Alliance senior Blake Hood focused on district tennis tournament
One year ago, Blake Hood represented Alliance High School in singles play at the Akron Division I boys district tennis tournament.
After nailing down a third-place finish at the Canton Division I sectional, the senior heads back to the same postseason event as a much-improved player.
"I think I've gotten physically stronger and better in all facets of my game, especially my consistency and my power," Hood added.
Hood, who is headed to Walsh University to study chemistry and play collegiate golf, is part of a talented 16-player field in this year's tournament at the Springside Athletic Club in Fairlawn that was scheduled to begin Thursday.
"Just to be part of this field is special to me, because every kid can play tennis [at a high level]," Hood said.
One of those players Hood will be facing for the first time is Westlake sophomore Rohit Jain, who stands 6-foot-2 and enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed after finishing second in the Elyria sectional, falling 6-0, 6-2 to Avon undefeated junior Logan DeHaven in the title match.
"I don't know much about him [Jain], but my focus is playing as well as I can and competing as hard as I can in that first match," Hood said.
For the last three years, Hood has played extremely well, going undefeated in all of his regular-season matches and winning 54 of 57 matches during the last two years.
As a junior, Hood finished 29-2, losing to Louisville senior Griffin Millspaugh in the sectional championship match and in his district opener to Warren Harding junior Anthony Payiazias, who eventually qualified for the Division I state tournament at Mason, where he was ousted 6-0, 6-0 to junior Vignesh Gogiani, who was playing in his own hometown, in the first round. Gogiani eventually finished state runner-up.
Heading into district tournament competition for the second straight season, Hood has posted a 25-1 record. His only loss came in a sectional semifinal against GlenOak freshman Dylan Wiles, who prevailed 6-1, 6-1. Showing resolve, Hood fared better in the sectional third-place match against Jackson senior Denil Joseph, dropping only three games in a 6-0, 6-3 win.
Hood entered district play with a 25-1 record, losing his sectional semifinal to 6-1, 6-1 to GlenOak freshman Dylan Wiles before regrouping to defeat Jackson senior Denil Joseph 6-0, 6-3 in the third-place match, earning the third seed in his quarter-bracket.
"That was a big win," Hood said. "You want to get the highest seed possible."
The winner of the Hood-Jain match would oppose either Walsh Jesuit senior Caleb Miller or University School freshman Bishwum Kapodia in the second round. Miller, a left-hander who advanced to state tournament play last spring in doubles, is first seeded. Kapodia is seeded fourth.
Not only has Hood has continued to win the majority of his singles matches this season, but he also has prepared for college life by taking a brutal academic schedule consisting of calculus, finance, AP psychology and elements of anatomy physiological biology. He has taken that type of heavy academic course load during his four years of high school, showing the same type of competitive drive he has exhibited when playing golf last fall or tennis this spring.
While it would have been easy to drop his final year of high school tennis after opting to play golf in college, Hood decided to play, and it wasn't a difficult decision.
"I love golf more than tennis, but I've always enjoyed playing tennis competitively and I'm a competitor who wanted to play it one more year," Hood said.
If Hood wins his first match, he'll be assured of playing for fifth or sixth place. If he wins his first two matches, he will earn a state berth. That's plenty of motivation for a talented tennis player who enjoys the thrill of competition and has one year of district experience behind him.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Alliance senior Blake Hood facing quality opponents at district
