Poland's Gardner qualifies for state tennis tournament

CANTON — Poland tennis player Garrett Gardner won both of his matches Friday in the Division II district tennis tournament at Harvard Park and qualified for the state tournament for the third time.

Gardner, a doubles qualifier as a freshman and singles qualifier as a junior last year, is the lone survivor among four singles qualifiers out of last week's sectional tournament.

Lakeview's Aaron Paczak won his first match Friday, but then lost and was eliminated. Ursuline's Les Horvath and Poland's Anthony Ricciardi each lost a first-round match.

All four of the area's doubles tandems also were eliminated on Friday. Cardinal Mooney's Rich Hill and Andrew Stille won their first-round match, but were ousted in the second round. The same held true for Warren JFK's Tyler Cole and John Nader.

Warren JFK's duo of Billy Phillips and Caelan Phillips and Lakeview's tandem of Eric Rohrabaugh and Zech Teffner each lost a first-round match.

Gardner will meet University School's Rob Stroup on Saturday as the tournament moves into the third round, when seeding for next week's state tournament in Columbus will be determined.

Visit Vindy.com later and read Saturday's Vindicator sports section for complete details.