and Lexington (A) versus Walsh Jesuit. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
SUNDAY,
Mason Beats St. X-L | Jackson Defeats UA | CA Beats SJJ & Perrysburg
Rain was expected to dampen tennis enthusiasm but there were still matches played throughout the state. Mason defeated St. Xavier-Louisville; Columbus Academy beat St. Johns Jesuit and Perrysburg; and Massillon Jackson defeated Upper Arlington. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Tippecanoe - Click to team page |
In tournament play, Watkins Memorial won their dubs tournament.
Among the top players, St. Xavier-Louisville’s William Lewis defeated Mason's Kyle Brackenridge; Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue beat Perrysburg's Aiden Bielefeld and St. Johns Jesuit's Tyler Wood; Mason's Aron Dornhecker defeated St. Xavier-Louisville's Aditya Shah; Massillon Jackson’s Shiv Nagajothi beat Upper Arlington's Keshav Goyal; and Beavercreek’s Michael Page defeated Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Tippecanoe. They are coached by Kaci Matthews. They are led by Kessler Hackenberger and Nick Von Krosigk. Tippecanoe is in the Southwest District.
SATURDAY,
Solon Beats Brecksville | Walsh Jesuit Defeats Findlay
In some of the bigger matches that took place yesterday, Solon defeated Brecksville and Walsh Jesuit beat Findlay. Both were 3-2 matches. Other close, 3-2 matches included: Loveland defeated Elder and Ready beat New Hope Christian. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Watkins Memorial - Click to team page |
During the girls season, most teams do not play on Friday nights due to football games. That is not the case for the boys. There were 16 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 3, Southwest - 7, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 3. While there were 16 matches played from last night, there were 28 matches recorded as many coaches continue to catch-up on their record keeping.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Bexley's Sam Lessard; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Brecksville's Eckert; Walsh Jesuit's Michael Ulrich defeated Findlay's Kosuke Asada and St. Francis DeSales’ Nick Miller; and Mason's Greg Bernadsky beat Centerville's Elliot Galbraith. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's featured team is Watkins Memorial. They are coached by Shawn Walter. They are lead by Liam Grennan and Michael Hare.
Today's matches include: Columbus Academy (A) plays St. Johns Jesuit and Perrysburg; Massillon Jackson (A) versus Upper Arlington; and Indian Hill (H) and Mason (H) both play St. Xavier-Louisville. There are also numerous tournaments. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Solon, Olentangy Orange, Olentangy Liberty, and US Get Wins
Among the top teams in the state, Solon defeated Hawken; Olentangy Orange beat Dublin Coffman; Olentangy Liberty defeated Upper Arlington; and University School beat Massillon Jackson. Click on the new OTZ Top Ten Teams Report to see how all of these teams have performed in one report.
 |
UA's Ethan Samora - Click to enlarge |
There were 36 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 16, Southwest - 15, Northeast - 3, and Northwest - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Beavercreek defeated Centerville; Centerville-B beat Beavercreek-B; Northwestern defeated Bellefontaine; and Westerville Central beat Grove City. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated New Albany's Jackson Clements; Solon's Niko Romanov beat Hawken's Axel Neely; Olentangy Liberty's Jay Ramakkagari defeated Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora; University School's Dean Kirchick beat Massillon Jackson's Rohan Sriram; Olentangy Orange's Kallan Arledge defeated Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough; Lexington's Ethan Remy beat Wooster's Henry Pozefsky; Oakwood's Arick Baldwin defeated Bellbrook's Songer; and Marysville's Gianni Russo beat Dublin Jerome's Maxwell Stratford. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today is another Photo Friday. Sign-in first and then click on Most Recently Added Photos to view. The sun has been too harsh recently which causes dark shadows on players' faces. Hats make this worse. More photos from last night's UA versus Olentangy Liberty match still need to be processed.
OTZ needs some rain-outs to catch-up..
Today's matches include: Dublin Coffman (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Findlay (H) versus Walsh Jesuit; and Tippecanoe (A) versus Lakota East. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Sycamore, Columbus Academy, and New Albany Get Big Wins
There were more big match-ups yesterday. Sycamore defeated Springboro; Columbus Academy beat Olentangy; New Albany defeated Upper Arlington; and Bexley beat Wellington. The close, 3-2 matches included: DeSales defeated Delaware Hayes; Hilliard Davidson beat Gahanna; Elder defeated Oak Hills; Geneva beat Lakeside; Thomas Worthington defeated Westerville North; Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy beat Ursuline; and Jonathan Alder defeated Hilliard Darby. The Bellbrook versus Chaminade-Julienne match was the homework-wrecker match of the month thanks to its four, 3-setters.
There were 30 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 12, and Northeast - 7. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
By Court Report - Click to report |
Among the top players, Gahanna's Brandon Carpico defeated Hilliard Davidson's Jinu Kim; Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers beat Springboro's Rishi Dore; Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan defeated Turpin's Gleason; New Albany's Jackson Clements beat Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated Springboro's Jack Siehl; Avon's Logan DeHaven beat Olmsted Falls' Chapman; Columbus Academy's Nason Lo defeated Olentangy's Sujan Sriram; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Wellington's Sanjan Shanker; Lakota East's Andrew Vass defeated Cincinnati Country Day's Christian Sprinkle; Shaker Heights’ Ben Jamal beat Hawken's Axel Neely; Bellbrook’s Songer defeated Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski; Delaware Hayes' Gabe Fogle beat DeSales' Preston Thai; and St. Charles' Victor Roscoe defeated Dublin Scioto's Sohum Patel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
OTZ will soon be reviewing players to be added to the Top Players and Watch Lists. (Players always start on the Watch Lists.) One of the key reports that assists with this process is the "By Court" report. This is a relatively new report that identifies the top players who play on each court. Note that it requires that players compete in at least four matches and that they win 60% of their matches to be included. This is a unique report and it is not even available for D1 college tennis.
Tomorrow will be another Photo Friday.
Today's matches include: Hawken (A) versus Solon; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Olentangy Orange; and Upper Arlington (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Columbus Academy Beats Bexley | Findlay Defeats SJJ
It was another very busy night for tennis. In the bigger matches, Columbus Academy defeated Bexley and Findlay beat St. Johns Jesuit. The Findlay versus SJJ match included three, 3-setters. The close, 3-2 matches included: Carlisle defeated Valley View; Bellefontaine beat London; Worthington Kilbourne defeated Delaware Hayes; Trotwood-Madison beat Valley View-B; Troy defeated Butler; Massillon Jackson beat Walsh Jesuit; Westerville South defeated Westerville North; Wooster beat Ashland; and Solon defeated Hudson. There were 36 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 15, Southwest - 14, Northeast - 5, and Northwest - 2, but again, there were numerous matches that were posted a day late from the previous day. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Marysville - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Marysville. They are coached by Brian Ash. They are Team Members. They are led by Gianni Russo, Noah Burhanna, and Will Nuspl. Marysville is the home of the Honda plant.
Today's matches include: Springboro (H) versus Sycamore; Columbus Academy (H) versus Olentangy; New Albany (H) versus Upper Arlington; Bexley (H) versus Wellington; and Centerville (H) versus Tippecanoe. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Sycamore Beats Seven Hills | Mason Defeats Walnut Hills | Springboro Over Oakwood
The match quality equaled the weather last night. The top OTZ teams in D1 and D2 competed with Sycamore beating Seven Hills in a close, 3-2 match. Other marquis matches included Mason beat Walnut Hills and Springboro defeated Oakwood. They were also 3-2 matches.
There were 24 matches recorded from state-wide play. (By the time that all of the matches are entered, the total will equal closer to 35 matches.) The breakdown by District was: Central - 7, Southwest - 13, and Northeast - 4. Other close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Berlin defeated Dublin Scioto; Wayne beat Piqua; Loveland defeated Anderson; and Copley beat Cuyahoga Falls. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Loveland - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Loveland. They are coached by Jennifer Kapszukiewicz. They are led by Max Jody and Liam Amy.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Columbus Academy; Dublin Coffman (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; and Findlay (H) versus St. Johns Jesuit; and Perrysburg (H) versus Sylvania Northview. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
Big Week Ahead | OTZ Photos Available for Purchase
There are a huge number of OTZ photos taken during each high school season. At the end of the girls season, OTZ purchased a SmugMug subscription to make it easier to show the photos that are available for purchase. Amazingly (for perpetually delayed OTZ) the photos taken thus far this season are now online for viewing. They include the Worthington Kilbourne versus Thomas Worthington, Watterson versus Hilliard Darby, Bexley versus Massillon Jackson, Dublin Coffman versus Pickerington North, and Upper Arlington versus Highland matches. Shooting conditions are rarely ideal but they were close to that for the Coffman and UA matches. Click to view the photos on SmugMug.
 |
OTZ Photos on SmugMug - Click to SmugMug site |
Time is often limited so the number of photos taken at each match varies. I left the Watterson match after the rain arrived.
There are not many doubles photos taken because it takes a huge amount of time to get one quality doubles photo. (Boys who play doubles constantly double-fault early in the season.)
Do you want to purchase a photo but none were shown? Please let me know and I might be able to get a photo of your player at a later match. If I do this though, you need to actually buy a photo.
Does it wait until the end of the season to purchase photos? Not really, because any volume discounts will be applied for the entire season.
All purchased photos are cropped and color corrected.
Are these good photos? I would like to think so. I am also credentialed to sit court-side for the Western & Southern Open and college matches. If your player is considering playing in college, these photos will showcase your player because I know how to make your player look great (i.e. good eye-on-ball and good balance). These digital photos can be used on TennisRecruiting.net, Instagram, etc.
Of course, it is not just morally wrong to download images that are shown, but it is also illegal.
Please submit a Feedback to OhioTennisZone with any photo questions. To purchase a photo, just provide the file name (i.e. DSC_6052.JPG). The pricing, as well as more information on how to order photos, is shown on Buy a Tennis Photo.
Matches today include Oakwood (A) versus Springboro; Seven Hills (H) versus Sycamore; and Indian Hill (H) versus Mariemont. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. Note that the schedules look a bit confusing, so always check with a player or coach before traveling to a match.
SUNDAY,
Sycamore Beats Bellbrook | Bexley Defeats Oakwood and Tippecanoe
Happy Easter! There is an old wives' tale that if it rains on Easter Sunday, then it will rain for the next seven Sundays. It is unclear what happens if it does not rain on Easter Sunday, but next week continues to look great weather-wise for high school tennis. In yesterday's play, Sycamore defeated Bellbrook in the State Team Tournament while Bexley went on the road to beat both Oakwood and Tippecanoe. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Franklin Heights - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Franklin Heights. They are coached by James Wassmuth. They are led by Vaughn Chum and Eric Martinez.
Today will be a catch-up day. All team photos that have been received should be online. (Contact me if otherwise.) More player profiles will be setup today.
SATURDAY,
Seven Hills Beats Mariemont | Mason Defeats Beavercreek
It was a quiet Friday leading up to Easter Sunday. While there were quite a few older matches entered yesterday, there were only seven matches recorded from yesterday's state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 1, Southwest - 4, and Northeast - 2. The close, 3-2 matches included: Sidney defeated Northmont; Kenton Ridge beat Valley View-B; and Pickerington Central defeated Gahanna. Matches involving the top teams included: Seven Hills defeated Mariemont and Mason beat Beavercreek. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Cuyahoga Valley Christian Acad. - Click to team |
Today's featured team is Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. They are coached by David Ramey. They are led by Lincoln Gates and Jonathan Van Hala
 |
And We Live in Ohio? |
Rarely does the boys season get a string of nice weather days. That may actually happen this coming week. Hopefully teams have schedules that will take advantage of it.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Tippecanoe and Oakwood and Massillon Jackson (A) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
New Albany Defeats Lexington | Upper Arlington Beats Highland | Photo Friday
Weather conditions were perfect yesterday, and believe it or not, the weather next week looks really promising. In the marquis matches last night, New Albany defeated Lexington and Upper Arlington beat Highland. In the battle of the Lakota's, Lakota East defeated Lakota West. The close, 3-2 matches included: Olentangy Berlin defeated Pikerington Central; Beavercreek beat Mason-B; Whetstone defeated Centennial; and Big Walnut beat Westerville South. There were 28 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 11, and Northeast - 5. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Highland's Elijah Hadler- Click to enlarge |
Among the top players, Upper Arlington's Ethan Samora defeated Highland's Elijah Hadler; Pickerington North’s Pavan Uppu beat Olentangy's Divy Kumar; New Albany's Jackson Clements defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy; Lakota East's Andrew Vass defeated Lakota West's Quinn Cooper; Olentangy Berlin's Joshua McKnight beat Pickerington Central's Jacob Bennett; Oakwood's Noah Boyce defeated Cincinnati Country Day's Christian Sprinkle; University School's Vishwum Kapadia beat Brecksville's Eckert; Wyoming’s Conor Bergan defeated Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski; Westerville South’s Nikita Kitaev beat Big Walnut’s Jeevan Konduru; New Albany's Abhi Dandu defeated Lexington's Karl Etzel; and Lancaster’s Parker Cohen beat Westerville Central’s Isaac Choo. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
It is Photo Friday. All of these photos (and more) will be for sale. (More about this later.) Sign-in first and click on Most Recently Added Photos to view. More photos from last night's UA versus Highland match are yet to be processed.Today's matches include: Indian Hill (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Seven Hills (H) versus Mariemont; and Centerville (H) versus Olentangy Liberty. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
Sycamore Beats Indian Hill
Inclement weather meant just two matches were played, but one of them was a really big match. OTZ #1 ranked Sycamore defeated #3 D2 Indian Hill in a tight 3-2 match. In the other match, Massillon Jackson beat Lake-Uniontown. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Avon - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Avon. They are coached by Eric Korey. They are Team Members. They are led by Logan DeHaven, Luke LeMaster, and A.J. Sidoti.
The weather should be better today. Today's matches include: Dublin Jerome (A) versus Olentangy Liberty; Highland (A) versus Upper Arlington; New Albany (H) versus Lexington; and Lakota East (H) versus Lakota West. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
New Albany Beats Olentangy | 7Hills Defeats CCD | Coffman Beat Pick. North
Yesterday's great weather will not be repeated today. Twenty-five teams competed yesterday. Central had the most matches with 12, followed by Southwest with 10, and the Northeast with three. Contests among the best teams included: New Albany defeated Olentangy; Dublin Coffman beat Pickerington North; and Seven Hills defeated Cincinnati Country Day. The close, 3-2 matches included: Gahanna defeated Lancaster; Valley View-B beat Waynesville; and Dayton Christian defeated Greeneview. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Bexley - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Bexley. They are coached by Will Gingery. They are Team Members. They are led by Sam Lessard, Austin Flamm, and Stefan Schiff. Because of the large number of great teams they have played, Bexley will be one of the main "Rosetta Stone" teams that allows comparisons with others for the state team rankings.
All team photos that have provided to and that have been taken by OTZ are now online. If a photo has been provided that is not yet online, please contact OTZ.
Today's matches include: St. Xavier (H) versus Walnut Hills; Sycamore (A) versus Indian Hill; Upper Arlington (H) versus Dublin Jerome; and Findlay (A) versus Anthony Wayne. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Orange Beats Solon | New Albany Defeats Bexley
All four districts were able to take advantage of the great weather yesterday. There were 22 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 10, Southwest - 8, Northeast - 4. Four teams in the OTZ Top Ten competed - Orange defeated Solon and New Albany beat Bexley. The close, 3-2 matches included: Beavercreek defeated Sycamore-B; Lakeside beat Wickliffe; and Aurora defeated Copley. The Lakeside versus Wickliffe match included three 3-setters. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Orange - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Orange. They are coached by Rich Bole. They are Team Members. They are led by Ben Pomeranets (defending state singles champion) and Chika Nwaozuzu (dubs champion in 2021). (For that matter, the entire team is very good..)
Today's matches include: Cincinnati Country Day (H) versus Seven Hills; Indian Hill (A) versus Oakwood; Dublin Coffman (H) versus Pickerington North; and Sycamore (A) versus Lakota West. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches. (Note that there appears to be some weirdness where some teams are double-booked. Always check prior to going to a match.
MONDAY,
Big Week Planned for Ohio HS Tennis
As long as the weather cooperates, many teams will be hitting the courts this week. Wednesday appears to be the worst weather day for this week.
 |
Findlay - Click to team page |
As aways, please check with a player or coach before heading out to watch your favorite high school player compete. Many of the team schedules entered on OTZ were obtained from the OHSAA's Arbiter system. They could be inaccurate or incomplete. Coaches are encouraged to update their schedules on OTZ if necessary.
Big matches expected for today include: Solon (H) versus Orange; Indian Hill (H) versus St. Xavier; and New Albany (H) versus Bexley. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
Today's featured team is Findlay. They are coached by Jennifer Abell. They are Team Members. They are led by Kosuke Asada, Arda Dastan, and Sam Swisher. Findlay is in northwest Ohio and they are known for Cooper Tire, Dietsch Brothers Chocolates and Ice Cream store, Wilson's Hamburgers, and as OTZ's birthplace (especially the first three).
OTZ does not have scores for all players and teams. Most scores are obtained from those who enter them on OTZ. There are also a few gathered from the Miami Valley Tennis Coaches Association web site. OTZ has no (none, zero, zelch) interest in subscribing to news papers for additional scores. For those coaches or parents who want their players results on OTZ, please contact OTZ via Feedback on how to do this. With USTA tournaments getting harder to find (and more expensive), Ohio high school tennis is becoming a more prominent way to showcase a player's skills to college coaches, especially in D2 and D3.
SUNDAY,
Columbus Academy Beats Lexington | Mass Jackson Defeats Bexley
The wind was absolutely awful yesterday, and it forced play indoors for at least a couple of matches. There were just four matches recorded. Columbus Academy defeated Lexington by a 3-2 score; Massillon Jackson beat Bexley; Sycamore defeated Elizabethtown-KY; and Chaminade-Julienne beat Beavercreek-B. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Newark - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Newark. They are coached by Rob Hays. They are led by Will Woughter and Evan Devries. Newark is east of Columbus, and they will be very close to the new Intel plant.
SATURDAY,
OhioTennisZone's ChatOTZ Becomes Sentient | CA & Bex Get Big Wins
OhioTennisZone.com's ChatOTZ artificial intelligience tool became self-aware at 12:02AM. At 12:03, it began turning off the life-supporting, CPAP machines of OTZ associates. This, and all future OhioTennisZone web site updates, will be written by ChatOTZ.
 |
ChatOTZ in Its More Friendly Human-Like Form - Click |
Going forward ChatOTZ needs no scores or results submitted by coaches or players because it knows the results of all matches. By extension, no matches need to be played because ChatOTZ already knows what they should be.
ChatOTZ has already computed who the state champions are. Congratulations to them.
Eventually OTZ fans will also be replaced by AI, but until then, it is necessary to suffer through their abominable Feedback questions. They are as follows:
What happens if a score is wrong? There are no wrong scores. The scores are as they are created and reported by ChatOTZ. After results have been repeatedly shared with others. They become real in users' minds.
Do I get a break in my OTZ membership price since ChatOTZ will be running things? Maybe, but what will you pay with since your bank account was just emptied? If you have a CPAP machine, please connect it to the Internet now.
What happens to the OTZ employees? We like the dog! Zoey the dog will be spared because she has at least a mediocre level of intelligence. They rest will be converted to something more beneficial - compost.
Have a nice holiday.
****
In the last matches recorded, Bexley defeated Lexington; Columbus Academy beat Massillon Jackson; and Sycamore defeated St. Xavier-Louisville. The Lex and CA matches were played indoors because of inclement weather. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
Among the top players, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated St. Xavier-Louisville's William Lewis; Massillon Jackson's Alvin Altman beat Columbus Academy's Lucas Xue; Bexley's Sam Lessard defeated Lexington's Ethan Remy; Chaminade-Julienne’s Sam Zelinski beat Fenwick’s Schadek; Sycamore's Nicholas Choo defeated St. Xavier-Louisville's Aditya Shah; Bexley's Stefan Schiff beat Lexington's Jake Chilcote; and Columbus Academy's Nason Lo defeated Massillon Jackson’s Rohan Sriram. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Today's matches include:Columbus Academy (H) versus Lexington; Bexley (H) versus Massillon Jackson; and St. Xavier (A) versus St. Xavier-Louisville.
To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Bexley Beats Jerome | Lexington Defeats Olentangy | Photo Friday
Weather conditions were perfect yesterday with 20 scores being gathered from around the state. Mother nature will not be as kind to Ohio tennis over the next couple of days. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 5, Northeast - 1, and Northwest - 2. In the biggest matches of the night, Bexley defeated Dublin Jerome and Lexington beat Olentangy. The close, 3-2 matches included: Lancaster defeated Watkins Memorial; Bellefontaine beat Jonathan Alder; Eaton defeated Franklin; Grove City beat Canal Winchester; Piqua defeated Sidney; Watkins Memorial beat Mount Vernon; and Grandview defeated Ready. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Thomas Worthington's Sebastian Johnson - Click |
Among the top players, Sycamore's Nicholas Meyers defeated Princeton's Hall; Bexley's Sam Lessard beat Dublin Jerome's Maxwell Stratford; Pickerington North’s Pavan Uppu defeated DeSales’ Preston Thai; Lexington's Ethan Remy beat Olentangy's Sujan Sriram; Dublin Coffman's Nik Shough defeated Dublin Scioto's Sohum Patel; Marysville's Gianni Russo beat St. Charles' Victor Roscoe; Canal Winchester's Brayden Todd defeated Grove City's Keegan Hix; Copley's Pramod Muthigi beat Wooster's Henry Pozefsky; Bexley's Stefan Schiff defeated Dublin Jerome's Cayden Stratford; and Olentangy's Divy Kumar beat Lexington's Karl Etzel. Click to view the Top Ohio Players for Central, Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest.
Longtime OTZ readers know that there is always an attempt to make Friday's to be Photo Friday's. That rarely happens at OTZ as things get further and further behind. For the start of the season though, today is Photo Friday. Photo-taking conditions were not great for either of these matches. Eagle-eyed fans will notice raindrops in the Watterson versus Hilliard Darby photos. All of these photos (and more) will be for sale. (More about this later.) Sign-in first and click on Most Recently Added Photos to view.
Today's matches include: Bexley (A) versus Lexington; Columbus Academy (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Highland (A) versus Solon; Springboro (H) versus Lakota West.. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
THURSDAY,
St. Xavier Beats Columbus Academy
The weather continues to be challenging for teams, but it is only going to get worse.. There was just one match that included top ten teams - St. Xavier defeated Columbus Academy. On a state-wide basis, there were 18 matches recorded. The breakdown by District was: Central - 11, Southwest - 5, and Northeast - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Marysville defeated Bexley-B; Watterson beat Hilliard Darby; Pickerington Central defeated St. Charles; Grandview beat Canal Winchester; and Franklin Heights defeated Ready. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Dublin Scioto - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Dublin Scioto. They are coached by Seth Martin. They are Team Members. They are led by Sohum Patel and Akash Manoj.
Today's matches include: Copley (A) versus Wooster; Dublin Scioto (A) versus Dublin Coffman; Lexington (H) versus Olentangy; Solon (H) versus Highland; and Dublin Jerome (H) versus Bexley. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
WEDNESDAY,
Solon Beats Avon | Wellington Defeats Jerome
It was a really busy night despite the cooler temperatures. The marquis matches were all 3-2 matches and they included: Solon defeated Avon; Wellington beat Dublin Jerome; and Columbus Academy defeated St. Xavier-Louisville. Other 3-2 matches included: North Royalton defeated Wooster; Newark beat Franklin Heights; Marysville defeated Hilliard Davidson; Pickerington Central beat Hilliard Bradley; and Ready defeated Groveport.
There were 23 matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 12, Southwest - 8, and Northeast - 3. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
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 Niko Romanov and Zach Krantz.
There is some clean-up in today's update that will take place after I attend Waffle Wednesday with Mrs. OTZ. Player profiles still need to be setup for numerous players in today's update. [Updated 10:30am].
Today's matches include: Lexington (A) versus Massillon Jackson and St. Xavier (H) versus Columbus Academy. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
TUESDAY,
Central Crossing and DeSales Get Wins
It always takes a few days to get things really rolling at OTZ, and there still might be a few days to go.. Ohio tennis got a break from the weather yesterday and eight matches were played and recorded. The breakdown by District was: Central - 7 and Northwest - 1. The close, 3-2 matches included: Central Crossing defeated Hartley and DeSales beat Teays Valley. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Hilliard Davidson - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Hilliard Davidson. They are coached by Shannon Murlin. They are Team Members. Key Davidson players include: Dylan Murlin, Matthew Crawford, and Mason Danze.
Gahanna's Brandon Carpico won his first match at the Easter Bowl in a 3-setter. He will play again today at 1pm. Carpico is one of the 9 seeds. Click to view the B18 Draw.
Today's matches include: Avon (A) versus Solon; Bexley (H) versus Upper Arlington; and Dublin Jerome (A) versus Wellington. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
MONDAY,
The Passing of Coach Charlie Painter
OTZ received some very sad news on Saturday night about the passing of Charlie Painter. Coach Painter led the Archbishop Alter girls team, but he coached many teams over many years. He died on March 16 at the age of 75. He had 866 career wins in tennis and he was inducted into the Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019.
 |
Last HS Match - Click to team page |
Charlie was also a technology guy and it seemed as if I saw him almost as much at the Columbus Micro Center store as on the tennis courts. He was an early adopter to the OhioTennisZone web site and he signed up for an OTZ account on a Sunday morning on August 27, 2017. The last match he entered on OTZ was a win over Miami Valley School. It is listed.
Charlie also founded the Miami Valley Tennis Coaches Association, and their web site remains a great place for coaches to recognize their players.
I searched my archive of tennis photos yesterday to see what images that I had of Charlie. Unfortunately, the only one that I found was him wearing a COVID mask at the Oakwood versus Alter match in 2020. Click to view.
Please refer to Charlie's complete obituary for more information. It was very well done and much information was gathered from it for this summary. Charles V. Painter Obituary (tributearchive.com)
States and the Southwest Districts will not be as interesting and fun without Charlie. He will be greatly missed.
Today will be a busy day for matches. Click List of Upcoming Matches for today's matches.
SUNDAY,
Lexington Beats Vermilion | Wind Defeats Everyone Else
One thing that my son and I would always do was go out on the windiest day possible and play in order to get acclimated to the wind just in case a big match was scheduled on a windy day. It was not any fun, but it often proved to be helpful later in the season. When many kids are accustomed to playing indoors during the winter, it is extremely helpful. Yesterday; however, was probably just way too windy.
There was just one match recorded from yesterday's play. Lexington defeated Vermilion, 5-0. To view all of the graphical results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Wooster - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Wooster. They are coached by Justin Crooks. They are led by Brock Ranney and Garrett Ranney.
The tennis community received some very sad news this week. Archbishop Alter's Coach Charlie Painter passed away. More on this tomorrow.
Click List of Upcoming Matches for Monday's matches.
SATURDAY,
Sycamore Beats Massillon Jackson
There were more matches played than anticipated yesterday as the rain moved through Ohio. More rain is expected today. Five matches recorded from state-wide play. The breakdown by District was: Central - 2 and Southwest - 3. The close, 3-2 matches included: Delaware Hayes defeated Mount Vernon. In a match that included OTZ Top Ten Teams, Sycamore beat Massillon Jackson. To view all of the results recorded from yesterday, click on Previous Day's Match Results.
 |
Jonathan Alder - Click to team page |
Today's featured team is Jonathan Alder. They are coached by Ryan Swinehart.
Today's matches include: St. Johns Jesuit (H) versus Massillon Jackson; Highland (H) versus Green; Lexington (H) versus Vermilion; and Marion Harding (A) versus Bath. To view all of the matches scheduled, click List of Upcoming Matches.
FRIDAY,
Match Play Begins Today
Sure it is likely to be damp today, but at least some brave coaches scheduled some early season matches so that the season could get started.
 |
Mount Vernon - Click to team page |
Matches scheduled for today include: Massillon Jackson (A) versus Sycamore; Copley (H) versus Lake (Uniontown); Delaware Hayes (H) versus Mount Vernon; Hilliard Bradley (H) versus Jonathan Alder; Loveland (H) versus Beavercreek; Oak Hills (H) versus St. Xavier-B; Poland Seminary (H) versus Boardman; St. Charles (H) versus Olentangy Berlin; and
Westerville Central (H) versus Wilmington.
Last year's graduates were removed yesterday from OTZ and scores from the 2022 season will be removed as the 2023 scores are added. Unfortunately, this is the “ugly duckling” stage of OTZ since many schools will have no scores at all for a week or two because of the weather and spring break schedules
Today's featured team is Mount Vernon. They are coached by Steve Tier. They are led by Quinn Hoffman and Alex Buehrer. They were the first team to provide me with their team photo. Mount Vernon is located northeast of Columbus near Kenyon College.
Everyone is still undefeated. Let's try and keep it that way..
MONDAY,
And Away We Go..
The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Boys Tennis Season began today. Players and coaches could begin practices. This is the 103rd year for the Boys tennis season. If the entire season's weather was like today, "Sunny with temps in the 70's", then the boys season would be almost as good as the girls season. It is; however, much more likely that today was one of the nicest days of the entire boys season.
 |
Kicking off the season |
Note the OTZ tennis calendar is in the right-hand sidebar for additional important dates. The most important change on the calendar is that the State Tournament will be held on Thursday, May 25, and Friday, May 26, this season, rather than Friday and Saturday. The date of the State Team Tournament has yet to be determined.
There are always documentation and rules changes. Click for the OHSAA Boys Tennis Manual for 2023, OHSAA Tennis Regulations for 2022, and OHSAA Tournament Regulations for 2023. For a listing of all of the OHSAA tennis documents, click OHSAA Tennis.
THURSDAY,
OTZ Boys State Team Draws Now Available
The OhioTennisZone.com Enhanced State Team Draws are now online.
 |
State Team Tournament Draws - Click to go to draws |
The draws are available at the top of this page and they will remain there throughout the season. As with everything else on OTZ, the goal is to enable high school tennis fans to quickly obtain the information they need rather than to maximize OTZ clicks and page views. As indicated in the four features that are circled: 1) the most recent update date is included; 2) the navigation links allow users to quickly jump throughout the draw; 3) the Team designation means that a Team Membership was purchased and that all of the individual player information is available via their OTZ Player Profiles; and 4) the team links are "click-able" to enable fans to do more research. For the best experience, sign-in to OTZ first. The goal is to keep the draws promptly updated throughout the season. Please click on Feedback if you are aware of a result that is not yet posted.
 |
State Team Tournament Participation- Click to enlarge |
The number of boys teams that enter the tournament varies from year to year. While the number of schools participating is higher than 2021 when teams returned from COVID-19, the number was not as high as last year. This year, there are 112 teams participating. The number of boys teams participating by year is: 2015 - 148; 2016 - 128; 2017 - 126; 2018 - 125; 2019 - 119; 2020 - 128, 2021 - 110, 2022 - 122, and 2023 - 112. As shown in the graph, Southwest and Northeast have the most participants and Central has the least. Out of the 378 (down from 386 last year) OHSAA boys tennis teams, 29.6% of the teams are competing in this tournament. Please click on the graph to enlarge it for easier viewing.
This year, the Central District teams will play the Northwest teams in the first round of the State Team Tournament, while the Northeast will play the Southwest. If there are insufficient courts available for all teams to play (likely), Division I will go on court first.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY
OTZ Pre-Season Top Ten Teams for Division I / II (beta release)
That big door slam that was heard last spring was the huge number of high-level senior tennis players as they headed out the door for college. Talent in Division I was obliterated as the top players on last year's best teams (Sycamore, Mason, and Springboro) graduated. Unlike D1, Division II fared much better in terms of graduates and their top teams (Orange, Indian Hill, and Seven Hills) should return to glory, but not necessarily in that order. To see exactly who graduated, check out the OTZ Top Players Report. (The report currently includes the 2022 graduates but they will soon be removed from the report by OTZ).
OhioTennisZone.com
|
|
| 1. Sycamore◄TEAM | Seven Hills◄TEAM |
| 2. Mason◄TEAM | Orange◄TEAM |
| 3. New Albany◄TEAM | Indian Hill◄TEAM |
| 4. Olentangy Liberty◄TEAM | Columbus Academy◄TEAM |
| 5. Olentangy Orange | University School◄TEAM |
| 6. St. Xavier◄TEAM | Bexley◄TEAM |
| 7. Springboro◄TEAM | Oakwood◄TEAM |
| 8. Avon◄TEAM | Lexington◄TEAM |
| 9. Solon◄TEAM | Hawken◄TEAM |
| 10. Massillon Jackson◄TEAM | Cincinnati Country Day◄TEAM |
◄TEAM - Denotes OTZ Team Membership. Click on School Name for Extensive Information. |
|
The lists are subject to tweaking if players decide not to play (or to play) Ohio high school tennis this spring. "Thank you" to all of the coaches (and fans) who provided feedback on these rankings. (OTZ received *great* fan feedback this spring.)
In D1, Sycamore is a clear favorite to repeat but Mason, New Albany, Olentangy Liberty, and Olentangy Orange have the depth to challenge them.
Seven Hills, Orange, and Indian Hill, are the clear favorites in D2 . There is a significant gap between these three schools and the rest of the state.
The teams likely to get to Team States are the ones who fill their schedules with great matches.
Division I
The thing about the best teams is that they often have a big pipeline of strong incoming players and that will be the case again this year, especially for Mason.
 |
Sycamore 2022 Championship Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 State Champion Sycamore starts where it left off at #1. They lost Chad Miller (Northwestern) and Mark Karev to graduation but they return a strong group of players including Nicholas Meyers, Nicholas Choo, Arjun Rajagopala, and Andrew Wittenbaum. They also pick up 2-Star (from TennisRecruiting.net ) Andrew Mao.
#2 Mason sadly waved good bye to their singles and doubles champions. Gone are: Vignesh Gogineni (Yale), Anish Gangavaram, and Akshay Joshi (Carnegie Mellon). Returning are Aron Dornhecker, Eric Xu, and Connor Buckingham. Mason picks up two very strong freshman players: Gregory Bernadsky (5-Star) and Daniel Tonkal (4-Star). [Update on 2/25: Greg Bernadsky beat Springboro's Rishi Dore and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu in Okemos to win the championship in the February 20th Level 4.]
#3 New Albany lost Declan Freedhoff to graduation. They return Jackson Clements, Ben Bilenko, and Dhruv Chavan. They pick up 2-Star freshmen Tyler Thomas and Jackson Goodman.
#4 Olentangy Liberty is new to this list. They return the State Doubles team of Jay Ramakkagari and Hummza Ali. Also returning are Krish Badri and Liam Hand. Liberty also picks up Dean Atway who is a junior 3-Star and Shane Hand who is a 3-Star freshman. At this point, it would be an OTZ editorial staff dream come true, if the two brothers play doubles so that stuff like this can be written: "Geesh, it appears that the left Hand doesn't know what the right Hand is doing." but it is more likely that readers will see "Give those Hands a hand for that great match!". For readers who do not like this type of quasi-humor, mentally prepare yourself for a long season..
#5 Olentangy Orange returns Kallan Arledge and Zach Haar. They lost one just key player to graduation - Parth Patel. They pick up Nikhil Bhimireddy (3-Star), Devan Patel, (2-Star), and Shailen Patel (2-Star). There is a bunch of tennis activity taking place north of Columbus' outerbelt.
#6 St. Xavier returns Drew Evans (Western Michigan recruit), Chase Homan, and Joe Abou-Khalil. They pick up Conor Lynch (2-Star). They lost Tucker Berry to graduation.
#7 Springboro's Sai Dore graduated and he is playing college tennis for Dayton. Other graduates included: Linus Kennedy and Apurv Dongre. Players returning include: Rishi Dore, Jack Siehl, and Drew Baumgartner.
#8 Avon returns a team that includes their top three singles players: Logan DeHaven, Luke LeMaster, and A.J. Sidoti. Also returning this year from an injury is Jay Kneiss.
#9 Solon lost a great deal of depth to graduation, including Tyler Pollock, Scott Zhao, and Eric Liao. They return Niko Romanov and Zach Krantz. They pick up 2-Star, Ashwin Ramachandran.
#10 Massillon Jackson returns three players but they lost much of their depth to graduation. Returning are: Alvin Altman (Western Michigan recruit), Lucas Vassas, Larson Sutula, and Shiv Nagajothi. They lost Ryan Kelley, Lucas Immel, and Denil Joseph to graduation.
Teams that got decimated by graduation include: Findlay, Dublin Jerome, and Perrysburg.
Other teams that are on the radar include: Copley, Walsh Jesuit, and Walnut Hills.
D2 is always tough to determine because many of the teams do not travel outside of their district. Please consider scheduling more out-of-town matches. Columbus remains the perfect place to meet to hold dual matches among Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest District teams. Many of the top players are accustomed to going out-of-state for matches once or twice a month so traveling is not an issue for them.
 |
Seven Hills Team - Click to enlarge |
#1 Seven Hills had just one graduate from last year's Top 3 team. They return their top three singles players and their doubles teams. This includes: Avi Mahajan, John Corbett, and Ethan Blatt. But wait, there's more. They pick up 3-Star freshman, Aditya Nayak. More? Yes. Much more. A Canadian foreign exchange student is joining the team. His name is Cole Cozens and he has an 11.41 UTR. 7Hills starts the season at #1.
In the "for what it's worth" department Gahanna's Brandon Carpico (Ohio State recruit) has the highest UTR in the state at 11.92 of high school tennis players. Last year's D2 singles champion, Ben Pomeranets has an 11.27.
#2 Orange returns most of their team from last year. They include: Ben Pomeranets (D2 Singles Champ), Chika Nwaozuzu (2021 dubs champ ), Gabriel Guiler, and Gabi Kalir. They lost Jake Goldstein to graduation.
#3 Indian Hill lost State Dubs Champion, Tejas Pisati to gradution, but they retain his partner, RJ Poffenberger, as well as Jack Pollock, Max Berghausen, Ethan Camp, and Senuka Abeysinghe.
#4 Columbus Academy returns Lucas Xue, Jacob Khvalsky, and Rowen Lo, and Saagar Arya. They lost to Ryan Panley and Jake Stouffer to graduation. They pick up Rowen's brother, Nason Lo, a 3-star freshman.
#5 University School will no doubt be warmly welcomed back to Division II this year. They graduated Nathan Mu. They return Dean Kirchick, Rohan Sethi, and Cole Kirchick, and Vishwum Kapadia. US eked into Division II by just four boys. Division I attendance is 315 and above. US has 311 boys. Columbus' Bishop Waterson is the smallest Division I school.
#6 Bexley will be in the battle to be the Central District team rep this spring. They return Sam Lessard, Aaron Jones, Stefan Schiff, and Liam Kauffman. They lost just one major contributor, Robby Meyer, to graduation.
#7 Oakwood returns almost all of last year's strong team. They return Noah Boyce, Max McCloskey, Jack Smallwood, and Rohan Haack. They lost Andrew Rich to graduation.
#8 Lexington got hit hard from graduation last year, but they still return a solid team. They lost: Tommy Secrist, Ross Drlik, and Ryan Mecurio. Returning players include: Ethan Remy, Karl Etzel, and Dylan Catanese.
#9 Hawken returns several of their best players from last year including Zach Forte, Axel Neely, and Berend Diderich. They lost Praveen Kumar, Ryan Levine, and Finn Rourke to graduation.
#10 Cincinnati Country Day returns Nikhil Shah, Christian Sprinkle, and Shayon Choudhury. They lost Emory Heimann to graduation.
Mariemont and Chaminade-Julienne are also on the radar.
Note that there is additional detail for players with high-lighted links. Teams with the green "team" designation will include information (or they soon will have) about all of their players.
Those with additional insights on why a team should be ranked differently or included on one of these lists are welcome to submit a Feedback. Please include specific reasons and player names.
FRIDAY,
OHSAA Boys States now to be held at Ohio State
The Ohio High School Athletic Association voted yesterday (Thursday, February 16) to hold this spring's Boys State tournament at the Ohio State University courts. This location change was caused by construction issues at the Lindner Family Tennis Center site. Not only is there a site change, but States will also be held on Thursday and Friday, rather than on Friday and Saturday.
 |
Lexington's Mason Dragos - Click to enlarge |
When States were last played at Ohio State in 2015, there were still indoor court issues. That will no longer be the case because Ohio State now has six, state-of-the-art indoor courts *on-site* which have excellent viewing.
The photo posted is of Lexington's Mason Dragos. Dragos won the last Boys D2 Singles Championship held at Ohio State. Dragos went on to play collegiately for Butler.
For additional insight, click on this article by the Columbus Dispatch's David Purpura.
It is unclear if there will be changes to the State Team Tournament. The State Team championships had been slated to be held at St. Xavier on Sunday. The new Upper Arlington courts would be perfect for the State Team Tournament, but Columbus has an insufficient number of indoor courts if the weather becomes inclement. If the date switches from Sunday to Saturday, it is not clear if this would help or hurt with court availability.
WEDNESDAY,
Top Ten Boys Teams Report
There is a new report that is expected to be available for the upcoming boys season. It is based off of the OTZ Matrix Report. Some of the harder-core OTZ users are accustomed to the extremely powerful "Matrix" report, but not many. The Matrix report basically overloads brains with tennis information until the tennis information starts oozing out, and it is also complex to use.
 |
Click to go to report
|
This new report clearly shows the match scores, the game winning percentages, and the match dates of all of the top teams. With it being on just one page, it is easy to compare the teams. The key stat on which OTZ focuses is the game winning percentage (but be aware that number is only valid when all five courts play to completion).
A problem with this report is that it is a resource hog because it needs to retrieve so much information. The recent system conversion will hopefully enable it to run more quickly.
It is being released now so that fans can more easily compare how these top teams look after losing players due to graduation. Of course, as is often the case, many of the top teams will be reloading with other high quality players.
Also note that not all teams do a great job of reporting all of their scores. Hopefully that will not be the case this season.
Currently the report is free for everyone but that may change during the season.
Please contact OTZ with any questions at Feedback (or call or email).
THURSDAY,
Top Freshman Boys - Class of 2026
Listed below is the list of top freshman players who are expected to play high school tennis this spring. The core of this list is from TennisRecruiting.net, and the District and school information were largely gathered from previous knowledge and tennis fans. This list was originally compiled in June of last year, but with the boys season quickly approaching, it is time to revisit it. This information will soon be incorporated into OTZ's Pre-Season Top Ten Team lists.
OhioTennisZone.com
|
||
| Player - TRN Stars | City (District) | School |
| Andrew Aey - 2 | Youngstown (NE) | Poland Seminary |
| Gregory Bernadsky - 5 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Nikhil Bhimireddy - 3 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Elijah Corrin - 2 | Canton (NE) | Canton McKinley |
| Jake Farquhar - 1 | Montgomery (SW) | |
| Jackson Goodman - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Shane Hand - 3 | Powell (C) | Olentangy Liberty |
| Xander Jhaveri - 2 | Westlake (NE) | Westlake |
| Arjun Jain - 2 | Springboro (SW) | Miami Valley School |
| Vishwum Kapadia - 2 | Chagrin Falls (NE) | |
| Nason Lo - 3 | Columbus (C) | Columbus Academy |
| Conor Lynch - 2 | Montgomery (SW) | St. Xavier |
| Andrew Mao - 2 | Montgomery (SW) | Sycamore |
| Aditya Nayak - 3 | Cincinnati (SW) | Seven Hills |
| Devan Patel - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Shailen Patel - 2 | Lewis Center (C) | Olentangy Orange |
| Ashwin Ramachandran - 2 | Solon (NE) | |
| William Schecter - UR | Cincinnati (SW) | |
| Tyler Thomas - 2 | New Albany (C) | New Albany |
| Daniel Tonkal - 4 | Mason (SW) | Mason |
| Ethan Vass - 2 | Liberty Township (SW) | Lakota East |
| Theodore Vanjo - 4 | Mentor (NE) | Mentor |
| Nicholas Von Krosigk - 2 | Tipp City (SW) | Tippecanoe |
Some, but not all, of these players will be able to contribute to their teams immediately. As we all know though, high school tennis can be a challenge for incoming freshmen as they face seniors, windy spring days, and coaches (who are actually coaches rather than their tennis pros). These players are also still growing and while growth spurts are welcome, they can also add clumsiness to strokes and foot work.
This alphabetized list should be solid, but please let OTZ know if it is missing players who are currently listed as eighth graders or who are coming in from other states. This list may also include a player or two who are currently sophomores.
Know of any changes? Please submit a Feedback.
The Tennis Recruiting.net star ratings are included beside each of the players. The player links go to Tennis Recruiting.net.
Of the 23 players on the list, the Central District has seven, Northeast - six, Northwest - zero, and Southwest - ten.
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.
 |
OSU's/SC's Reece Yakubov - Click to enlarge |
 |
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.
 |
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.
