Local tennis players vie for state tourney

CANTON — Ryan and Zubin Teckchandani, Poland High’s doubles team, advanced to the Division II district tennis semifinals with two victories in the tournament at Weis Park Wednesday.

The Bulldogs’ duo defeated Will Colvin-Ayush Kedia of University School, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in a first-round match, then beat Seth Laubacher-Eduardo Romany of Canton Central Catholic, 6-4, 6-4, in a quarterfinal match.

The Poland team has already qualified for the state meet, and will play Saturday for seeding. They will next play Steven Shin and Seth Udelson of University School in the semifinals Saturday morning.

Ben Brocker, Poland’s singles player, also won two matches to reach the semifinals and qualify for the state tournament. He won by default in a first-round match, then topped Chad Thompson of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Brocker will next play Josh Berggrun of Orange in the semifinals.

Warren JFK’s Michael Fredericka defeated Brad Lodge of Aurora, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, then lost to Alex Aleman of CVCA, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. He will return Saturday for a consolation-round match, with hopes of qualifying for the state tournament. The top six singles and doubles finishers qualify.

Luka Spahija of Mooney lost to Kyle Patterson of Kidron Central Christian, 7-5, 6, and Anthony Roselli of Poland fell to Tabitha Simpson of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, in first-round matches.

Also in doubles, Poland’s Stu Duchek and Kenny Duncan lost to Jon Esber and Colin Bernier of Canton Central Catholic, 6-0, 6-0; Chad Dager and Neil Ormerod of Lakeview lost to Shin-Udelson of University School, 6-0, 6-1, both in first-round matches.

Albert Covelli and Larry D’Amico of Warren JFK defeated Donald Short and Nick Tibbits of Orrville, 6-1, 6-4, then lost to Mark Goldberg and Grant Aronson of Beachwood, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. They will return to a consolation-round match Saturday.