Bexley, New Albany, Liberty singles players advance in OHSAA boys tennis state tournament
WOOSTER − New Albany boys tennis standout Abhinav Dandu could be forgiven if he didn’t remember the blow-by-blow account of a 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3 win over Springboro’s Rishi Dore in a Division I state quarterfinal Thursday.
The junior and first-time state qualifier was so pumped about his win that he momentarily forgot the score of the second set when reporting the results to the officials’ table at the College of Wooster.
Ultimately, Dandu is most pleased with having two guaranteed matches Friday and being assured a top-four finish.
“That was a crazy match,” Dandu said. “I gutted the first set out … but (Dore) played well and served a lot better (in the second). I went up 3-0 (in the third) and stayed really present. I didn’t let anything bother me. I was up 3-0 and then went to 5-1, then I had a couple match points and he saved them.
“It’s just really exciting.”
Dandu, who opened with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Avon’s Luke LeMaster, will face Olentangy Liberty sophomore Shane Hand in a semifinal Friday morning. The other Division I singles semifinal pits Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Carson Dwyer against Nick Meyers of Cincinnati Sycamore.
Hand, who is also at state for the first time, outlasted Richfield Revere’s Finn Keenan 6-3, 7-6 in the first round before easing past Sycamore’s Dhruv Kota 6-2, 6-2.
“I served really well (against Kota),” Hand said. “I got into a groove and made my shots. I try not to look ahead too much because I’ve psyched myself out before doing that. I’ve lost to people I shouldn’t have. I tried my best to win the first round and then do my best in the second.”
Dandu is 2-0 against Hand this season, including a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win in the Hilliard Bradley sectional final.
Bexley freshman Henry Lessard continued to roll in Division II, shutting out Sandusky Perkins’ Chase Young 6-0, 6-0 and sweeping Springfield Northwestern’s Aiden Yeager 6-1, 6-2. Lessard, whose only loss in 25 matches this season was to Meyers, will play Cincinnati Seven Hills’ Avi Mahajan in a semifinal.
Lessard defeated Mahajan 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 on March 30, the same day he lost to Meyers.
Pepper Pike Orange’s Chika Nwaozuzu and Seven Hills’ Adi Nayak are in the other semifinal.
“I definitely tried to wear my (opponents) down,” Lessard said. “I feel like my fight is a lot better than in the beginning of the season. I came in hungry, too.”
Columbus Academy sophomore Nason Lo went 1-1 and had to retire after one game in the second set against Nwaozuzu because of a hand injury.
In Division I, New Albany junior Jackson Clements split two matches and Dublin Coffman junior Nik Shough fell in the first round.
Columbus Academy moves on in Division II doubles
Academy juniors Rowen Lo and Lucas Xue handily won two matches, 6-1, 6-0 against Ottawa Hills’ Chris Thompson and Savith Vijendra and 6-2, 6-0 over Orange’s Gabe Guiler and Adam Saab.
Guiler and Saab were coming off a three-set first-round win that took almost three hours.
“They were probably tired, but we didn’t think about it. We just focused,” Xue said. “We came out a little slow. We weren’t really doing much with the ball or our feet and didn’t have a lot of energy, but halfway through we really focused and from there, just finished the job.”
Lo and Xue will play Lexington’s Dylan Catanese and Ethan Remy in a semifinal. The other half of the bracket features Cincinnati Indian Hill’s Neelan Gandhi and R.J. Poffenberger against Orange’s Ace Bloom and Gabe Kalir.
The other four central Ohio doubles teams lost in the second round.
Bexley senior Oscar Ramsden and junior Sam Lessard fell to Gandhi and Poffenberger.
In Division I, New Albany senior Ben Bilenko and sophomore Tyler Thomas, Olentangy senior Sujan Sriram and sophomore Gavin Cheung and Liberty's Badri brothers − sophomore Arya and senior Krish − all split two matches.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Which Ohio boys tennis players will compete for OHSAA state titles?
