Boys tennis: Oberlin's Oliver Knijnenburg faces tough task at Strongsville sectional

There are no easy roads out of the Strongsville tennis sectional, and this time Oliver Knijnenburg will be taking the solo path. Oberlin's standout junior — a two-time district qualifier in doubles with Grant Martz — will be playing singles for the first time at the Division II Strongsville sectional tournament that begins today at 8 a.m. Oberlin, Elyria Catholic and Lake Ridge will have to navigate arguably the toughest sectional in Ohio. It already featured powerhouses like Orange, which sent all seven members of last year's team to the state tournament. This year University School, which moved down from Division I, and Hawken, which was realigned from Solon, have joined the fun in a sectional that now features 10 returning state qualifiers, five of whom placed. "Last year it was super tough, but this year it's going to be even tougher," Knijnenburg said. "It's kind of like a death trap going into it. To be honest, I'm not actually setting any high expectations for myself. I just want to go there and play my best, and we'll see. Everyone is saying it's such an insane sectional, it's going to be really tough. It's going to be an exciting matchup and I'm going to get to see some really good tennis. It's really exciting." While Knijnenburg and Martz were the only area district qualifiers from Division II last season, four of the five others are again competing at the Division I Magnificat sectional, which also begins today at 8 a.m. at Medina. Avon's three returning state qualifiers — Logan DeHaven, Luke LeMaster and A.J. Sidoti — are the top seeds and defending champions in singles and doubles as LeMaster and Sidoti again elected to team up for another state run after anchoring Avon at second and third singles all season. They aren't the only singles players teaming up in doubles. Westlake and Olmsted Falls also elected to pair their top two players, earning the second and third seeds. The St. Edward duo of Will Gonzalez and Sean Curran — both Avon Lake residents — earned the No. 4 seed. Gonzalez is a returning district qualifier who's primarily played first doubles. Beyond the top four seeds, Avon Lake's Billy Kennedy, who played second singles, is teaming up with Aiden Weisman. The pair only played a handful of matches together, but were undefeated through the Southwestern Conference tournament, taking home the title at first doubles. They could face Gonzalez and Curran in the quarterfinals. "It's been great," Kennedy said. "We're still undefeated and we're looking forward to playing at sectionals. Our chemistry is great, we've been practicing a lot every single day, and every single match we're getting better and better. We hope to keep it going." DeHaven earning the No. 1 seed in singles was no surprise. He's reached the final the past two seasons and last year rolled to the title by winning his first nine sets without dropping a game before claiming the final set 6-2. St. Edward's Eric Vaziri, whom DeHaven beat 6-0, 6-0 Friday, was seeded second as the only other returning qualifier in the draw. Westlake's Rohit Jain electing to play doubles opened up an opportunity for another player to be seeded, and Avon's Jay Kneiss secured the fourth spot. Kneiss — who exclusively played doubles in the regular season, holding a 14-6 record primarily with Franco Gallo — received a bye to the second round. "It's so exciting to have the four seeds," Avon coach Eric Korey said. "Four seeds are the most I've ever had as a coach. But sometimes having all eyes on you can add extra pressure, too. So we're just trying to stay humble, work hard and take it one day at a time. Being seeded isn't as exciting as qualifying, so now that we have the seeds, hopefully we go out there and take care of business." Vermilion will be the only area team competing at the Division II Port Clinton sectional, which begins Thursday at 8 a.m. While it didn't have a district qualifier last season, Severin Kretchmar hopes to change that after falling one match short a year ago. The sophomore earned the No. 3 seed in singles after earning first-team All-Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division honors. He finished runner-up in first singles, losing 7-5, 6-1 in the final to Perkins' Chase Young, who earned the top seed. Kretchmar will need to win three matches to qualify, starting with Huron senior Jack Wascovich. If he reaches the semifinals, his likely opponent is Huron sophomore Mason Schindley, the defending champion, with a possible rematch against Young in the final. The Sailors just completed one of their most successful seasons, going 13-5 (7-4 SBC Lake) and producing three members on the All-SBC Lake team. Its other honorees were the doubles team of Patrick and Terrence Anders, who will need to win three matches to qualify in doubles. "This is definitely one of the better seasons we've had in quite a few years," Vermilion coach Terry Anders said. "It's been pretty gratifying to have this kind of success this year, but going into the tournament there are a different set of goals. Obviously we want to get guys to districts. That's the next step in showing that you have a good program. And the past four years I've been here, we haven't done that, so that's definitely something we're trying to accomplish this year." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.