‘It means the whole world’: High-stakes drama leads to state runner-up honors for Lex tennis team

NEW ALBANY – It’s not like Owan Gongwer hadn’t already shown everybody he has the comeback gene.

With Lexington’s fate in his hands, Gongwer rallied from a 2-6, 5-6 deficit and then a 5-6 deficit in the second set tiebreaker, fighting off two match points to win 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in Sunday’s semifinals of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association state team tournament at New Albany High School.

Gongwer’s win over Columbus Academy’s Jacob Khvalsky broke a 2-all stalemate, giving Lex a 3-2 win in the best-of-five format and assuring the Minutemen of no worse than a Division II state runner-up finish.

“This was definitely my biggest win because, one, we made the state finals, two, it was a close match and, three, there were so many people here,” Gongwer said. “There were DI kids and DI parents watching because of the stakes (Cincinnati Sycamore won the big school title). I had people saying, ‘C’mon Owan,’ who I didn’t even know. I now know one of them was (teammate Karl Etzel’s) grandfather.”

Cincinnati Seven Hills beat Lex 3-0 for the DII championship, but by then the weekend was already a success for the Minutemen. It was the school’s 15th trip to the Final Four under coach Ron Schaub, including two state titles, but the first appearance in the finals since winning it all in 2015 with a team led by OHSAA state singles champ Mason Dragos.

“Being down here 15 times is awesome,” Schaub said, “but once you get down here (as the Northwest District representative) you’re always playing against the best Columbus team (Central District), the best Cincinnati team (Southwest District) and best Cleveland team (Northeast District).”

After Gongwer survived that harrowing second set and jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 5-1 in the final set, it looked like he was home free. But Khavalsky won two straight games and was up love-40 on Gongwer’s serve, threatening to close within 5-4.

“After every point I lost, I got more and more nervous, like a snowball of de-motivation,” Gongwer said. “I just kept reminding myself that I was still up in the set and wasn’t down yet. All I need is one game and it’s all over.”

Just as quickly as he lost command, Gongwer got it back and won four straight points for ad-in. Khvalsky fought off one match point but Gongwer didn’t give him any more chances as the Minutemen joyously stormed the court after the final point to mob the “Big O.”

Envisioning that exact celebration is what helped Gongwer persevere just when it looked like things were unraveling.

“One thing that motivated me was just thinking about that final point and my team rushing the court,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened. It was great, it made it all so worth it – all two-and-a-half hours of that match.”

In Gongwer’s mind, this entire spring was a bounceback season for him. Last year as a freshman he was an afterthought, having a hard time cracking the lineup for that Final Four team. But this year he became a fixture in the lineup at No. 3 singles and made it to the quarterfinals in the OHSAA state tournament with lone senior and doubles partner Jake Chilcote.

“That is another great comeback.” Gongwer said about planting himself firmly in the team’s plans this season after being on the outside looking in. “Even though I was sitting on the bench last season, I would keep it the same, just to have this match, this win.”

While Gongwer sealed the victory for the eventual state runners-up, an even more improbable win came at No. 1 singles, where Ethan Remy fell behind a set – and it wasn’t competitive – to Lucas Xue.

Making Remy’s chances seem even slimmer was that he lost to Xue earlier in the season when Academy beat Lex 3-2 indoors at Lakewood Racquet Club.

But like Gongwer, Remy was able to right himself and rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. His win, along with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles by Chilcote and sophomore Dylan Catanese over Rowan Lo and Ian Chang put Gongwer in a position to be a hero.

“The first set I was really inconsistent, but in the second and third set I was hitting more deep rally balls and was running everything down,” Remy said.

Chilcote is Lex’s “numbers” guy, keeping tabs on players all over the state so that he knows going into matches if the odds favor Lex.

“The numbers were telling me (before Sunday) we weren’t winning No. 1 singles, and Ethan did that,” Chilcote said. “I was looking over (from the adjacent court where he and Catanese were playing) and I’m like, Ethan’s not giving up on points.

“We considered (No. 3) singles and (No. 1) doubles as locks for us. We were banking on someone else coming through. We didn’t know who it was going to be, but we needed a miracle and that’s what we got.”

With a state finals berth riding on Gongwer’s singles match, Chilcote had complete faith in the guy he played doubles with three days earlier. By reaching the quarters in the OHSAA state tourney, Chilcote and Gongwer earned second team All-Ohio honors.

“Owan’s singles record is just unbelievable,” Chilcote said. “We’ve played so many good teams and he’s been consistent through it all. We know what we’re going to get from him.”

Gongwer has the perfect temperament for high-stakes matches. He’s as even-keeled as they come, never too high or too low. That might help explain why he lost only one match in the No. 3 slot all season.

“It’s definitely a process,” Gongwer said. “I started the season off strong, upsetting a kid from New Albany, and that solidified that I could win a lot of third singles matches. And it definitely kept the momentum going.”

Schaub was hoping his team would respond well after a frustrating Thursday in the OHSAA state tourney at Ohio State.

Catanese and Remy, who won sectional and district doubles titles, were up 5-3 in the first set and serving with a 2-1 lead in the third set, but lost to a team from Dayton Oakwood that made it all the way to the state finals.

In their quarterfinal match, Chilcote and Gongwer were up 3-0, 40-love in the second set only to succumb 6-1, 6-3 to the eventual state champions from Pepper Pike Orange.

“This kind of makes up for losing on Thursday, but I still think about that match,” Catanese said. “This means everything. The last two years (Lex) got fourth and we were kind of expecting that again early in the week. But once we got here, and we saw (Academy’s) lineup, we thought, maybe we’ve got a shot at this. And we pulled through.”

Reaching the state finals in this OTCA tournament was the perfect send-off for Chilcote, who next year at this time will have finished up his first year at Otterbein University.

“It means the whole world,” he said. “I’m not gonna lie. This year we had not gotten that signature win. Ron kept telling us, ‘We’re going to get it. We’re going to get it.’ He was right.

“We discussed every possible lineup and decided, you know what, let’s just play this straight up (with everybody at their usual spots, including Etzel at No. 2 singles and Cooper Remy/Jake Halfhill at No. 2 doubles) and give it everything we’ve got.

“Honestly, I wanted to win so bad. Everybody wanted to win so bad, and everybody did their part.”

Nobody was more relieved than Schaub.

“I felt bad after Dylan and Ethan lost that match (Thursday) because I knew they were good enough to be in the state finals, and then Jake and Owan were playing tough,” he said. “So we knew all along we were good. We just had to win one of these (Final Four) matches.”

Seven Hills was the prohibitive favorite. Their No. 1 singles player, University of Toledo commit Cole Cozens, was a one-year move-in from Canada and reached the OHSAA state semis. Their No. 2 singles player, junior Avi Mahajan, reached the state finals after winning his first round match over Etzel, a three-time state qualifier and Lex’s first district singles champ since Dragos in 2015.

Seven Hills knocked off 2022 state champ Indian Hills to reach the Final Four and then beat last year’s other finalist, Pepper Pike Orange, 3-0 in Sunday’s semis. So Lex was looking at a tall task.

In the end, only three courts completed play before Seven Hills clinched the title. Schaub tweaked his lineup a little bit, a strategy that had worked in past Final Fours. Not this time. Cozens and Mahajan won in straight sets over Ethan Remy and Chilcote, respectively, while Halfhill and Cooper Remy fell in straight sets at No. 2 doubles.

Home from college and on hand to watch Lex’s post-season run, starting with sectionals, was Ryan Mecurio, part of a first-team All-Ohio doubles team with Ross Drlik in 2021. He was in Chilcote’s shoes last year as a senior and knows how how tough it is to leave the heady culture at Lex set by Schaub.

“I think the thing that makes it the toughest is the amount that we win,” said Mecurio, who just finished his first season for NCAA Division II Cedarville University. “It’s just fun to win. And Ron keeps us unified. He’s always positive.”

Chilcote, who gave up baseball after his freshman year, knows exactly what he is leaving.

“This is the sport where we’re together every night, and just supportive of each other, even if we’re just practicing,” he said. “It’s such a close group. We’ve known each other since we were young.

“We knew this (Final Four) wasn’t going to be easy, but everybody gave it their all. And they did it for me, too.”

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: ‘It means the whole world’: High-stakes drama leads to state runner-up honors for Lex tennis team