Olentangy Orange boys tennis edges Liberty to repeat as OTCA Division I district champions
Olentangy Orange’s second doubles team of Dhruv Kapadia and Eric Tang provided the decisive win in Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over visiting Olentangy Liberty in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Division I district final.
Tang thought the play of Kapadia, who missed the Pioneers’ earlier loss to the Patriots because of illness, made the difference in a 7-5, 6-3 win over Marcus Bode and Liam Hand.
While Kapadia admitted his hunger to play but downplayed his contribution, Tang let the compliments fly. Tang teamed with Ahmed Karrar in a 3-2 loss to Liberty in OCC-Central play April 24.
“If there was one player I could choose from this team to play doubles with, it would be Dhruv,” Tang said. “We’ve known each other long and our chemistry is amazing. We’re just a great doubles team. What went differently today was the improvement we made. Dhruv hasn’t made a significant improvement, he’s made an exponential improvement. He hit so many big shots.”
Kapadia said the timing couldn’t have been better.
“We made some slight adjustments as the game went on, and we were able to finish it off,” Kapadia said. “(Missing the earlier match) was a blessing in disguise. We won and got some revenge. It was a great experience.”
Orange amassed its three victories in a matter of minutes and will advance to its second consecutive OTCA state tournament as a result.
Shailen Patel swept Eli Englert 6-2, 6-2 at second singles and Nikhil Bhimireddy beat Andrew Mulyadi 6-3, 6-0 at third, denying Liberty (9-5) its first state berth.
Wednesday’s first singles and first doubles matches, both of which were won by Liberty, played out because they were almost finished at the time of Kapadia and Tang’s win. Typically, OTCA matches end as soon as one team wins three courts.
“Each year is a different team, (with a) different personality, different struggles and challenges, so this is incredibly rewarding,” Orange coach Matt Rutherford said. “We really stayed mentally tough. We’ve put in a lot of work together for a lot of months.”
Orange (12-2) will play Massillon Jackson in a state semifinal May 25 at the College of Wooster.
Cincinnati Sycamore will face Toledo St. Francis, Toledo St. John’s or Whitehouse Anthony Wayne in the other semifinal. The championship and third-place matches are later in the day May 25.
The district final was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up when the individual district tournament was postponed a day from Wednesday because of rain.
Liberty’s Shane Hand swept Zach Haar 6-3, 6-4 at first singles, and Arya and Krish Badri beat Orange’s Devan Patel and Luke Rutherford 6-1, 6-3 at first doubles.
Liberty’s lineup was identical to the earlier match against Orange. Rutherford swapped Haar and Shailen Patel at first singles because Harr won a head-to-head matchup in Saturday’s UA sectional final.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Olentangy Orange boys tennis earns return trip to state tournament
