COLUMBUS – Sycamore and Indian Hill's boys tennis teams reconvened Sunday outside of Columbus, a day after the OHSAA state individual tournament. The Ohio Tennis Coaches Association team tournament always takes place the following day.
Both teams boarded their buses for a friendly ride south as Sycamore swept Solon 3-0 for the Division I championship and Indian Hill took down Pepper Pike Orange for Division II bragging rights.
The Greater Miami Conference champion Sycamore Aves came in with an undefeated team record, representing Division I in Southwest Ohio by defeating defending champion Mason. It was Sycamore's first appearance since 2016 when they were team champions. The Division I matches were played at New Albany.
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Coach Mike Teets' players didn't lose a match Sunday, sweeping New Albany in the semifinal on their home court before ending Solon's season in the final.
"We have been talking about this for a long time," Teets said of the championship. "This along with the GMC. We have been talking about it for 365 days. It's very rewarding to finally get here."
Considering Mason had the state OHSAA singles and doubles champions, Sycamore's triumph in the Greater Miami Conference and in the state team tournament is pretty impressive, let alone running the table as a team.
"2015's team did it also," Teets said. "Two different groups of players. The similarity is there was a lot of talent and every single one of them was committed to the team goal."
Their lineup was identical in both contests. In the final, No. 1 singles went to Chad Miller with No. 3 Nicholas Choo also victorious. The clinching match was the No. 2 doubles team of Kevin Dong/Andrew Wittenbaum.
The victory made all forget about Saturday's OHSAA individual tournament, which was still far from a disappointment. At the Lindner Family Tennis Center, Nick Meyers/Mark Karev were Division I doubles runners-up and Southwest District champ Miller finished third in state singles. Dong and Arjun Rajagopala were also state qualifiers.
The Aves roster included sophomore Choo, senior Dong, sophomore Kyle Friedrich, senior Kareve, sophomore Dhruv Kota, sophomore Meyers, senior Miller, sophomore Arjun Rajagopala and sophomore Andrew Wittenbaum.
"We have a great returning group," Teets said of what lies ahead. "We certainly have six very strong sophomores returning, so I'm pretty excited about that."
In Division II, Indian Hill returned to the OTCA tourney after finishing as state runner-up last year. The Braves last won the team tournament in 2007. The Division II matches were played at Upper Arlington.
Coach Wade Ward's Braves swept Bexley 3-0, then needed all of the matches to defeat Pepper Pike's Orange squad. In the semi, the OHSAA Division II state doubles champion team of Tejas Pisati/R.J. Poffenberger returned to singles with Pisati winning second singles and Poffenberger third. A first doubles win by OHSAA state qualifiers Michael Ryu/Max Berghausen made it a semi sweep.
Ward flipped his lineup around for the championship match. This time Eshaan Gandhi delivered in second singles and OHSAA state qualifier Ethan Camp won third. His second doubles team was freshman Ryu/senior Pisati.
"Eshaan Gandhi really stepped up for us today," Ward said. "He hasn't really played a lot of singles this year but today was his time to shine. He played steady and won most of the pressure points. (Ethan) Camp has been undefeated at No. 3 singles so we put him out there to do his thing. Guess what? He's still undefeated!"
Ward then got the "must-win" at second doubles by pairing Ryu who was in first doubles in the semi, with veteran Pisati who had himself quite a weekend to end his prep tennis career.
"Putting a state doubles champion with a solid freshman really made the difference in that match," Ward said.
Indian Hill's only team losses came to Louisville St. Xavier and the Division I champs, Sycamore in April. They were unbeaten in the Cincinnati Hills League and twice beat Division I St. Xavier.
Indian Hill's roster included sophomore Senuka A, junior Berghausen, sophomore Camp, sophomore Gandhi, senior Pisati, sophomore Poffenberger, sophomore Jack Pollack, senior Sam Rhoad and freshman Ryu.
"I'm super excited for our players and parents," Ward said. "I know everyone works extremely hard in the off-season and we have the best parents in the state."
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