HIGH SCHOOL-OHIO

CCD sweeps D-II district tennis titles

Adam Baum
abaum@enquirer.com

Cincinnati Country Day's boys' tennis team swept the top spots in the Division II district tournament Saturday at the ATP Tennis Center. Junior Asher Hirsch – the defending state singles champion – beat freshman teammate J.J. Wolf in the singles final 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Heading into Saturday, the semifinal matchups in both divisions were set, which meant the top four in singles and doubles already knew they'd advanced to the state tournament.

"They did great – to win both draws is great," said fourth-year CCD coach Matt Dektas.

Hirsch is no stranger to playing his teammates. Last season, Hirsch defeated Patrick Wildman in the state singles championship. Wildman, now a senior, won Saturday's district doubles title with freshman Kevin Yu. CCD's pair beat Seven Hills seniors Zach Abraham and Sam Ellis 6-1, 6-4.

"We're used to it, it's good," said Dektas about teammates having to play each other. "I just kind of watch ... we (coaches) usually give them some things to think about ahead of time that's relative to their personal improvement."

In Saturday's case, Wolf and Hirsch weren't worried about comparing each other; they were focused on how they could each improve, according to Dektas.

The Indians have no qualms about their goals. The biggest is to capture a state team title. CCD has finished in the top four as a team in each of the last three seasons, but the group title has been elusive.

In Division I, Mason senior Luke Tsai, a state quarterfinalist last year, lost to Springboro's Zach Berry in the singles final 6-4, 6-2. The Comets also had teammates face off – senior Alex Lebedev and junior Young-Jin Kang beat junior Nadim Boulos and sophomore Sean Reid in the doubles final 6-2, 6-1. Lebedev and Kang finished third in the state last season.

St. Xavier sophomore Andrew Niehaus finished third in singles with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Troy's Luke Oaks.

Sycamore's Nakul Narendran and Mustafa Ahmad were the third-place doubles team in Division I, beating teammates Alex Wittenbaum and Noah Stern 6-4, 6-2. This will be the third year in a row Sycamore has qualified two doubles teams to state.

Indian Hill sophomore Alex Warstler will return to state with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Clark Montessori's Chris Bak in the Division II singles third-place match. Wyoming's doubles team of Myles Bourbon and Nik Plattenburg took third in Division II, beating Jacob Stavsky and Henry Chavez of Seven Hills.

The state tournament is Friday and Saturday at Ohio State. The seeding draw is Monday.■