Girls tennis: Avon's Natalie Smitek going it alone at state this time around

Natalie Smitek's solo tour has already been a big success. The Avon junior will be the only Lorain County representative at the state tennis tournament this weekend, a change for her since she's made it the last two seasons with a doubles partner. "It feels really weird," Smitek said. "Doubles is easier to play, it's less stressful. It's definitely more intense this time around. The matches are harder, but it's also fun being in control. It's fun playing singles. It's definitely a change of pace." Smitek will try to reach the state podium for the third time when play begins Friday with the first two rounds at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Players who advance to Saturday will earn one of the four spots on the state podium in each draw. Both sessions begin at 9 a.m. with Division I singles, followed by Division II singles and then doubles. The other big change for Smitek is that she's competing for another team. She spent her first two seasons with Magnificat playing primarily second singles behind her sister, Audrey, in the regular season. The duo helped the Blue Streaks win two Ohio Tennis Coaches Association team district championships and take second in the state last year. Even though Smitek is competing in a different draw and for a different school, she's still found success at a high level. Her freshman and sophomore years she was part of doubles teams that won Elyria sectional and Springside district titles. She and Caroline Moritz took fourth at the state tournament in 2020, while last year she and Audrey, who is now playing tennis at Western Michigan, finished third. This time around she breezed to the state tournament by winning her first seven matches without dropping a game. Then she suffered her only loss, falling to North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher, who defended her district title. Bucher finished fourth in singles at state last season. "She's had such a great season," Avon coach Eric Korey said of Smitek. "I think she needs to have ultimate confidence. When she's confident and playing her game she can beat anybody. She has all the tools and I'm excited for her. She should be excited because she's had a lot of tough matches this year. She's battle tested and ready, she just has to go out and believe in herself." When Smitek returned to her home district this season, Avon had to shuffle its lineup since its previous top three singles players were all returning. Denver Johnson, the two-time Southwestern Conference MVP, moved to second singles while Amelia Tomak primarily played third. Julia Kacenjar played first doubles with a variety of partners. All three Eagles qualified for the district tournament with senior captains Tomak and Kacenjar teaming up for doubles. The Eagles were ranked consistently in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Division I Top 10 regional rankings during the season, finishing No. 8 and reaching the Northeast district semifinals, where they lost 3-2 to Magnificat. "What's sometimes lost is the daily story," Korey said. "You bring someone of Natalie's caliber in and it pushes everyone else down. It makes your roster stronger, but it could also create some drama on the team. Denver is used to being first singles, Amelia has been successful at second singles, so bringing Natalie in was great from a talent perspective, but her personality and the personality of the rest of the team is what made it work. It only works if everyone works together. Natalie is so humble and encouraging with her teammates and that set the tone. Our two seniors stepped up as leaders and Denver accepted her role. Adding talent only works if there's chemistry. It didn't take long for them to start jelling. It's a testament to all of them." Even though this is her first trip to state in singles, Smitek's only losses at the state tournament have come to doubles teams that ended up winning the championship. This year, she defeated many of the state qualifiers out of the Springside district during the regular season, including Bucher. While she won't have to face the defending state champion or runner-up until Saturday, she did land in Bucher's quadrant and will need to flip the script from their district semifinal to earn a third straight state podium finish. "It would be super-exciting to win," Smitek said. "That's the goal. It will be really hard though. I have to stay loose and not get tight in my head." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.