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Poland’s Gardner clinches return to Columbus
By Doug Chapin
canton
Poland senior Garrett Gardner has clinched a berth in the state tennis tournament for the second straight year. He won two matches Friday in the Division II district tournament at Canton’s Harvard Park, clinching a top-four finish.
“Last year was actually a little tougher. I played Sid Ahuja in the second round and it went three sets, it could have gone either way.
“This year I won my first match pretty easily (6-1, 6-0 over Justin Bober of Akron Hoban) then I played Wes Noall, who’s been a state qualifier,” Gardner said. “I played pretty well and I thought Wes played well too. It was a matter of, I think, that I wanted it more.”
Gardner (17-1), the defending district champion, will play in the semifinal and final rounds today to determine the seeding of the four qualifiers.
He will face Rob Stroup of University School. The other semifinal pits Hawken School teammates Ahuja and Dhruv Yadav against each other.
“I’ve played against all three of those guys throughout my years in tennis. I have to go out and execute the best I can,” Gardner said. “Getting the one seed out of this district is crucial if I want to do well at state.”
Gardner, who won the Boardman sectional, was the only local player to qualify for state this year. Sectional runner-up Aaron Paczak of Lakeview defeated Orrville’s Dakota Thomas 6-0, 6-2, before losing to Ahuja 6-0, 6-0. Les Horvath of Ursuline lost 6-1, 6-4 to Stroup and Anthony Ricciardi of Poland lost 6-2, 6-1 to Yadav.
In doubles, sectional champions Tyler Cole and John Nader of Warren JFK defated Carl Icsman and Marko Horattas of Hoban 6-1, 6-0, then lost a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 thriller to Brett Dubin and Karan Gill of Beachwood.
Cardinal Mooney’s duo of Rich Hill and Andrew Stille also won their opening match, 6-3, 6-4, over David Blate and Brad Duplin of St. Thomas Aquinas. They lost in the second round to Ron Beilinson and Austin Smedira of Orange, 6-2, 6-2.
Lakeview’s Eric Rohrabaugh and Zach Teffner and JFK’s Billy Phillips and Caelan Phillips both lost in straight sets to University School opponents.