Canfield doubles team is state-bound

Staff report

OBERLIN

The Canfield doubles team of Allison Pavlansky and Gabrielle Brant is headed to the state tennis tournament after winning the Division I district championship on Saturday at Oberlin College.

Pavlansky-Brant won their crown by beating the Westlake duo of Michelle Djohan and Julia Dunbar, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.

In a semifinals match, the Canfield pair beat Mayfield’s Mitsuki Fukamachi-Jamie Vizelman, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

Against Fukamachi-Vizelman, the Canfield pair came back in the third set after being down 4-1 to win 7-6.

In the title match, after losing the second set, 3-6, Pavlansky-Brant regrouped to win convincingly.

The Pavlansky-Brant team finished 4-0 in this week’s matches and they will head to state as a No. 1 seed out of the Oberlin district.

Brant is a senior while Pavlansky is a junior.

This is the second straight berth for Pavlansky, who advanced to the second round in Columbus in 2010 while teamed with Kaitlin Kaleel. Brant will be making her first trip.

In addition to Djohan-Dunbar and Fukamachi-Vizelman, doubles teams from Kenston, Hudson and Jackson also advanced to Columbus.

State competition begins on Friday at the Ohio State University Outdoor Varsity Tennis Courts (formerly Stickney Tennis Center).

Div. II

In Div. II in Canton, no area singles or doubles team advanced.

In singles, Liberty’s Victoria Ferry was playing for fifth place and a state trip, but was unable to advance after losing to Theresa Reinhard of St. Thomas Aquinas, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2. Ferry, a senior, finished ninth at state as a junior.

Cardinal Mooney sophomores Dominique Cicchi-Jamie DiDomenico lost to Hathaway Brown’s Sara Adler-Gianna Mitchell, 6-2, 6-0, in a consolation semifinal.

In another semifinal, Poland’s Amy Noll-Elise Eckman beat Lakeview’s all-senior Jillian Hickey-Tessa Rowlands, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, but then Noll-Eckman, a senior and freshman, respectively, were knocked out by Adler-Mitchell by scores of 6-2 and 6-0.