Boys tennis: Avon dominates St. Edward, moves into district semifinals of state team tournament

AVON — Friday's match against St. Edward gave Avon's boys tennis team a potential glimpse of the postseason. It's safe to say the Eagles liked what they saw. Avon won four of five matches at Avon Oaks Country Club to advance in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association's state team tournament. The Eagles await the winner of the Jackson-Revere match in the Northeast district semifinals. "It feels good," said Avon's Franco Gallo, who partnered with Kavin Manickam to win at second doubles 6-2, 6-1 against Cody Wagner and Sean Curran. "We just want to keep this thing going and hopefully we'll be able to go to Cincinnati if we win two more matches." The more immediate benefit is that the team's first singles and first doubles matches could meet the same opponents at the Division I Elyria sectional, which begins Tuesday. Logan DeHaven swept Eric Vaziri 6-0, 6-0 at first singles and will take a dominant 23-0 record and the top seed into the Elyria sectional. With his win over Vaziri — the sectional's No. 4 seed — he is now a combined 5-0 against the other three top seeds. DeHaven secured a break right off the bat, but had to fight in the second to keep from giving it back. Vaziri fought off three game points in a row to force deuce, then got a break chance, but DeHaven settled in and won the next three points. From there, he turned it into high gear, losing just five points in the next nine games combined. "Everything was just feeling pretty good today," DeHaven said. "All day at school I was thinking about this match and when I got here I was just pumped to play. It was huge to break the first game and go up 2-0. It's a huge momentum shift. It feels really good when you can string those first two games together." The one match that didn't go Avon's way was first doubles, where Brendan Carney and Will Gonzalez — an Avon Lake resident — defeated Tyler Heinrich and Sivan Manickam 6-4, 7-5. Heinrich usually partners Jeremy Wiersh, and is slated to team up with him at the sectional, but Wiersh was unavailable for the match. St. Edward secured an early break in the first set and kept Avon at bay. Avon had the early break in the second and had a chance to serve it out, but St. Edward broke back at five-all and won the next two games. By then Avon had realized it was going to move on as a team. Luke LeMaster, A.J. Sidoti and its aforementioned second doubles team took care of business in dominant fashion. LeMaster didn't drop a game against Williamson Niceman at second singles and Sidoti defeated Brock Danahey 6-3, 6-1 at third singles. "My serve was doing really well," Sidoti said. "I hit a lot of aces in the second set. That was a big part of my game today." Avon's second doubles match against Wagner and Curran, who reside in Avon Lake and Avon, respectively, stayed on serve through the first five games until Avon won the final three and carried that momentum into the second set. Avon took a 4-1 lead and closed out the match with a break and a hold. "During each point we had constant communication and, honestly, I think our shots were just landing in," Kavin Manickam said. "We were using our strokes well, we weren't accommodating to their plan and keeping our own pace. We weren't playing to theirs." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter. Avon 4, St. Edward 1 First singles: Logan DeHaven (A) def. Eric Vaziri 6-0, 6-0 Second singles: Luke LeMaster (A) def. Williamson Niceman 6-0, 6-0 Third singles: A.J. Sidoti (A) def. Brock Danahey 6-3, 6-1 First doubles: Will Gonzalez-Brendan Carney (E) def. Tyler Heinrich-Sivan Manickam 6-4, 7-5 Second doubles: Franco Gallo-Kavin Manickam (A) def. Cody Wagner-Sean Curran 6-2, 6-1