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On the road to state, these Cincinnati boys tennis players qualified for districts

alex harrison, cincinnati enquirer
·4 min read

The sectional tournaments in the Ohio High School Athletic Association's boys tennis postseason have concluded and only the districts stand in the way of a trip to state.

The southwest district tournaments in Division I and II begin on Thursday, May 16, and conclude two days later at the Mason Middle School courts.

Top finishers at districts qualify for the OHSAA state tournament at the College of Wooster & Aspen Racquet Club on May 23 and 24.

Here is a look at the singles and doubles qualifiers trying to get to state while bringing back another collection of state championships to Greater Cincinnati.

Division I singles

Sycamore's Nick Meyers, St. Xavier's Carson Dwyer, Springboro's Rishi Dore and Troy's Kyle Penny enter the district meet after winning sectional championships.

Dwyer, a doubles state champion as a freshman last season, faces Sycamore senior Kyle Friedrich in the first round and could see Meyers in the district semifinals if both advance. Meyers faces Tippecanoe senior Deacon Blake in the opening round.

Sycamore senior Nick Meyers will aim to improve on his third-place finish from last year's state tournament.
Sycamore senior Nick Meyers will aim to improve on his third-place finish from last year's state tournament.

Also on that bracket will be an opening-round match with Springboro's Jack Siehl and St. Xavier's Connor Lynch. The winner of that match will see the winner of Meyers and Blake.

On the other side of the Division I bracket, Dore faces Moeller's Clayton Arnett with the winner meeting next round with either Tippecanoe's Ty Hoover or Mason sophomore Daniel Tonkal. Troy sectional winner Penny would meet the winner of Sycamore's Dhruv Kota and Elder's Jacob Eddingfield in round two.

Mason's Daniel Tonkal makes a front hand return in the second singles at Flight A of the GCTCA Coaches Classic Tennis Tournament, Mason High School, April 27.
Mason's Daniel Tonkal makes a front hand return in the second singles at Flight A of the GCTCA Coaches Classic Tennis Tournament, Mason High School, April 27.

Division I doubles

The OHSAA Division I doubles title has gone to a Cincinnati team the last two seasons with St. Xavier's duo of Drew Evans and Carson Dwyer winning it last season in the finals over Sycamore's Andrew Wittenbaum and Arjun Rajagopala.

While Evans graduated and Dwyer is a singles qualifier in districts, Rajagopala and Wittenbaum are back together for one more run as seniors. The Sycamore pair were sectional champions and will face Lakota East's Varun Das and Mercer Mills in the first round.

St. Xavier does have a new sectional champion duo in senior Chase Homan and freshman Nihal Narisetty who could face Wittenbaum and Rajagopala in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Springboro's duo of Drew Baumgartner and Peyton Nelson have a top seed after winning the Centerville sectional.

Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala and Andrew Wittenbaum compete at Flight A of the GCTCA Coaches Classic Tennis Tournament, Mason High School, April 27.
Sycamore's Arjun Rajagopala and Andrew Wittenbaum compete at Flight A of the GCTCA Coaches Classic Tennis Tournament, Mason High School, April 27.

Sycamore has another pair in the district with Nicholas Choo and Chase Klugo who came from the Mason sectional with Walnut Hills' Revanth Manchineella and Rapeegon Tangsantikul and Mason's Connor Buckingham and Aron Dornhecker. Lakota West's Matthew Krummen and Quinn Cooper also qualified as did Milford's Thomas Kennedy and Jack Bowsher.

Division II singles

In the Division II districts, Cincinnati Country Day's Nikhil Shah and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock were sectional champions and will sit on opposite sides of the new brackets.

On Shah's side of the district bracket is a potential second-round meeting with Seven Hills senior Avi Mahajan. Mahajan, who fell to Pollock in the Mason sectional final, was the state runner-up last season and finished in third as a freshman in 2021. Shah and Mahajan met early in the regular season with Mahajan winning.

Indian Hill's Ethan Camp and Wyoming's Avery Kraus also sit on the top side of the district bracket.

Seven Hill senior Avi Mahajan will try to qualify for the state tournament for the fourth time in his career.
Seven Hill senior Avi Mahajan will try to qualify for the state tournament for the fourth time in his career.

Pollock is the lone senior on the bottom half of the singles bracket and is joined by sophomores Ryan Schnizer from McNicholas, Adi Nayak from Seven Hills and Tyler Lammers from Summit Country Day.

Division II doubles

In Division II doubles, the Mason sectional went to Indian Hill's R.J. Poffenberger and Neelan Gandhi while the Cincinnati sectional was claimed by Wyoming seniors Conor Bergan and Kaan Ladd.

Indian Hill's pair sits in the top portion of the district bracket along with Centerville champions and last year's state runner-up from Oakwood, Arick Baldin and Noah Boyce. Oakwood will face Seven Hills' Ethan Blatt and John Corbett in the opening round where the winner could see Cincinnati Country Day's Adam Arebi and Leo Joffe.

Mariemont's Bennett Harris and Paxton Lesseuer finished second in the Cincinnati sectional and will face a pair from Chaminade Julienne.

In the lower half of the district bracket sits Bergan and Ladd with a chance to see Indian Hill's Michael Ryu and Eschaan Gandhi in the second round.

Cincinnati Country Day and Seven Hills also have a second pair qualified. Seven Hills' Gavin Isakov and Chinmay Machavaran finished in third at the Mason sectional and Cincinnati Country Day's Janjay Cherkuri and Daniel Sgro Plaut finished in fourth in the Cincinnati sectional to advance to districts.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Which Cincinnati boys tennis players advanced to the district tourney?