Bagels anyone?
I did quote him and it was 5-0 as the Knights served up a lot of bagels (6-0 sets) to their guests from the northern part of Wayne County, whose boys tennis program is still within its first five years of existence and competes despite not having any tennis courts to call home in the village of Creston.
“The guys took care of business tonight,” added Otto after watching his team stay unbeaten in non-league matches, moving to an overall record of 4-2 on the season, as his top three singles players combined to drop only three games, with Knights sophomore Danny Nelson disposing of the Bobcats’ Ethan Sustersic at first singles 6-1, 6-0.
Looking to extend his unbeaten streak at second singles to 19 straight matches, dating back to the semifinal match of the Ohio Cardinal Conference tournament in 2009, West Holmes senior Brendan Lynch equaled Nelson, posting a 6-1, 6-0 win over Brad Formhals in a match that took just over 30 minutes to complete.
Also off the court in a hurry was fellow senior Sam Meyer who moved out of his normal position at number one doubles to compete at third singles, serving up a bagel to Jordan Newman in the first set and following that up with a 6-1 victory in the second to complete the easy straight-sets victory.
“Sam thinks he’s a better singles player than doubles player. Ethan [Rawson] is not a doubles player at all. This could be an interesting match,” said Otto, gesturing toward the first doubles court where the Knights regular third singles player, Rawson, paired up with Meyer’s normal playing partner, Collin Galbraith, to take on the Bobcats’ top two singles players – Jordan Smith and Trevor Fetzer – teamed up to try to eke out a doubles win for Norwayne.
And while it probably was the most interesting varsity match of the day, that’s not saying a lot, as Rawson and Galbraith got acquainted fairly quickly and disposed of the Norwayne duo 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile, back together again after splitting up to play singles matches Tuesday, April 12 in Lexington, the West Holmes second doubles pairing of freshman Evan Aurand and senior Ricky Guerra won their first set 6-2 against Clint Gasser and Jared Landis of Norwayne, before dominating set number two 6-0 and completing the Knights’ fifth straight-sets victory of the afternoon.
“Norwayne is a young team trying to build a program without home courts,” said Otto afterward, pointing to the fact that the Bobcats practice at Rittman High School and play all away matches. “I give them credit for that.”
Devoid of even a rudimentary cinder track on their school grounds, the Rittman Indians track team practices at Norwayne while the Bobcats tennis team borrows Rittman’s tennis courts in what Norwayne athletic director Brian West described as “our little trade agreement.”
Last year Rittman sent several representatives to the State track meet.
Thinking about whether that means the Norwayne boys tennis program may be headed for the same kind of success in the near future, West said, “I’m not so sure about that.”
Otto is a little more confident in his troops.
“It better be 5-0,” he had said.
And it certainly was.
The Knights host the West Holmes Invite Saturday, April 16, starting at 9 a.m.
Published: April 13, 2011
