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Irish duo’s state tennis run ends with defeat
By STEVE WILAJ
MASON
Ursuline’s freshman tennis doubles duo of Luke Tsudis and Austin Arfaras lost in the first round of the Division II state tennis tournament on Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
Cincinnati Country Day’s Vishaal Nalagatla and Shashank Reddy defeated the young Fighting Irish pair, 6-2, 6-0.
“We kind of had a tough time handling their serves and went down in defeat because of that,” Ursuline head coach Rob Reilly said.
Arfaras and Tsudis were the Mahoning Valley’s lone representatives at the state tournament.
They were also the tourney’s lone freshman duo and two of five freshmen overall.
“They played well, but the other team was just a very good team,” Reilly said. “We made some mental mistakes and had a little hard time returning the serve.”
During the regular season, Tsudis lost just once in singles play, while Arfaras went undefeated.
They teamed up for postseason play, clinching a state spot at districts last Saturday.
“They had a phenomenal season,” Reily said. “To get where they got to — I don’t care what grade you’re in, to get to where they got to was phenomenal. To top it off that they’re a freshman pair, it’s pretty incredible.”