Worth the wait: Ontario gets 3-peat title in marathon MOAC tennis tourney
LEXINGTON — It took nearly 11 hours to determine a champion, but when the final ball was struck just before 7 p.m. the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference boys tennis tournament belonged to the Ontario Warriors.
Again.
Fans thought the tournament was long? Ontario’s championship reign is even longer, now stretching over three years thanks to titles at No. 1 and 2 singles and No. 1 doubles and a runner-up finish at No. 2 doubles.
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Ontario’s repeat champs were the four holdovers from last year’s lineup: brothers Pablo and Hector Sanchez Vidal, Matt Bayes and Alex Ellis.
Pablo Sanchez Vidal became a three-time champ, winning No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1 over Marion Harding’s Alexander Lisiecki in a rematch of last year’s finale at No. 2 singles. Sanchez Vidal also won at No. 1 as a sophomore in 2022, before turning that spot over for one season to Joseph Litao, who sat out a year after transferring in from Lexington.
“It feels the same (as the other two titles),” Pablo said. “I always think about the team.”
Hector Sanchez Vidal beat Harding’s Sebastian Lisiecki 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles after winning a title at No 1 doubles last year.
“I played out of my mind,” he said. “I played my best singles ever. I was smacking every shot and it was going in every time. I was just feeling it today.”
Ontario’s other title performance saw Bayes and Ellis collaborate for a 6-0, 6-1 win over Shelby’s Michael Vogt and Ben Wilkins at No. 1 doubles.
It was the third MOAC title for Ellis,who won all three with different partners at No. 1. Last year he paired with Hector Sanchez Vidal and the year before he won with Brody Phillips.
Bayes, a junior, won last year at No. 3 as Ontario proved the last couple of years that it is nothing if not flexible with its lineup.
“When Alex and I first started out this year we weren’t working as a team, per se,” Bayes said. “Shots were going everywhere. But our chemistry got a little better and then we took it to the next level at the Lexington Invitational, where we beat Walsh Jesuit.”
A senior, Ellis has long since gotten used to breaking in a new partner.
“It feels good to win (a title) again,” he said. “Matt had a couple of things to work on at first, after playing singles last year. I think the turning point was the night before the Lexington Invitational when we played (ranked) Tippecanoe.”
Ontario seniors JT Viscioni and Viktor Tane waited eight hours to play their first match, but were rewarded for their patience by reaching the finals at No. 2 doubles. They lost 6-3, 6-2 to Shelby's Toby Randall and Dawson Gove, but the five points they earned for their runner-up finish proved big. How big? The Warriors scored 27 points to outlast Shelby (25) and Marion Harding (24) in the seven-team field.
“(Viscioni and Tane) surprised us early in the season with how hard they were playing,” Ontario coach Cary Carcione said. “Once we teamed them together, their chemistry was great.
“I wanted a three peat title in this and all of the boys really stepped up.”
Randall, a senior, and Gove, a junior, only played together twice before the MOAC Tournament. This year is the first time Randall has played tennis.
“I came out because of (teammate) Ty Keinath and because I wanted to do something (in the spring),: said Randall, who played No. 4 on Shelby’s district-qualifying golf team in the fall. “My nerves were pretty high because Ty said we had to win that match to finish second (as a team).
“We both played our own game and everything worked out well.”
Randall, even after winning a first place medal, didn’t take himself too seriously
“This kid (Gove) hits the shots,” he joked. “I just watch them.”
Ontario has just two MOAC duals left, both with Shelby, in its bid to complete a second straight perfect season in league competition. Sectionals follow next Thursday and Saturday at Shelby, with the Sanchez Vidal siblings earning the No. 3 seed and Ellis-Bayes grabbing No. 4.
Pablo and Hector probably have the best shot of giving Ontario its first state qualifiers in program history.
“We’ve got a lot of pressure on us, but I think we’ll get through it,’ Hector said. “We’ve just got to play our best and we’ll make it happen.
“We’ve got a lot of chemistry, but we get mad at each other a lot. It’s going to be our main problem, but we’ll be alright.”
Pablo made it to districts in doubles last year with Litao, but they lost a three-setter to a team from Elida in the first round.
“We were a (point) away from going up 3-0 in the third set,” Pablo said. “I still remember it, so this year it won’t happen again.
“The chemistry’s there (with Hector). We just have to not fight and stay in the game. We have to stay positive the whole time.”:
Communication on the court should be a huge advantage for them.
“We talk in Spanish,” Hector said, “so nobody knows what we’re saying.”
In addition to its title at No 2 doubles, Shelby got thirds from Keinath and Bryson Baker at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. In No. 3 singles, Harding’s Cameron Williams prevailed over Shelby’s Ashton Hoftbauer 6-1, 6-3 for the title.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Worth the wait: Ontario gets 3-peat title in marathon MOAC tennis tourney
